Sandite Volleyball Falls 3-0 to Bishop Kelley, Ends Season at Regionals

The Charles Page High School volleyball team wrapped up a 14-17 season Tuesday evening with a 3-0 loss to No. 6 Bishop Kelley (21-12).

“We prepared much better than we played,” said head coach Skylar Jackson. “We know they run two different defenses…we worked on blocking well, we worked on attacking both defenses. We looked really sharp yesterday and we just didn’t play our best tonight.”

Sand Springs fell 25-13, 25-15, and 25-13 to the Comets, who went on to win a 3-0 sweep of No. 11 Mustang (22-8) for their 38th consecutive Regional Championship. The Sandites, meanwhile, have never won a Regional title, and haven’t survived the first round since 2017.

“We’re taking the right steps,” said Jackson. “We’ve just got to figure out our identity as Sand Springs Volleyball.”

The first game against the Comets was only as close as 7-6 before the home team went on an 8-1 run to put establish the tone of the sweep to come.

Sand Springs struggled to adjust to Kate Schneeberg, who doubled as middle blocker and setter, recording four blocks, 31 assists, and six kills, including tips and attacks.

Also posing a challenge was Indiana State-commit Curry Kendall, who amassed a game-high 17 kills as the most powerfully accurate hitter the Sandites have faced this season.

In game two the Sandites actually jumped out to an 8-4 lead with a seven-point run early in the game. Adelynn Ray scored three kills, Jayden Smith and Averi Tippit combined on a block, and Hannah McKelvey scored with a tipped ball during the exciting streak.

The Comets came surging back, however, with an 8-1 run, tying it up on an ace from Kate Strandmark before taking the lead on a pair of errors.

Sand Springs never led again, only getting as close as 13-12 before Schneeberg used a tipped ball to kick off a six point run. The Comets ended game two on a five point run to keep the momentum into set three.

The visitors got as close as 7-6 on a kill from Ray before a service error sparked a nine-point streak that put the game firmly in the Comets’ arena.

Alia DeBerry and Brooklyn Shope scored two kills apiece to make it 18-11 but it was too much of a deficit to overcome and Elle Miller put an end to the Sandites’ season.

Ray led the Sandites’ offense with 9 kills while Evyn Morrow led the defense with 13 digs. Hannah McKelvey had a team-high 10 assists.

The Sandites will be losing seven seniors next year, including four who saw significant playing time. Hannah and Faith McKelvey, Tippit, Morrow, Mikayla Bradford, Natalie Szabo, and Patience Pearce will all graduate in the spring.

“They’re strong at their positions for sure,” said Jackson. “They’re some of our stat leaders. Evyn’s definitely one of our energy leaders on the court. They’re going to leave a big gap next year for sure and our underclassmen are going to have to learn how to fill their shoes just like our current senior class did this year.”

BK 3 CPHS 0 (25-13, 25-15, 25-13)
Kills: BK 42, CPHS 21.
Blocks: BK 4, CPHS 2.
Aces: BK 7, CPHS 1.
Service Errors: BK 5, CPHS 5.
Total Errors: BK 17, CPHS 22.

(Sand Springs Stats)
Kills: Ray 9, Shope 4, DeBerry 3, Smith 3, Morrow 1, H. McKelvey 1.
Assists: H. McKelvey 10, Ray 7, Morrow 2, DeBerry 1, Shope 1.
Digs: Morrow 13, Shope 7, H. McKelvey 7, Ray 5, Smith 2, DeBerry 1, F. McKelvey 1.
Blocks: Tippit 1, DeBerry 0.5, Smith 0.5.
Aces: H. McKelvey 1.

(Bishop Kelley Stats)
Kills: Kendall 17, Gentry 6, Schneeberg 6, Laubach, 5, Williams 3, Liechtl 2, Toon 1, Jackson 1.
Assists: Schneeberg 31.
Blocks: Gentry 3, Schneeberg 2.5, Toon 0.5.
Aces: Williams 2, Strandmark 2, Jackson 2, Johnson 1.

Sapulpa Wins Highway 97 Rivalry - Sandites to Play at Southmoore Tournament Friday

Chants of “let’s play football” rang out through the Ed Dubie Field House as the Sapulpa volleyball team took away the Highway 97 Rivalry trophy from the defending Sandites Tuesday evening.

5A No. 7 Sapulpa (24-11, 2-4) picked up its second Frontier Valley Conference win of the season while depriving Sand Springs (11-12, 0-7) of its first - winning the match 3-1.

Sand Springs lost three closely contested games while running away with the third in one of the most exhilarating matches of the season.

