Lady Sandite Volleyball sweeps No. 6 Coweta 3-0

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Photo: Morgan Miller

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

The No. 15 ranked Charles Page High School varsity volleyball team (23-13) secured a solid win against 5A No. 6 Coweta (24-16) Thursday night on the road. The Sandites have now beaten the Tigers three times this season, and lost once, but this was their first 3-0 sweep. 

The Sandites got off to a great start in the first set, taking a 7-1 lead before letting the Lady Tigers catch back up. The home team started off with a service error and freshman Devree Youngblood hit an ace. Senior MaKenzie Ward set up back-to-back kills for Ohio State commit Gloria Mutiri and Lee Leslie to give the Sandites a 4-0 lead. 

Sand Springs: 52 kills, 27 errors
Coweta: 33 kills, 23 errors

SS Kills: Mutiri 18, Youngblood 9, Kersgieter 7, Leslie 2, Taylor 2, Bradshaw 2, Ward 2.
CW Kills: Russell 7, Thomas 7, Simpler 6, Casteel 6, Dill 2, Hodges 1, Stiles 1.

SS Assists: Ward 14, Burris 12.
CW Assists: Stiles 16, Thomas 2.

SS Blocks: Mutiri 5, Kersgieter 2, Youngblood 2.
CW Blocks: Russell 2, Thomas 1, Dill 1.

SS Aces: Mutiri 4, Taylor 2, Youngblood 2, Ward 2, Kersgieter 2, Leslie 1.
CW Aces: Casteel 5, Simpler 3.

SS Digs: Kersgieter 14, Mutiri 3, Taylor 2, Leslie 1, Bradshaw 1, Mudd 1, Ward 1.

Coweta freshman Reese Simpler got her team on the board with a tipped ball into a campfire, but the Tigers followed it up with a pair of errors and Mutiri smacked another kill to make it 7-1. 

From there the Home team got back in the game with six-straight kills: three from senior Makenna Russell and a pair of aces from Hannah Casteel to tie it up. Casteel hit a service error for the Sandite side-out, Mutiri scored on a block, and Leslie hit an ace. It was neck and neck from there with the Tigers tying it up with a pair of kills from freshman Linzy Dill and a combined block from Russell and Kaila Thomas. 

Sand Springs finally began to pull away once and for all, winning eight-straight rallies to make it 24-14. Thomas scored her third point of the game to end the streak, but Simpler faulted on the serve to give the game to the Sandites. 

Sand Springs committed only two errors, making it one of their best sets of the season. Coweta committed eleven errors and scored thirteen kills, while the Sandites only needed fourteen kills for the dominating win. The home team never once lead and only tied it three times.

The next two sets would be a lot closer, though the Sandites still lead 73% of the time and the home team only lead for seven rallies between the two games. 

Like the first game, the Sandites got off to a great lead at 8-3 before giving up five straight on two errors, a block by Russell, and a pair of aces by Casteel to tie it at 8-8. It was back and forth from there and this time the Tigers took the lead at 13-12 with a kill from Thomas. Sand Springs reclaimed the lead with a combined block from Youngblood and Holly Kersgieter and held it till Simpler added back-to-back aces to take the lead 20-19. Mutiri scored two-straight for the Sandite lead, then Russell scored two-straight for the Tiger lead. 

After falling behind 23-21, the Sandites used a timeout and came back onto the court pumped up after a "SwiftStrong" chant and scored four straight for the victory. Mutiri scored a kill, then a block to tie it. Kylie Taylor served an ace and Mutiri netted the win on a block.

Sand Springs scored a match-high twenty-one kills in the second set as the Tigers held themselves to a mere four errors against the Sandites' eleven.

The third game was equally competitive with the score tied ten times, though the Tigers only lead twice. Sand Springs pulled to a 6-3 lead with an ace from Mutiri before committing three-straight errors and giving up the lead on a kill from Thomas.

