Gloria Mutiri commits to Ohio State University for volleyball

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By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

Charles Page High School senior Gloria Mutiri is the first Sandite of the Class of 2018 to officially declare her college intentions. The 6'2" left handed outside hitter announced her commitment to NCAA Division One Ohio State University this past weekend.

Mutiri has been the leading scorer all three years at Sand Springs, which is remarkable considering she only began playing volleyball in the eighth grade. In her time as team captain she has helped guide the ladies to their first winning season in years and has also been a major factor as a two-year starter on the girls' basketball team. 

She has been named Sandite of the Week twice in the last year, once for volleyball and once for basketball. She averages more than 4 kills and 3 digs per set this season and has recorded 55 solo blocks and 41 aces. Her season-best is 31 kills against Tulsa NOAH, though she also scored 30 against Bixby and 29 against Union in 5-set shootouts. 

The Ohio State Buckeyes are currently ranked seventeenth in the nation with a 10-2 ranking, having lost 3-2 to No. 13 BYU and unranked Missouri State. They finished last season 25-10 overall, 12-8 in the Big Ten, and 11-3 at home. Head Coach Geoff Carlston is in his ninth season at the Buckeye program and has gone 171-104 in his career there. Their last season came to a close at the NCAA Regional Semifinal with a 3-2 loss to Wisconsin.

Edit: This article previously identified Mutiri as a senior in the Class of 2017, which was incorrect.

 

Lady Sandite Volleyball upsets No. 14 Bixby Spartans 3-2

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By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

The Charles Page High School varsity volleyball team is continuing to impress in what could quite possibly be one of the best years in Sandite Volleyball history. It's been a long time since the girls have had a winning season, and they currently hold a 20-11 record and are ranked sixteenth by the OSSAA Coaches' Poll, despite the fact that just last week they upset the No. 10 Union Redskins (8-10). This past weekend the Lady Sandites went 6-2 at the Catoosa Port City Classic, and Tuesday they scored yet another upset over the No. 14 Bixby Lady Spartans (10-10).

At the Port City Classic this weekend, the Sandites defeated 5A No. 11 Claremore (12-16) 2-0 (25-23, 25-16), 4A No. 8 Catoosa (14-15) 2-0 (25-12, 25-16), 5A No. 5 Collinsville (17-6) 2-1 (25-22, 14-25, 15-12), 5A No. 7 Coweta 2-1 (23-25, 25-12, 15-4), 4A No. 1 Metro Christian (27-6) 2-0 (25-23, 25-19) and 5A No. 6 Shawnee 2-1 (21-25, 25-22, 15-11). They lost 2-0 to 4A No. 3 Victory Christian (18-5) in pool play with close sets of 25-23 and 25-21, and were eliminated in bracket play with a rematch against Metro Christian who won 2-0 with sets of 25-19 and 25-16.

Located at the 41st St. and H97 intersection, next to Super Save.

The Sandites were neck and neck with the Spartans for most of the match Tuesday, sometimes giving up the lead, but always competing. The Sandites sided out on a service error to start the game 1-0 and Lee Leslie set up Gloria Mutiri for a kill. Rachel Fisher returned the favor for the Spartans, but Mutiri tacked on another, followed by two Spartan errors, then Mutiri and Makenna Cypert combined on a block for the 6-1 advantage.

Bixby had the edge from there and battled back to tie it up at 10-10 with a kill from Fisher. Fisher and Mutiri both wore 21 on their uniform and the two were in a shootout for most of the match.

After Fisher briefly gave her team the 11-10 lead, the Sandites went on a run with a pair of kills from Leslie, a shot from Mutiri, and an ace from Devree Youngblood to make it 15-11. The Spartans tried to keep up from there, but the Sandites pulled ahead for a 25-18 win. Leslie scored a pair back-to-back aces late in the match and Mutiri added one as well.