In game one the Sandites trailed by as much as 16-10 before battling back to 22-21 after an ace from Brooklyn Shope, but a pair of kills from Tyla Heard and an ace from Jailey Battles secured the 25-22 win for the road team.

Game two was the highest-scoring set for the Sandites since 2019 but once against Sapulpa came out on top following nine lead changes and fifteen tie scores.

After a Chieftain block tied it up at 11-11 the Sandites won five of the next six rallies and led by as much as 20-15 before Sapulpa came roaring back.

The Sandites had match point four times but Heard tied it up thrice on two kills and a block. A service error for the Sandites tied it again at 27-27 and Sapulpa took its first lead since 8-7 on a kill from Wrigley Adkisson.

A Chieftain error tied it once more and the Sandites once against got match point on a kill from Shope, but this time Jazymyne Cole tied it with a kill.

The Sandites’ final lead came on a Chieftain error, but the visitors won the final three rallies on a kill from Battles and two Sand Springs hitting errors to prevail 32-30.

Complete undiscouraged, the home team stole set three 25-13 with their biggest win against the Chieftains since 2020.

After giving up the first two points to Sapulpa, a kill from Shope sparked a 7-1 run for the Sandites and they never trailed again

Game four was another back-and-forth affair with seven lead changes and 11 tie scores. The Sandites had their final lead at 16-13 but Sapulpa went on a 7-1 run of their own to make it 20-17.

A big-time kill from Patience Pearce sparked a three-point run to tie it at 20-20, but Sapulpa would lead from then on, winning 25-22 on a kill from Heard.

Heard, an Abilene Christian University basketball commit, led all scorers with 15 kills closely followed by Cole with 11. Rylie Steward had 15 assists for the Chieftains and Battles had three aces.

Shope and Jacelyn Smith both recorded double-doubles for the Sandites. Shope had 12 kills, 14 digs, and six aces while Smith had 10 kills and 11 digs.

Hannah McKelvey recorded 20 assists and Adelynn Ray contributed 17. Evyn Morrow led the defense with 31 digs.

Sand Springs will return to action Friday at the Southmoore Invitational. The Sandites will play No. 12 Bartlesville (19-9) at 10:00 a.m., Norman (5-16) at 12:00 p.m., and No. 13 Westmoore (11-8) at 3:00 p.m. in pool play. Bracket play will begin at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday.

Sapulpa 3 CPHS 1 (25-21, 32-30, 13-25, 25-22)
Kills: Sapulpa 37, CPHS 40.
Blocks: Sapulpa 5, CPHS 5.
Aces: Sapulpa 9, CPHS 13.
Errors: Sapulpa 40, CPHS 44.
Service Errors: Sapulpa 8, CPHS 17.

(Sand Springs Stats)
Kills: Shope 12, Smith 10, Tippit 6, Ray 6, Pearce 5, DeBerry 1.
Assists: H. McKelvey 20, Ray 17, Morrow 2.
Digs: Morrow 31, Shope 14, Smith 11, Ray 9, H. McKelvey 8, Tippit 5, F. McKelvey 5, DeBerry 2, Pearce 1.
Solo Blocks: Tippit 1.
Assisted Blocks: Tippit 3, Ray 2, Shope 1, Pearce 1, DeBerry 1.
Aces: Shope 6, H. McKelvey 3, Tippit 2, Morrow 1, Ray 1.

Broken Arrow Sweeps Sandite Volleyball 3-0

The Charles Page High School volleyball team is still looking for its first conference win after falling 3-0 to No. 5 Broken Arrow (16-7, 5-1) Tuesday night at the Ed Dubie Field House.

Sand Springs (11-11) dropped to 0-6 in the tough Frontier Valley Conference despite playing a fairly competitive match against the perennial powerhouse.

The Tigers ran away with the first game, building momentum behind an eight-point run early in the set to go up 17-3.

Sand Springs responded with a five-point streak of its own behind kills from Brooklyn Shope and Averi Tippit, but Broken Arrow got hot once again and closed out the set with an 8-1 run.

The next two games were much closer, however.

After falling behind 12-5 early in game two, the Sandites cut their deficit as close as 16-13 but could never quite tie it up. Broken Arrow pulled away to win 25-19.

Game three stayed close much longer as the Sandites only trailed 10-9 midway through, but from then on it was one step forward and three steps back before Broken Arrow prevailed 25-15.

Despite the loss, the Sandites were impressive at times, extending the rallies with exceptional defense.

Evyn Morrow recorded 21 digs, followed by Adelynn Ray with 12. Jayden Smith showed off on both sides of the ball with eight digs and a team-high six kills to tie Shope. Hannah McKelvey had 10 assists.