It was the Sandites' turn to go on a run from there with a kill from Youngblood, a pair of errors, and a pair of aces from Ward to make it 11-7. Coweta buckled down with kills from Claire Hodges and Dill and a pair of errors tied it at 11-11. Neither team managed to win two-straight rallies till Heather Stiles faulted on the serve and Mutiri served back-to-back aces to make it 18-16. 

Thomas and Kersgieter exchanged kills then Kersgieter added her second ace of the evening to make it 22-18. Sand Springs nearly had it wrapped up at 24-19 before giving up a pair of errors and an ace to Simpler before finally putting away 25-22 on a Madison Burris set and Mutiri kill. 

Sand Springs committed fourteen errors against seventeen kills in the third set while Coweta committed eight errors and scored eight kills. 

Mutiri lead both teams in scoring with eighteen kills, five blocks, and four aces, followed by Youngblood with nine kills, two blocks, and two aces. Ward and Burris split setting duties with fourteen and twelve assists, respectively. 

Coweta spread out their scoring with seven kills and a block from both Russell and Thomas. Simpler and Casteel each had six kills and Casteel lead both teams with five aces. Stiles handled almost all of the setting with sixteen assists. 

The Sandites have won six-straight sets for two-straight matches and will play their final match of the regular season next Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. at No. 18 Bartlesville (12-17).

 

Sandite of the Week: Payton Scott rushes for 3 touchdowns and 197 yards against Sapulpa

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By: Sandite Pride Editorial Board

Charles Page High School junior tailback Payton Scott was selected as this week's Sandite of the Week for his outstanding performance in the Highway 97 Rivalry football game last Friday.

Scott has been the Sandite workhorse this season, carrying 183 times for 687 yards and 7 touchdowns and has been in on nearly 60% of offensive plays this season. 

The Sandites hosted Sapulpa Friday and dominated their foes 35-7. Scott carried 39 times for 197 yards and 3 touchdowns and accounted for just under 50% of the entire Sandite offense. He was aided by the powerful Sandite O-line which constantly opened up holes for him and in a few cases even pushed him forward for extra yardage.

Scott picked up a first down on the first offensive play of the game with a 17 yard rush to midfield. He went on to pick up a total 40 yards on a 72 yard drive before capping it off with a 2 yard touchdown run for the 7-0 lead. 

On the second Sandite drive he totaled 40 yards once again, this time on even fewer carries thanks to a 27 yard run into the Chieftain redzone. Once again he had the scoring run from the one yard line to make it 14-0.

He didn't get long to rest as the salty Sand Springs defense forced a turnover less than two minutes later. He picked up a first down on the first snap with a ten yard run. On the next play he took a handoff from QB Hunter Greathouse, then reversed it back to Greathouse who threw a deep 46-yard pass to Kasey Bales at the three yard line. Greathouse scored on a keeper on that drive.

The Sandites got the ball to start the second half and needed less than two minutes to score thanks to yet another 40 yard drive by Scott, which included a thirty yard run and a five yard run to score and make it 35-0.

He saw a little more action throughout the game before Sand Springs started bringing in the backups, but he finished with his third-highest rushing game of his career and second best this season. 

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.

Varsity Boys Cross Country give best performance at OSU 5K since 2012

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Photo: Virgil Noah

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

The Charles Page High School Cross Country teams traveled to Stillwater this weekend for the OSU Cowboy Jamboree and competed against runners from more than forty schools. 