The second set was marred by errors for the Sandites who handed Bixby nearly as many points as they earned. The first four Spartan points of the set were from Sandite errors, but the home team quickly took an 8-4 lead with kills from Mutiri and Holly Kersgieter after cleaning up the errors. 

The Spartans started to play then and scored a series of kills of their own and capped it off with an ace from Kendra Horowitz to tie it at 8-8. The teams exchanged a pair of service errors and continued to battle closely till Mutiri and Kersgeiter gave their team a 12-10 edge, followed by a pair of Spartan faults. 

Bixby tied it up again at 15-15 as Kayla Little and Sophie Childs combined to block one of Mutiri's hard-hitting spikes. The Sandites briefly trailed after Gaby Justus took the lead for the Spartans, but Kersgieter scored an ace to tie it at 21-21. The Sandites gave up three-straight errors from there, however, and Little notched the game-winner at 25-22 to tie the match.

The third set also went to the Spartans who benefited from thirteen Sandite errors. Tori Holt entered the game for the Spartans and notched five kills in the set. Sand Springs trailed by as much as 17-11 midway through the game before battling back to tie it up at 23-23 with an ace from Kendall Wise. Bixby came out of a timeout to score on a hit from Little and a Sandite error clinched the game for the Spartans to take the 2-1 lead.

The Sandites cleaned up their act a bit in the fourth set and the Spartans had to put in extra effort for a match-best eighteen kills. The game got off to a good start with an ace from Baylee Mudd followed by three-straight Spartan errors. The Spartans tied things up at 8-8, but Sand Springs went back on the run and held the lead till Holt hit an ace at 14-14. 

Youngblood took the lead back from the Spartans at 17-17 and Kersgieter scored back-to-back kills for the lead. The game tied up four more times from there and went into extra points. Tied at 24-24, Mutiri took the lead, Little tied it up then took the lead for the Spartans. A Spartan collision tied things up and a consecutive contact call gave the Sandites the lead. The set ended as Justus sent a spike out of bounds and the Sandites secured the win at 28-26. 

The final set was a "never count yourself out" type of game as the Spartans took the early lead and held it to the very end. Bixby lead by as much as 8-4 after Little scored three-straight, but the Sandites got within a point at 10-9 after back-to-back kills from Mutiri. Mudd built a campfire on a tipped ball to make it 12-11 and a Spartan error tied the match. The Spartans committed another pair of errors and Madison Burris set up Mutiri for the game-winner, 15-12. 

Mutiri lead in scoring for the Sandites with 30 kills, followed by Kersgieter with 15, Leslie with 8, and Youngblood with 7. Fisher and Little split the scoring for Bixby with 18 kills each, followed by Holt with 9, Justus with 7, and Childs with 6. Burris was the leading setter for the Sandites with 20 assists, followed by MaKenzie Ward with 19. 

The Lady Sandites have only six matches left this season before the Regional playoffs. They'll return to action Thursday at Booker T. Washington (8-16). Freshmen start at 4:00 p.m., followed by JV at 5:00 and Varsity at 6:00. 

Sandites of the Week for August through September

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By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

Football season may have just started, but the high school sports season is well under way. We had initially planned on waiting till school started to begin naming a Sandite of the Week again, before realizing that some sports started several weeks before the school year. Out of fairness to the hardworking athletes who gave excellent performances over the last month, we have decided to retroactively name a Sandite of the Week back to August 13th when the first week of high school athletics ended.

August 7 through 13: Sydney Pennington

The athletic season began on Tuesday, August 9th for the Lady Sandite Softball team on a trip to the Claremore Festival where the girls split with a 13-0 shutout win over Mannford and a 5-0 loss to Coweta. Pennington scored two runs on three at-bats against the Lady Pirates, each from a single. Against Coweta she had a perfect batting performance with a single and a double on two at-bats.