The Sandites will look to get back above .500 when they host 5A No. 6 Sapulpa (23-11, 1-4) on Tuesday.

Sapulpa previously beat Sand Springs 2-0 (25-23, 25-12) at the Claremore Invitational, but the Sandites are the defending Highway 97 Rivalry champion after winning the conference match 3-1 last year.

BA 3 CPHS 0 (25-9, 25-19, 25-15)
Kills: BA 34, CPHS 19.
Blocks: BA 2, CPHS 2.
Aces: BA 10, CPHS 5.
Errors: BA 17, CPHS 29.
Service Errors: BA 6, CPHS 8.

(Sand Springs Stats)
Kills: Smith 6, Shope 6, Tippit 4, DeBerry 2, Ray 1.
Assists: H. McKelvey 10, Ray 3, Tippit 1, Morrow 1.
Digs: Morrow 21, Ray 12, Smith 8, H. McKelvey 2, F. McKelvey 2, Tippit 2, Shope 2, Taff 1.
Solo Blocks: DeBerry 1.
Assisted Blocks: Ray 1, Pearce 1.
Aces: Tippit 2, H. McKelvey 1, Morrow 1, Ray 1.

Sandite Volleyball Throttles Will Rogers, Shope Ties School Ace Record

After a tough three-match skid, the Lady Sandite volleyball team is back on track following a dominant 3-0 sweep of Will Rogers High School (8-16) Thursday night at the Ed Dubie Field House.

The Sandites stormed out to a 17-0 start in the first game before the Ropers finally got on the board.

No. 16 Charles Page High School (11-10) won game one 25-5 before easing up and winning the next two 25-13.

“It was good to start with,” said head coach Skylar Jackson. “We let up quite a bit there but it was fine.”

Sand Springs dominated all aspects of the match from start to finish, totaling 36 kills while only allowing four. Most of the Ropers’ points came from Sand Springs mistakes.

Sophomore Brooklyn Shope tied the known school record for aces in a single match with 10, matching Madison Burris’s 2019 performance against McLain. Eight of those aces came during the 17-0 start to game one.

Freshman Adelynn Ray impressed on all sides of the ball, leading the team with 10 kills while also recording 11 assists, nine digs, and four aces. Hannah McKelvey led the team in assists with 23 while Shope led the defense with ten digs.

“It was a good time for that match to take place,” said Jackson. "We lost to Bixby (on Tuesday) but took a set from them and the girls feel pretty good about that.”

The Sandites lost a close first game on the road at Bixby, 25-20, before tying the match up with a 25-23 win.

Sand Springs stormed out to a 9-2 lead early in game two and never trailed, though the Spartans tied it twice at 17-17 and 23-23. A double hit gave the Sandites match point and Averi Tippit served an ace to steal the set.

Bixby (6-15) is unranked due to its strong strength of schedule but the Spartans are 4-1 in Frontier Valley Conference play and have stolen sets from many top teams this season.

The Spartans used a four-point run midway through the third set to break a 9-9 tie and never relinquished the lead. Sand Springs stayed close till 16-14 when a service error kicked off a 9-1 run for the Spartans and a final score of 25-15.

The final game was much closer thanks to a late Sand Springs rally. After falling behind 19-10, the Sandites found a rhythm with Jacelyn Smith scoring three kills in a row with assists from Ray.

Sand Springs was unable to tie it back up but the girls held close before falling 25-19.

Smith led the team with nine kills in that match, followed by Ray with eight. Tippit and Alia DeBerry scored seven apiece. McKelvey had a team-high 17 assists while Ray had 11. Evyn Morrow led the defense with 20 digs, followed by Shope with 16.

“Our girls just continue to work hard and continue to buy in,” said Jackson. “They’re a good, close team. We don’t have a lot of drama, they show up for each other and they work hard for each other. They’re a fun team to coach.”

Sand Springs will return to action Tuesday with a conference home match against Jackson’s former team - No. 5 Broken Arrow (15-7, 4-1). The Sandites are still looking for their first conference win of the season after an 0-5 start with four matches left.

CPHS 3 Rogers 0
(25-5, 25-13, 25-13)
Kills: CPHS 36, Rogers 4.
Blocks: CPHS 1, Rogers 0.
Aces: CPHS 18, Rogers 4.
Errors: CPHS 23, Rogers 20.
Service Errors: CPHS 10, Rogers 5.

