Lady Sandite Volleyball goes undefeated in day one of Coweta Tournament

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

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The Charles Page High School varsity volleyball team (6-3) won four straight matches Friday at the Coweta Tournament. Heritage Hall (1-9) fell 2-0 with sets of 25-20 and 25-19. Catoosa (1-4) fell 2-1 with sets of 25-19, 23-25, and 15-9. 

SEE RELATED: Sandite Volleyball tacks on two exciting wins at Coweta Tournament

The Sandites took on the home team in their third match of the day and defeated the Coweta Tigers 2-1 in an edge-of-your-seat thriller. The first game was hotly contested in the beginning, but the tide steadily turned in the Sandites' favor. 

Lee Leslie drew first blood with an assist from Madison Burris, then MaKenzie Ward set up kills for Leslie and Gloria Mutiri to make it 4-2. Coweta scored a pair of kills and profited from a Sandite error to take the lead back at 5-4, but Mutiri got in on four straight kills to put the Sandites on top once and for all. Sand Springs went on a run at the end of the game, winning six straight rallies for a 25-13 victory. 

The second game's outcome was nearly just as lopsided in Coweta's favor. The back-and-forth battle for the lead continued till Ward set up kills for Mutiri and Devree Youngblood to tie things up at 14-14. From there Coweta ran away with a long list of faults on the Sandites. Five straight errors and a handful of kills gave the Tigers the 25-16 win. 

In the final set the Sandites regained their footing and left Coweta behind after Mutiri nailed a pair of back-to-back kills for the 5-3 advantage. The Tigers grabbed one point on an error, but Mutiri and Holly Kersgieter added another pair of kills before giving up a point on a service error. Coweta handed up a fault of their own and Youngblood got back in on the action with a shot off Ward, then combined on a block with Kersgieter to double down 10-5. Leslie got back in the fray and Ward scored a solo shot. Youngblood and Leslie blocked a shot to make it 14-6 and the Sandites had plenty of wiggle room. Coweta won the next four rallies somewhat due to defensive indifference on the part of the Sandites, who already had the win in the bag, but ultimately Youngblood smacked a kill off Ward for the 15-10 win. 

Sand Springs breezed through their final match of the day in a 2-0 victory over Edison (2-6). 

Kersgieter scored back-to-back aces to start the match. Kylie Taylor scored a kill off a Mutiri assist, Youngblood took a solo shot, and an Eagle fault gave Sand Springs the 5-0 advantage. Edison picked up their first point on an error from Taylor, but the next seven rallies went to the Sandites. Sand Springs continued to pile on the points until Mutiri wrapped things up with an ace for the 25-6 win. 

In the second game it was Edison who started things off with an ace, but it didn't take the Sandites long to get back in the lead once and for all with an ace from Youngblood. Madison Ward got in the game and served up a pair of back-to-back aces and MaKenzie Ward scored three-straight aces soon-after. 

The Sandites gave up five errors from there before tightening back up. Youngblood made it 22-11 on an assist from MaKenzie Ward. Kersgieter served, dug the return and scored on the dig, then followed it up with an ace. She gave up one point with an error, but followed it up with a kill for the 25-12 win.

The Lady Sandites will return to action bright and early Saturday morning with a 10:00 a.m. match against East Central (5-6). The Cardinals went 1-3 on day one of the tournament with losses to Tahlequah, Claremore, and Catoosa, and a win over Edison. Immediately following that match the Sandites will take on Tahlequah (2-2). Tahlequah started their season Friday with wins over Edison and East Central, but lost to Claremore and Heritage Hall.

At 1:00 p.m. the Sandites will take on Claremore (5-3) in the final round of pool play. Claremore went 3-1 in day one of the tournament, defeating Edison, Tahlequah, and East Central, but lost to Coweta. 

All eight teams will compete in bracket competition. The Sandites have already earned their way into the gold bracket and if they can finish undefeated they'll play at 3:00 p.m. against the number four seed. The second and third-seeded teams will meet at 4:00 p.m. and the Championship match will be at 5:00 p.m.

Undefeated Sandite Volleyball shuts down Catoosa in straight sets

Photo by: Morgan Miller

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

The Charles Page High School varsity volleyball team is off to a great start this year, winning their first two matches by substantial margins. Entering their third year under Head Coach Janna Green, the two seniors on the team got to play against their former head coach in Caleb Horton Thursday night at their home debut against Catoosa. 

The teams took to the road Tuesday for the season-opener and defeated Muskogee (1-1) three sets to one. Varsity won the first game 27-25, lost the second 19-25, but rebounded with solid and decisive wins of 25-19 and 25-21 to secure the win. The JV squad lost their match 2-1 with sets of 18-25, 25-19, and 10-15. The freshman team lost 21-25 and 19-25. 

In their first home match the Lady Sandites took on Catoosa (0-1) and swept all sets at all divisions. The 4A State Quarterfinalists were little match for the vastly improved Sand Springs program that Green has been building. This time last year the Lady Sandites were 0-2 and were dominated 3-0 by both Catoosa and Muskogee.

Sand Springs got off to a fast 3-0 lead and doubled the Lady Indians throughout the game. The Sandites built up a 12-6 lead thanks to hard-hitting attacks from Gloria Mutiri and Lee Leslie. Freshman Tiffany Maxey scored an ace for the Indians but they were unable  to capitalize on it and the Sandites surged forward for a 25-13 finish after a kill from Mutiri.

In game two the Indians were the ones to take the lead after a series of Sandite faults gave up the first four points to Catoosa. Devree Youngblood and MaKenzie Ward combined for a hard block to get the Sandites back on track and the competitive matchup continued till the teams were tied 8-8. Sand Springs took their first lead off a block from Mutiri, but Catoosa's Melissa Velazquez tied things right back up. Mutiri reclaimed the lead before Makenna Cypert's overserve put it at 10-10. From then on Sand Springs never trailed, but the Indians did tie things up four more times before the home team ultimately pulled in the 25-21 win with a kill from Youngblood. 

The final set was another back-and-forth affair before Sand Springs blew ahead from a close 17-16 to a final score of 25-17.

Mutiri was the leading scorer for the evening with twenty-two total kills, including four blocks and two aces. Eleven of her kills came in the third game alone. Youngblood recorded seven kills and Leslie recorded six. Madison Burris and MaKenzie Ward were crucial in setting up the plays with seven and eleven assists, respectively. 

The JV and freshman teams also won their matches with sweeps. JV won sets of 25-16 and 25-17. The freshmen won 25-10 and 28-26.

The Sandites will return to action Monday at Bishop Kelley (1-0) then will play a home match against Jenks (3-1) on Tuesday. Thursday they'll travel to Ponca City (1-1) before wrapping up the week at the Catoosa Tournament Friday and Saturday.