On Friday the Sandites traveled to the Broken Arrow Tournament where they amassed a 4-2 record. In the opening game against Owasso, Pennington landed one of only three hits for the Lady Sandites in a 2-1 loss. In the next round the girls got payback on the defending State Champions from Choctaw. After being defeated 4-3 in the State Finals last year, the Sandites avenged themselves with a 4-1 victory in which Pennington scored two runs, one on a fielder’s choice and one on a home run. In the third game of the day the girls handled Putnam City North 3-1. Pennington scored a run and went to the mound for the first time this season. She didn’t give up a single earned run and allowed only four hits against seven strikeouts.

On Saturday the girls dropped a 6-2 loss to Durant and Pennington scored one RBI and hit two singles on three at-bats. Pennington went back to the mound for a 4-1 defeat of Edmond North and Pennington scored two runs on two walks. She allowed only one run, five hits, and zero walks against two strikeouts.

In the tournament finale against the host team, the Sandites prevailed 3-1 to take fifth place out of sixteen teams. Pennington scored one run and two RBI with a perfect batting performance. Two singles, one double, and a home run.

Pennington is a senior and is verbally committed to Oklahoma State University. She is the daughter of Amy and Brett Pennington. This is her third time being named Sandite of the week.

August 14 through 20: Jacie Taber

Charles Page High School sophomore Jacie Taber entered week two of softball with a 2-1 record from the mound, but a series of impressive games bumped her up to 5-1 by the end of the week.

In the first game of a Tuesday night double header against Norman, Taber didn’t give up a single run in the 4-0 shutout. She allowed only three hits and three walks against six strikeouts. In game two she got on base with a double and scored in the 10-0 run rule shutout.

On Thursday the Lady Sandites played a double header against their Highway 97 rivals from Sapulpa. They won the first game 6-0 and the second game with a 10-0 run-rule shutout. In game two Taber got it done on the mound and at the plate, scoring one run and two RBI on three hits for a perfect batting average with two singles and a double. In only five innings she pitched ten strikeouts and only gave up one hit and two walks.

On Friday they headed to the RSU Festival in Claremore and Taber scored a run with a single in an 11-0 shutout run-rule victory over Muskogee. In the next game they played last year’s 5A State Runners-Up and defeated Pryor 3-0 with Taber on the mound. In five innings, Taber gave up only two hits and five walks and struck out ten batters.

Taber is the daughter of Amy and Ronnie Taber. Her father and two older brothers are stars on the Sandite football team. Ronnie played on the State semifinal team in 1988. Jacob, a former SOTW, just graduated after leading the team to the State Finals as Defensive Captain and is currently a freshman at Fort Hays State, while Josh made a great season debut this past weekend as a receiver and defensive back. This is Jacie's first time as Sandite of the Week.

August 21 through 27: Gloria Mutiri

CPHS junior Gloria Mutiri is a 6’2” left-handed middle hitter who has only been playing since the eighth grade. But despite only discovering the sport a few years ago, you would think she was born on the court. Mutiri has been the leading scorer all three years at Charles Page and is one of the top competitors in the entire state.

This was a less than stellar week for the Sandite Volleyball team as a whole, going 2-4 for a seventh place finish at the Broken Arrow Tournament. But Mutiri excelled, averaging nearly 5 kills and 5 digs per set.

The Lady Sandites dropped a close one to 4A No.4 Victory Christian. They won two sets 26-24 and 25-22, but couldn’t pull it together for the whole match. Mutiri smacked down 22 kills and 5 blocks in the exciting match.

At the Broken Arrow Tournament the team struggled with communicating and gave up several close matches that could have gone either way. In the first match, Mutiri got into a shootout with Malia Leatherland of Tulsa NOAH Home School and both scored 31 points in the wild 3-2 loss. The Sandites won the first two games 25-16 and 29-27 before the Jags rallied for wins of 29-27, 25-20, and 15-13.

The next match was mostly a blowout by No. 3 Norman North, but the Sandites didn’t go down without a fight. They were the only team to win a set against Norman North in pool play and prevented the shutout with a 25-20 win. The other three games only scored a total 27 points for the Sandites, however.