(Sand Springs Stats)
Kills: Ray 10, DeBerry 9, Tippit 5, Smith 4, Shope 3, Pearce 3, H. McKelvey 2.
Assists: H. McKelvey 24, Ray 11, Morrow 1, Shope 1.
Assisted Blocks: DeBerry 1, Pearce 1.
Digs: Shope 10, Ray 9, Tippit 6, Morrow 5, H. McKelvey 4, DeBerry 2, F. McKelvey 1, Pearce 1.
Aces: Shope 10, Ray 4, Morrow 2, H. McKelvey 1, DeBerry 1.

Bixby 3 CPHS 1
(25-20, 23-25, 25-15, 25-19)
Kills: Bixby 48, CPHS 34.
Blocks: Bixby 9, CPHS 4.
Aces: Bixby 14, CPHS 11.
Errors: Bixby 35, CPHS 27.
Service Errors: Bixby 9, CPHS 5.

(Sand Springs Stats)
Kills: Smith 9, Ray 8, Tippit 7, DeBerry 7, Shope 3.
Assists: H. McKelvey 17, Ray 11, Morrow 2, Shope 1.
Solo Blocks: Tippit 1, DeBerry 1.
Assisted Blocks: Tippit 1, Shope 1, Pearce 1, DeBerry 1.
Digs: Morrow 20, Shope 16, DeBerry 6, F. McKelvey 4, Smith 4, H. McKelvey 3, Tippit 2, Pearce 1, Casey 1.
Aces: H. McKelvey 3, Tippit 3, Morrow 2, Smith 1, Shope 1, F. McKelvey 1.

Sandite Volleyball Falls 3-1 in Exciting Match Against Owasso

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The difference between an average team and a good team oftentimes comes down to how it responds to adversity. Do they resign themselves to failure after tough losses, or do they learn and grow with their losses?

The No. 16 ranked Charles Page High School volleyball team (10-9, 0-4) has taken some tough losses this season, but thus far has refused to roll over - coming out strong time and time again against higher-ranked programs.

That competitive spirit showed up again in a 3-1 loss to No. 7 Owasso (15-8, 3-0) Thursday night at the Ed Dubie Field House.

“It was good volleyball and I’m just so proud of them for continuing to work hard even though it hasn’t necessarily shown up in the win column,” said head coach Skylar Jackson.

After losing the first set 25-22 the Sandites rallied from a 17-11 deficit in game two to win 25-22 before falling 25-18 and 25-14 against the Rams.

“Last year we played a really really great first match against Union and just couldn’t rebound,” said Jackson. “Even though we played so well, we got hung up on the fact that it’s a loss.”

“(This year) we played Booker T. early, we took them to five (sets), they’re one of the top 5A teams in the state. And I told the girls you have one of two options. We can either keep pushing forward or we can get hung up on the fact that we still lost and do what we did last year.”

“They haven’t gotten hung up on it. They work hard every day in practice and it’s starting to show. Taking sets from a top-ten Owasso is a good day.”

A very good day. In fact, the Sandites have only taken a set from Owasso twice since 2017 as the Rams have won the last eight meetings by a combined 22-2.

Sand Springs played a close opening set with four lead changes, six tie scores, and several strong rallies to stay in it. After falling behind 18-13, Adelynn Ray scored a kill and served two aces to close the gap to 18-16.

Owasso tried to pull away again, leading by as much as 23-19 before Averi Tippit and Jayden Smith scored back-to-back kills to keep it close. The Sandites won three of the final five rallies but couldn’t quite even the score before Madi Hill secured the Owasso victory.

In game two it looked like the Rams would run away with it, jumping out to leads of 5-1 and 17-11.

An Owasso service error gave the Sandites new life and Brooklyn Shope served a pair of aces to make it 17-14. Another Owasso service error kicked off a four-point streak with a pair of kills from Smith as the Sandites tied it up at 19-19.

Kiya Colvin scored a pair of kills as Owasso got back in front, 22-20, but yet another service error sparked the Sandites to win five-straight rallies for the victory.

Tippit and Alia DeBerry combined on a block, Evyn Morrow served an ace, and Shope and DeBerry scored kills to tie the match up.

“We’ve had that talk a lot, that when you’re down you’ve got to find another level to go to,” said Jackson. “So that’s something we’ve been talking about - being ready and working hard until October. They did that tonight.”

In game three, however, the Rams took an early lead and never relinquished it, though the Sandites made several late rallies. After trailing 15-7 midway through they cut it as close as 20-17 late in the match before Owasso won five of the final six rallies.

Owasso ran away with game four, winning eight rallies in a row for a 17-6 advantage that the Sandites couldn’t claw their way out of. After trailing 20-8 the girls cut it as close as 23-14 before a pair of errors put the match to bed.

An offensive adjustment for the Rams was the key difference as they ran a higher volume of their attacks through University of Oklahoma-commit Carley Butler in the final two sets. After scoring only two kills through the first two games, she scored eight in the final two.

