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.