Mutiri posted 23 points and 9 aces in a 3-1 win over Moore during pool play, then added 19 in a 3-0 victory against Moore in the placement match. In between matches against Moore, the girls played a tough one against Bartlesville, losing 3-0 in hotly contested sets. The Bruins didn’t win a single set by more than five points. Over the course of the tournament Mutiri scored 23 aces in only 19 games.

Mutiri is the daughter of the late Reverend Chantal Mutiri and has four sisters, three of whom also attended Charles Page. She is a two-year starter on the varsity basketball team and has been named Sandite of the Week once before for basketball.

August 28 through September 3: Cheyenne Walden

Sand Springs will be hard pressed to ever find a runner as gifted, hard-working, and sportsmanlike as senior Cheyenne Walden. The three-time Cross Country State Champion and three-time Track State Champion not only beats her competitors by impressive margins, but she then stops at the finish line to cheer them on and congratulate them when they finish.

Walden has broken her one-mile personal record two weeks in a row with first place finishes in both events. The Sandites rarely participate in one-mile runs and this was the first year she’s officially clocked one since the Sapulpa race in 2013. In the first race this year, two Saturdays ago, she beat her PR by eight seconds with a 5:23 mile at Kiefer. This past Saturday she shaved another two seconds off for 5:21 at Sapulpa, beating her closest competitor by fifteen seconds.

This is Walden’s fifth-straight Cross Country victory. She went undefeated in the state of Oklahoma her junior year, and only came in runner-up one time at the Fayetteville Chile Pepper Festival.

Walden is the daughter of Angela Rhodes and Alvin Walden. Her sister, Kaitlyn Walden is a freshman this year and has also been performing well in JV and finished her mile in 7:07 for sixth place. This is Cheyenne’s second time being named Sandite of the Week.

Sandite of the Week is a weekly recognition given to any one person with significant ties to the Sand Springs community who accomplishes remarkable achievements during the Sunday through Saturday week preceding the award. Prior achievements may be noted in the article, but do not bear direct influence on the selection committee which only considers prior week accomplishments. Candidates may be nominated by anyone by emailing SanditePrideNews@gmail.com. The award is not given to anyone in consecutive weeks, but any recipient may be nominated and awarded again in the future, so long as the weeks are not consecutive. Final selection is made by a majority vote of the Sandite Pride Editorial Board.

Businesses or organizations seeking to sponsor the Sandite of the Week award may contact the above email for inquiries.

Lady Sandite Volleyball knocks off No. 10 Union in beautiful upset

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By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

The No. 10 ranked Union Redskins (5-5) probably expected little competition from the No. 17 Sand Springs Lady Sandites (13-9). Union’s only losses before their journey to Sand Springs were to top-ten teams. Unfortunately for them, the Sandites’ ranking is misleading.

The Charles Page High School varsity volleyball team had recently gone 2-4 at the Broken Arrow Invitational, but that record doesn’t show that they were one of only two teams there to win even a single set against No. 2 Norman North (12-2). It also doesn’t show that six of the ten games they lost were by five points or less.   

The Redskins got off to a fast start on the Sandites in the first set before giving up three points on errors. Madison Burris and Gloria Mutiri combined on a block to tie things up at 4-4 and Mutiri scored a kill for the lead.

Union went on a five-point run from there, but the Sandites won eight-straight rallies to reclaim the advantage. Mutiri and Holly Kersgieter each scored several kills off Burris and Lee Leslie, and Madison Ward scored the first ace of the game.

The Sandites were up 16-11 when Union went on another streak. Kendall Cotter scored a pair of aces, Gabbie Inman and Paris Hornor both registered kills, and the Redskins took the 19-16 lead before freshman Devree Youngblood broke the streak with a spike off Burris. Union continued to outscore Sand Springs till a 24-19 score looked like they had it all wrapped up.

The Sandites had other plans.