Varsity Girls 5K

18:34.9 Cheyenne Walden 1st Place
21:40.2 Alexis Davis 44th Place
24:44.9 Sara Abbet 144th Place
25:11.4 Elizabeth Watts 157th Place
26:52.4 Stephanie Genn 196th Place

Varsity Boys 5K

18:03.5 Aden Baughman 56th Place
18:57.7 Kaegan Murray 111th Place (PR-0:27)
19:32.1 Jacob Garbey 156th Place
19:45.4 Nelson Yazzie 178th Place
19:48.8 Jaden Weiser 183rd Place
20:09.7 Ian Baustert 206th Place

JV Girls 5K

25:54.6 Chezney Kelley 57th Place (PR-0:11.1)
28:01.8 Kaitlyn Walden 107th Place
28:10.6 Madison Englestead 111th Place (PR-0:45.3)
29:18.9 Madelynn Adams 136th Place
29:32.0 Lauren Barkdull 138th Place
30:14.7 Lily Reed 150th Place
36:26.3 Hope Pollard 191st Place

JV Boys 5K

20:48.0 Danny Murray 73rd Place (PR-0:46.6)
20:50.4 Phillip Elleman 78th Place
20:52.2 Josh Ivy 81st Place
20:56.4 Jaelyn Jackson 88th Place
21:10.5 Austin McCaskey 102nd Place
21:43.9 Nathan McKnight 140th Place
24:09.2 Russell McCaskey 290th Place (PR-0:06.6)
25:05.6 Alex Newport 334th Place

Junior High Girls 3200

12:12.5 Kalea Fleming 2nd Place

 

Three-time State Champion Cheyenne Walden secured her seventh-straight first place finish with a time of 18:34.9, a full 29 seconds ahead of her closest competitor and 1:14 over the third place finisher. Walden and Shay Staton, of Bartlesville, were the only two runners from Oklahoma to finish in the top-ten. The Lady Sandites competed in a joint 5A/6A 5K race, but Walden's time also would have given her first place in the 2A/3A/4A race with a 35 second lead on the top finisher in that division. Overall the girls placed 18th out of 33 schools with an average time of 23:24.8.

Freshman Chezney Kelley led the JV girls with a personal-record 25:54.6 finish for 57th place. Her time would have earned her 174th in varsity. The JV girls finished in 13th place out of 16 teams with an average time of 28:11.6.

The varsity boys were led by Aden Baughman with a time of 18:03.5 for 56th Place. The boys placed 24th of 38 teams with an average time of 19:13.5, their best showing at the Jamboree since 2012 when they had State Qualifier Andrew Coleman. The Sandites have improved by 1:14.3 since 2014 and have their first State Qualifier since Coleman in Baughman, who placed 69th at State last year as a freshman.

Danny Murray set a PR of 20:48 to lead the JV boys in 73rd Place. The JV boys took 17th of 36 teams. 

The Sandites will return to action this Saturday at the Chile Pepper Festival in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Last year Walden rode an eight-straight winning streak before coming in runner-up at Fayetteville, twelve seconds behind Jackson, Missouri's Chelsea Drum. Drum's 17:46.23 performance that year was her personal-best to-date. She is now a freshman at Ole Miss. Walden's personal best is 17:35.02 and she has won her last seven-straight events, but will face tough competitors from as many as seventy schools from several states. 

 

Lady Sandite Volleyball dominates Highway 97 Rivalry 3-0

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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.

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. 

Lady Sandite Softball takes second place at Tahlequah Tournament

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Photo: Scott Emigh

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

The Charles Page High School varsity softball team (24-7) traveled to Northeastern State University this weekend for the Tahlequah Tournament and came in second place by a single run. After winning their first four games, the Lady Sandites met the Union Redskins (25-10) in the finals. Both teams came in runners-up in their districts this past week and both are looking to put their best foot forward in their upcoming Regional Tournaments.

SEE RELATED: Jacie Taber pitches no-hitter in 1-0 tournament win over Muskogee
SEE RELATED: Elizabeth Luttrell's three-run homer secures 4-0 shutout over Moore
SEE RELATED: Lady Sandite Softball hammers Jay 14-2 in three innings
SEE RELATED: Sydney Pennington pitches no-hitter in 8-1 victory over Muldrow

Union came through the larger of the two pools and had to win five games to get to the finals. The Redskins won 9-1 over Tahlequah (19-12), 9-1 over Fort Gibson (26-9), and 10-1 over Booker T Washington (8-23) in day one. On Saturday they topped Locust Grove (11-19) 16-0 and Berryhill (15-19) 7-2 to earn their way into the championship round. 

