Lee Leslie signs LOI to play college volleyball at Oklahoma Wesleyan University

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By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

Seven Sand Springs High School students signed letters-of-intent Wednesday morning in the Ed Dubie Field House, bringing the grand total of college-bound athletes from the Class of 2017 to fourteen.

Sand Springs has two softball players, two cross-country runners, two baseball players, one basketball player, three football players, one volleyball player, and two soccer players all headed to the next level.

Lee Leslie accepted a volleyball scholarship to Oklahoma Wesleyan University in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. The Eagles are coached by Tracie Gillette and compete in the NAIA and NCCAA. They finished the 2016 season with a 19-11 record. Leslie was a starting player for the Lady Sandites this year, who went 24-14 before falling in the second round of Regionals. 

Lady Sandite Volleyball dominates Highway 97 Rivalry 3-0

Photo: Scott Emigh

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

Sand Springs: 51 kills, 27 errors.
Sapulpa: 17 kills, 24 errors. 

SS Kills: Mutiri 18, Youngblood 9, Burris 4, Kersgieter 3, Cypert 2, Ward 2.
SP Kills: Holland 6, Tyler 4, Hamilton 4, Hoey 2, Blevins 1.

SS Assists: Ward 11, Burris 9, Youngblood 1.
SP Assists: Blevins 10, #16 1.

SS Blocks: Mutiri 4, Cypert 2, Youngblood 1, Burris 1. 
SP Blocks: None.

SS Aces: Burris 4, Youngblood 3, Mutiri 3, Ward 2, Kersgieter 1.
SP Aces: Holland 1.

SS Digs: Kersgieter 5, Mutiri 4, Ward 4, Mudd 3, Youngblood 3, Leslie 3, Burris 1, Taylor 1.

The Sapulpa Lady Chieftain volleyball team (3-12) hosted the No. 15 ranked Charles Page High School (22-13) and the Lady Sandites defeated their Highway 97 rivals in straight sets for the first time since 2013. The last two years also went to the Sandites, but those matches were close 3-2 losses for the Chieftains. Sapulpa hasn't won a varsity volleyball match against Sand Springs since 2012.

Sand Springs came into the match off of a pair of back-to-back losses to No. 7 Broken Arrow (21-10) and 5A No. 5 Collinsville (23-9) and was looking to build some momentum to ride into Regionals. The girls just have two matches left before the Regional Tournament, and will take on 5A No. 6 Coweta (24-15) Thursday. 

Sapulpa won their last match 3-0 with a series of very close sets against Will Rogers and hoped to celebrate Senior Night with a rivalry win, but the Sandites weren't having it.

Sophomore Holly Kersgieter served an ace on the opening rally to set the tone for the game and junior Ohio State commit Gloria Mutiri followed it up with a kill off MaKenzie Ward's set. The Sandites gave up three straight points on errors and a kill by Macaila Holland and briefly gave Sapulpa the lead before going on a ten-point streak for the 12-4 advantage. 

Sapulpa picked up a point on a service error from freshman Devree Youngblood, senior Kyndall Hoey scored a hard spike past Mutiri, and Holland served an ace to cut it to 12-7, but Mutiri got the Sandites back on track with a kill off Ward. Madison Burris served an ace and set up kills for Mutiri Kersgieter to make it 19-8 before Grace Hamilton hit an ace to end a five-point streak.

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Mutiri and Makenna Cypert scored on a block, Mutiri got a kill off Burris, and Ward hit back-to-back aces to make it 23-10. The Chieftains got competitive and Amy Blevins set up kills for Hamilton and Holland, but they were too deep in the hole and gave up the 25-12 loss on an error.

In the second set the Sandites took an early 5-0 lead off four errors and a kill from Mutiri before the Chieftains got on the board with a kill from Holland. Burris scored a solo block, Mutiri followed it with a kill, and Burris added her second ace of the evening before a consecutive contact call made it 8-3. 

Mutiri scored three straight on a kill and two aces to make it 13-6. Burris scored another ace before the game was over and set up a pair of kills for Mutiri to end the game 25-11.

The Sandites struggled with errors in the third set and were basically competing against themselves for most of it. Sapulpa scored only five points in the game, but the Sandites gave up sixteen points on errors.

After Youngblood scored the opening point on a set from Ward, the Sandites gave up six-straight errors, followed by a kill from Hamilton and another error to make it 8-1 in the home team's favor. 

The girls rallied from there and scored seven-straight with a pair of aces and a kill from Youngblood, as well as a pair of blocks and a kill from Mutiri to tie it 8-8. An error gave Sapulpa the lead once again, but Mutiri tied it at 9-9 with a kill, then combined on a block with Cypert to take the lead once and for all. The rest of the game was still neck-and-neck due to continued Sandite errors, but aces from Mutiri and Burris and kills from Youngblood helped push the Sandites to a 25-21 victory for the sweep.

Mutiri led in scoring with eighteen kills, four blocks, and three aces, followed by Youngblood with nine kills, one assist, one block, and three aces. Madison Burris scored five points on four aces and a block, plus nine assists. Ward did the bulk of the setting with eleven assists and added two aces. 

Holland scored six kills and an ace for the Chieftains, followed by Hamilton and Holly Tyler with four kills each. Amy Blevins registered ten assists and one kill. 

The Chieftains celebrated Senior Night before the game and will be graduating eleven players this year. They not only presented their seniors with flowers, but also showed quality sportsmanship in giving flowers to the Sand Springs seniors as well. 

Sapulpa has one more match before Regionals at 5A #6 Coweta (24-15) next Monday at 6:30 p.m.