Mutiri scored off Kenzie Bradshaw, Kylie Taylor served an ace, Ashley Barrows gave up a point on an error, and MaKenzie Ward set up Mutiri to narrow the score to 24-23. Barrows scored a kill to win the set for Union, but the Sandites had shown they were here to play.

The second set was far closer and neither team allowed the other to go on a run this time. The longest scoring-streak either team managed was four rallies. The game was tied up six different times, but the Sandites led six different times and only allowed the Redskins to lead once.

Union tied things up at 15-15 with a kill from Chloe Click, then took the lead on a pair of errors. They held the advantage for only five rallies before giving it up on an error at 18-18 and never recovered. Mutiri took the lead at 20-19 off a set from MaKenzie Ward, Kersgieter served an ace, then scored again after a Union time out. The final minutes were back-and-forth on scoring, but Sand Springs never relinquished the lead and ultimately won 25-23 on a kill from Mutiri.

The third game belonged explosively to the Sandites. After giving up the first three rallies to Union on errors, the Sandites tied things up at 4-4 and took the lead with back-to-back aces from Burris. Union never tied it and never even got close to leading again.

The Sandites scored seven aces in the third game: two from Burris, two from Kersgieter, two from Kendall Wise, and one from Mutiri. The host team had doubled down on their visitors 22-10 midway through the game. The Redskins tried to rally, but they were too far in the deficit and Sand Springs won 25-17.

The visitors found their feet in the fourth game and led for most of it. Sand Springs battled heavy in the last minutes and got within a few points, but Union prevailed 25-22 to force a fifth set.

The final game started off a tad rocky for the Sandites with some communication errors and campfires, but after tying it up at 5-5 with a kill from Mutiri, the Sandites took the lead and never looked back. Kersgieter scored the go-ahead point, Mutiri and Leslie combined on a block, Hornor committed an error, Mutiri added another kill, and Mutiri and Leslie combined on yet another block for the 10-5 lead.

The next five points were decided by errors and the Redskins closed the gap to 12-9 with a tipped ball from Inman. Kersgieter almost saved a shanked dig that went OB, but the ball caught the antenna for the point. Morgan Livingston hit an ace, and the Redskins threatened at 12-11.

Union got into the net on the next rally and Wise served an ace to make it 14-11. A four-touch call gave Union a point, but MaKenzie Ward set up Youngblood for the game-winner.

Mutiri led the Sandites in scoring with twenty-nine kills, five blocks, and two aces, followed by Kersgieter with a season-best fourteen kills, two assists, and four aces. Youngblood was next in on the action with a season-best ten kills, and Wise also scored a season-best with five kills and four aces. Burris had her best night of the season with nineteen assists, followed by MaKenzie Ward with eighteen.

The Lady Sandites will get a full week off after playing twenty matches in twenty-one days. They’ll return to action next Tuesday in an away match at Owasso. Owasso is ranked fifth in 6A with a 4-0 record. Freshmen begin play at 4:00 p.m., Junior Varsity is at 5:00 p.m. and Varsity is at 6:00 p.m.

Lady Sandites drop straight sets to Bartlesville at BA Tournament

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By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

The No. 18 ranked Charles Page High School varsity volleyball team (11-8) is 1-3 at the Broken Arrow Tournament after dropping their first match of the silver bracket Saturday morning. 

The Lady Sandites got off to a great start in the first set against the No. 20 Bartlesville Bruins (3-7) with a 7-0 lead. MaKenzie Ward set up Devree Youngblood for the opening kill and Holly Kersgieter scored an ace on the side out. Lee Leslie scored a pair of kills and Gloria Mutiri added one as well.

The Sandites gave up a pair of points on errors, but Madison Burris and Mutiri scored on a pair of blocks to make it 10-2. Mutiri followed up with a pair of solo blocks soon after, but the Bruins finally started to compete. 

Sand Springs gave up a point on an illegal block and the Bruins capitalized with an ace. That gave them the momentum they needed to surge towards a 25-19 finish. 

