Sandite Volleyball Places Third at Claremore, Evyn Morrow Named All-Tournament

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Evyn Morrow has been named to the All-Tournament team at both tournaments this season. (Photo: Charity Emigh).

The Charles Page High School volleyball team (11-7) entered the 6A rankings at No. 16 on Monday after going 5-3 on the week and finishing in third place at the Claremore Tournament on Saturday.

The Sandites suffered a close 3-0 loss to Union (3-6) in a conference match on Tuesday, then went 2-2 on Friday.

In the first match of the tournament they won 25-10 and 25-16 against Collinsville (4-18), but fell 25-23 and 25-12 in a Highway 97 Rivalry match with 5A No. 4 Sapulpa (17-7). They’ll get the opportunity to pay back that one, however, when they host the Chieftains on September 26th in conference action.

“We didn’t play our best,” said head coach Skylar Jackson. “One of our six rotation players got injured in the Sapulpa match. But the girls did pretty well picking up the slack with new people in new places.”

Sand Springs got back in the win column with a 25-22, 25-18 win over 5A No. 11 Edison (12-8) before falling 25-18, 25-23 to 5A No. 3 Claremore (18-3) in a battle of spouses, as the Zebras are coached by former Sandite head coach Derek Jackson, current coach Skylar Jackson’s husband.

On Saturday the Sandites went 3-0, winning 25-18, 25-11 against Memorial (3-8) in the first match of the day.

Next they won 25-18, 25-22 against 4A No. 7 Verdigris (12-7) in a match against another former Sandite head coach, Caleb Horton. Finally they won 25-10 and 25-9 against Will Rogers (3-12).

“Winning is important and we are in a very, very tough conference,” said Jackson. “At the end of the day you have to figure out how to win…having more opportunities in front of us in one weekend is good for our confidence.”

Evyn Morrow picked up her second All-Tournament accolade of the season.

“She’s super devoted and works hard nonstop,” said Jackson. “She’s just one of our strongest leaders.”

Also impressing throughout the tournament was freshman Adelynn Ray, who recorded 7 aces in the final match against Rogers.

“The best thing about Adelynn is she just loves to play volleyball,” said Jackson. “It doesn’t really get too big for her, and for a lot of underclassmen that’s one of the worries is that they’re not going to handle the pressure. The pressure doesn’t exist for her and she’s just out there playing ball.”

Sand Springs will take on another top 5A team in No. 5 Regent Prep (8-4) Thursday on the road before hosting 6A No. 7 Owasso (6-3, 2-0) in a return to conference action on September 7th.