The Sandites did themselves in early in the top of the first, giving up three hits, an error, and a pair of passed balls. MacKenzie Addis hit a single to start the game. Sammy Ibison reached on an error and Lexy Dobson singled to load the bases. 

Sophomore pitcher Jacie Taber (9-5) struck out Sammy Dutton swinging, but Britton Clark singled to score Addis and reload the bases. Ibison and Dobson both scored on passed balls before Taber struck out Erika Reed and Toni Weese to bring the inning to a close.

The Sandites failed to get on base in the bottom of the inning and neither team reached in the second. 

The Redskins added their fourth run in the top of the third. Taber struck out Dutton and Clark, but gave up a single to Dobson and walked Ibison and Reed to load the bases. Ibison scored on a wild pitch, but further damage was averted as freshman catcher Sabrina Usher caught a foul ball from Weese to end the inning and strand the runners.

The Sandites had their big inning in the bottom of the third. Cameron Clemons reached on an error, Elizabeth Luttrell singled, and Felicity Horn hit a single to score Clemons. Jessica Collins hit a two run double to bring in Luttrell and Horn, but was left stranded as Taber and Sydney Pennington both sent balls to Dobson in center field.

Both teams got their defense in check in the fourth inning and neither team got on base again till the sixth. Reed was walked in the top of the inning but was left stranded and Pennington was stranded on second after hitting a double. 

Taber got the loss on the mound despite giving up only four hits, two earned runs, and three walks against eight strikeouts. 

The Lady Sandites have only two games left this season before the Regional Tournament. The girls will host Skiatook (11-13) Tuesday at 5:00 p.m. and will wrap up the regular season Thursday at Bartlesville (12-19). 

Sydney Pennington pitches no-hitter in 8-1 victory over Muldrow

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By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

The Charles Page High School varsity softball team (24-6) finished pool play 4-0 Saturday at the Northeastern State University high school tournament in Tahlequah after topping Muldrow (14-16) 8-1 behind undefeated senior pitcher Sydney Pennington (5-0). The Oklahoma State commit pitched five strikeouts and seven walks with no hits and one run in the three inning game. 

SEE RELATED: Jacie Taber pitches no-hitter in 1-0 tournament win over Muskogee

SEE RELATED: Elizabeth Luttrell's three-run homer secures 4-0 shutout over Moore

SEE RELATED: Lady Sandite Softball hammers Jay 14-2 in three innings

The Lady Sandites jumped on the Bulldogs early in the top of the first as Felicity Horn drew a walk and Jessica Collins singled. Pennington hit a single and Horn scored on a passed ball to get the girls on the board. Madelyn Blair hit a single to score Collins, Pennington advanced home on a throw, and Sabrina Usher sacrificed to score Blair for the 4-0 lead. 

It took Pennington a few at-bats to find her rhythm, pitching for the first time in over two weeks, and she walked the first three batters to load the bases. Payton Watts grounded out score Ashlynn Flute, but it would be the lone run of the game. Pennington struck out the next batter swinging and the rest of the game went about the same.

In the top of the second Elizabeth Luttrell singled, Horn reached on an error, Collins singled, and Jacie Taber reached on error to score Luttrell and Horn. Taber and Collins were left stranded, however,

Pennington struck out two, walked one on balls, and struck two with the pitch in the bottom of the second, but despite loading the bases, she pulled out the inning with a strikeout.

Freshman Sabrina Usher doubled in the top of the third and advanced to home on a throw. Kimi Presnell singled and scored on a single from Luttrell to make it 8-1, and Pennington struck out two batters in the bottom of the inning to win the game 8-1.