The second set was competitive from the get-go, though the Sandites did lead for much of it. The Bruins took the lead at 10-9, but Mutiri and Leslie combined for a block to tie it up. Bartlesville regained the lead right after on a consecutive touch call and never relinquished it from then-on. They won that set 25-21. 

The third set was marred by communication errors, but the Sandites still managed to hang tight. Bartlesville won that one 25-20 to sweep the match. 

Mutiri led in scoring with eleven kills and give blocks, followed by Kersgieter with six kills and two aces. Ward registered eight assists and Burris had seven. 

The Sandites will return to action at noon against the winner of Moore (1-11) vs No. 15 Southmoore (3-4). 

Lady Sandites dominate Moore Lions 3-1 in Broken Arrow Tournament

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By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief
Photo: Morgan Miller

After dropping the first two matches of the Broken Arrow Volleyball Tournament Friday morning, the Charles Page High School Lady Sandites (11-7) got back in the win column with a 3-1 victory over the Moore Lions (1-11). 

The Sandites took a quick 3-0 lead on errors before Bri Maxwell scored the first kill of the game. Gloria Mutiri scored the first Sandite kill on an assist from MaKenzie Ward for the 6-2 advantage and soon followed it up with an ace. A pair of kills from Kaylee Walker helped Moore close the gap to 8-7 before the Sandites pulled back ahead with a pair of aces from Ward. 

The Sandites gave up three straight errors soon after and Walker and Ashley Vap blocked an attack from Madison Burris to tie it up at 11-11. The teams battled back and forth from there with the Lions taking a brief lead on an ace from Walker before Burris got payback with a solo block of her own. Mutiri scored a kill on a set from Ward, then combined with Burris for another block. Lee Leslie added a kill, Moore committed a fault, and Devree Youngblood served an ace for the 19-14 advantage. Moore closed the gap once more to 21-20 before Sand Springs went on a run with Ward scoring a kill and setting up attacks for Holly Kersgieter and Leslie for the 25-20 win.

In the second set it was Moore who took an early advantage, surging to a 12-5 lead before a service error broke their momentum. Madison Ward scored a kill and the Lions committed a series of faults to cut their lead to 14-12 before going on another run to make it 18-12. Mutiri came to the rescue soon after with four straight aces and Kersgieter added a kill to tie it up at 21-21. Moore picked up two points on errors, but Kersgieter scored another kill and MaKenzie Ward hit a pair of aces en route to a 25-23 Sandite victory.

The third set was a shootout in the beginning before communication problems tied up the Sandites and a series of campfires and errors gave Moore the 14-8 lead. Kersgieter scored back-to-back aces to make it 17-13, but the Lions wouldn't slow down and Maxwell scored three straight kills to win it 25-15.

The fourth game looked like it would belong wholly to the Lions after they started 5-0 with kills from Maxwell, Bri Prescott, and two aces from Walker. A service error from Walker got the Sandites on the board and Burris scored an ace of her own. Mutiri and Leslie combined to block Maxwell and a Lion error cut the lead to 5-4.

Sand Springs tied it up at 7-7 with a kill from Mutiri, and the girls took the lead as Mutiri served four straight aces. Prescott broke it up with a kill, but Kersgieter took a turn hitting and scored a pair of kills. Youngblood capped off a series of errors with an ace to push the advantage to 19-10 and MaKenzie Ward and Mutiri added some late kills for the 25-12 win.

Mutiri led in the scoring with 23 kills and nine aces, followed by MaKenzie Ward with eight kills, four aces, and a team-high eleven assists. Kersgieter also had eight kills and two aces. Leslie and Youngblood scored three kills apiece and Madison Ward scored two. 

The Lady Sandites placed third in their pool with a 1-2 record after dropping matches to the Northeast Oklahoma Association of Homeschools (3-2) and No. 3 Norman North (10-2). The girls will play in the Silver bracket tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. against No. 20 Bartlesville (2-7). If they lose their first match they'll play for seventh place at noon. If they win, they'll play for fifth place at 1:30 p.m.