Freshman phenom Madi Hill scored 14 kills to lead the Rams while Colvin added 11 to put three Rams in double-digits.

Sand Springs was led by Smith with 9 kills, Hannah McKelvey with 15 assists, Morrow with 23 digs, and Shope with 4 aces.

“I’m always impressed with Evyn Morrow,” said Jackson. “She just absolutely freaking kills it. Alia DeBerry - she hasn’t gotten a lot of playing time this season but she stepped out there on right side and had a really great blocking night.”

“All around, our servicing was great and our offense looked good. We were getting some good big blocks out there. I’m just proud of my team.”

The Sandites will return to action Tuesday at Bixby (4-15, 3-1) as they look for their first conference win of the season. The Spartans have won their past two meetings with Sand Springs.

Owasso 3 CPHS 1
(25-22, 22-25, 25-18, 25-14)
Kills: Owasso 51, CPHS 32.
Blocks: Owasso 3, CPHS 4.
Aces: Owasso 9, CPHS 7.
Errors: Owasso 36, CPHS 34.
Service Errors: Owasso 17, CPHS 14.

(Sand Springs Stats)
Kills: Smith 9, Ray 7, DeBerry 6, Shope 5, Tippit 4, Pearce 1.
Assists: H. McKelvey 15, Ray 9, Morrow 1, Smith 1, F. McKelvey 1.
Solo Blocks: Pearce 2, Tippit 1.
Assisted Blocks: Tippit 1, DeBerry 1.
Digs: Morrow 23, Smith 7, H. McKelvey 6, Ray 5, DeBerry 2, Pearce 2, Shope 1, F. McKelvey 1.
Aces: Shope 4, Ray 2, Morrow 1.

Sandite Volleyball Falls 3-0 at 5A No. 5 Regent Prep

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Averi Tippit scored 8 kills in the match against Regent Prep. (Photo: Charity Emigh).

Sand Springs has been putting itself through the wringer lately with three matches against top-five 5A teams in the past week.

The 6A No. 16 Sandites (11-8) took a trip to Tulsa on Thursday for a non-conference battle with 5A No. 5 Regent Prep (10-4) and fell 3-0 after the Rams surged back from an early game-one deficit.

The visiting Sandites rode a three-game win streak into the match and opened strong, taking an 8-3 lead on aces from Averi Tippit and Adelynn Ray.

Regent cut it to a one-point game four times but didn’t take its first lead till Ellen Jenkins scored a trio of kills for the 21-20 advantage.

A pair of huge digs from Evyn Morrow kept the next rally alive long enough for Jayden Smith to tie it up. Brooklyn Shope served an ace and Tippit scored a kill to make it 23-21, but Jenkins scored two more kills to tie it once more.

Tippit gave the visitors one last lead with her fifth kill of the set, but Evelyn Goodwin and Liv Redman scored back-to-back kills and the Rams secured the 26-24 victory after Alia DeBerry’s attack hit the net just an inch or two short.

In game two the Sandites only led once after the Rams’ opening serve came up short, but the home team won the next four rallies and never looked back.

Sand Springs never got within two points of the Rams, but the set stayed close till 18-15 before the home team got hot and won 25-16.

The final game was the same as the second - super tight till 18-16, then Regent won seven of the final eight rallies to prevail 25-17.

Jenkins led her team to its fifth consecutive win with 22 kills while Meg Goodwin recorded 23 assists.

The Sandites were led by Tippit with 8 kills, Shope with 7, and Smith with 5, while Hannah McKelvey and Ray each had 11 assists. Morrow led the defense with 32 digs.

Sand Springs will return to conference action next Thursday with a home match against No. 7 Owasso (6-3, 2-0) where the Sandites will look for their first Frontier Valley win of the season.

Regent 3 CPHS 0 (26-24, 25-16, 25-17)
Kills: Regent 42, CPHS 25.
Blocks: Regent 0, CPHS 3.
Aces: Regent 7, CPHS 7.
Errors: Regent 22, CPHS 27.
Service Errors: Regent 9, CPHS 9.

Sand Springs Stats
Kills: Tippit 8, Shope 7, Smith 5, DeBerry 3, Ray 2.
Assists: H. McKelvey 11, Ray 11.
Solo Blocks: Pearce 1.
Assisted Blocks: Tippit 2, Ray 2.
Digs: Morrow 32, H. McKelvey 8, Shope 8, DeBerry 7, F. McKelvey 5, Tippit 5, Ray 5, Smith 1.
Aces: Tippit 2, Shope 2, Ray 1, Morrow 1, H. McKelvey 1.