Matching Components : Marianne and Kathleen Dixon Stand on Equal Terms as Twins, Teammates on Northridge Volleyball Team

You wait for the elevator in your apartment complex. The door opens. A tall woman gets out, pushing a 10-speed bike. You walk in and the elevator descends to the basement. The door opens. You look up and gasp, your knees quiver and your head fills with haunting, familiar music as you encounter . . . the same tall woman with the same bike!

Welcome to the Twinlight Zone.

Reality is often blurred in the Twinlight Zone, but there is always a logical explanation for what seems to be a world of alien sights and sounds. The man in the elevator wasn’t really trapped in another dimension. When the tall girl in the basement noticed his befuddlement, she quickly broke the spell by saying the magic words: “We’re twins.”

Kathleen and Marianne Dixon reside permanently in the Twinlight Zone. “Crazy things happen all the time,” Kathleen says. Identical twins--only slight variations in height and hair prevent them from being mirror images--they are emissaries of confusion and disbelief, bringing an otherworldly presence to everything they do.

Including sports. The Dixons expand the usual limits of double trouble by playing volleyball and basketball. There’s the expected visual illusion: Fans, players and statisticians can’t tell them apart, even with a score card. “Our stats always get messed up,” Kathleen says, “and sometimes the P.A. announcer announces my name when it should be Marianne’s.”

But there is also a supernatural twist to the twins’ athletic endeavors: ESP, or extra sports perception. They can read each other’s mind, which allows them to anticipate each other’s intentions and make passes like Magic Johnson. “Kathleen would toss the ball without looking and I’d be there,” Marianne says.

The Twinlight Zone is currently appearing at Cal State Northridge. The twins--referred to in the campus newspaper as the “Dynamic Dixon Duo”--are stars on the Matadors volleyball team, which opens defense of its NCAA Division II title in a regional playoff tonight.

Last season, the twins also were starters in basketball for the Lady Matadors--each averaged nearly 13 points a game--but even though ESP isn’t as essential in volleyball as in basketball, the twins decided to quit basketball this season. This meant giving up half their full scholarships, but the move seems to have benefitted all concerned parties.

“Playing both sports took too much time,” Kathleen says. Especially in the fall. The twins would go to class in the morning, practice basketball from 3 to 6 p.m. and volleyball from 6 to 9. The seasons overlapped, with volleyball usually ending in mid-December. Last season, when CSUN won the Division II volleyball title, the twins lost out on Christmas vacation. They had to report to the basketball team.

Lady Matador basketball Coach Leslie Milke was in the Twinlight Zone for the 2 years the Dixons played for her. “Them playing volleyball caused a lot of problems for us,” she says. “It was difficult to get a cohesive unit on the floor because the twins had missed so much.”

Breaking with tradition, Ker and Milke recruited the Dixons for both sports. “We had stopped recruiting two-sport athletes some time before that,” Milke says, “but we made an exception for them. We thought they could do it, but doubling is impossible in this day and age.”

So the Dixons will concentrate on volleyball, the sport they like the most. “Remember,” Marianne says, “we chose volleyball. We like practices better. And it’s more of a team sport.”

The Dixons were raised in Burbank but lived in Montana during most of high school until moving to Santa Monica for their senior year. But Montana volleyball was not nearly as sophisticated as the Southern California version. So it was not until they attended Santa Monica High that their volleyball careers began in earnest.

But basketball was still their sport. At Santa Monica, Marianne was Bay League MVP, Kathleen runner-up. Although Marianne made all-state in volleyball, their skills were not developed. “We weren’t that good,” she says. To which Kathleen adds: “But Walt saw potential in us.”

The twins were redshirted by Ker as freshmen but developed rapidly. Last year, Kathleen started at middle blocker and was named to several all-star teams. This season, both twins have a shot at All-American honors, according to Ker, who calls Kathleen “my top blocker” and Marianne “our top attacker.” And the twins say they are now better at volleyball than they were at basketball.

Marianne, also a middle blocker, did not enjoy being a substitute last season in volleyball--”It was hard sitting on the bench and having Kathleen out there”--but the twins say there is no sibling rivalry. “When people ask us who’s the best athlete, we always say we’re the same,” Marianne says. And Kathleen fudges on whether she is better at volleyball: “I have more experience than Marianne, but I think she’s equally as talented.”

Equal is a good way to describe the twins, who were born in alphabetical order 21 years ago this coming January. They each have a 3.0 grade-point average at CSUN. They’re each majoring in psychology. They have the same taste in clothes. They know each other other’s moods (“I can walk in a room and tell if Kathleen is upset,” Marianne says). They often even think the same thought and say it simultaneously or finish each other’s sentence.

“We talk in stereo and people don’t like to be in the middle,” Marianne says.

But the division of chromosomes is not precisely alike. Marianne, at 6 feet an inch shorter than her sister, has a natural blond streak in her hair that “God put there to tell us apart,” Kathleen says. The twins also have different personalities. Kathleen describes herself as “a comedian with a serious side.” Marianne says she’s “sociable” but more studious than Kathleen, who likes to spend a lot of time playing video games. Marianne plays trumpet, Kathleen clarinet.

As for sports, “We’ve always done everything together,” Marianne says. Roommates and best friends, the twins are practically inseparable, with one notable exception: “Boys,” Kathleen says. “We go out with them separately.”

The Dixons resist the temptation to trick people by switching identities, with one notable exception: “Boys,” Marianne says. “On the phone, I sometimes make believe I’m Kathleen.”

The world of sports has rarely seen twins with equal ability. There are the Van Arsdales--Dick and Tom--in basketball and the Mahres--Phil and Steve--in skiing. It is not usual for twins to have opposite athletic ability like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito in the movie “Twins.” Nevada Las Vegas currently has twins on its women’s basketball team--Pauline and Geannine Jordan of Pasadena--but Pauline is more dominant.

The Dixon’s physical resemblance creates havoc with teachers and waitresses and especially the man on the street. Stares and double takes are to a point that the Dixons are considering wearing sweat shirts that say “Twins” or “1 of 2.” They even have “classic lines” in response to a stranger’s clever question, “Are you twins?”

“We say ‘No, we went to the same plastic surgeon. Want to be a triplet?’ ” Marianne jokes.

What is it like coaching twins? “I have 2 people with the same terrible sense of humor instead of one,” Ker deadpans. “They’re like stand-up comics. They act as each other’s straight man--or is that straight woman?”

Indeed, there’s a good time for all in the Twinlight Zone. “It’s fun being a twin,” Marianne says.