Volleyball Falls to Booker T. Washington in 3-2 Thriller

In a rematch of last year’s Regional elimination game, once again it was Booker T. Washington who emerged victorious in its season opener Tuesday night at Sand Springs (5-4, 0-2.

The Hornets won an exhilarating five-set conference match, pulling away late after a mostly neck-and-neck battle.

“That’s the best volleyball I’ve seen us play,” said head coach Skylar Jackson.

“We’re not a big team so we have to be aggressive in a lot of the moments that other teams wouldn’t be aggressive. And we saw that in the end of the first, second, third, and most of the fourth set. We just let off the gas and we shouldn’t have.”

Sand Springs lost the first set close but won games two and three for the lead before Washington won the final two.

5’11” sophomore Arriana Brown kept the Sandites on their toes all night, tallying 29 kills and 2 aces.

The Hornets first pulled away with a four-point run to go up 13-9 in the first set, though the Sandites eventually battled back to tie it at 19-19 on an ace from Evyn Morrow. A tipped ball from Brenna Weaver got Washington back out front, however, and they won a close 25-22 on a block from Brooklyn Nerio and Brooklyn Dalgarn.

In game two the Sandites stormed out to a 6-1 lead and never trailed, though a late six-point run from the Hornets cut it as close as 19-17. A kill from Adelynn Ray snapped the Hornets’ momentum and Averi Tippit served an ace to follow it up. Patience Pearce secured the 25-20 victory with a block.

In game three the Sandites trailed through most of the set before scoring four in a row to take the 18-16 advantage. Tippit scored the go-ahead point after making an incredible dig on a slam from Brown that shot like a rocket to the back of the Hornet court.

Plays like that were routine for the Sandites, whose defense repeatedly pushed the Hornets and drew cheers from the crowd as even the most hard-hit and well-placed balls were never given up on.

“They’re a team that works hard and they want to win,” said Jackson. “They want to win for each other and that sounds pretty cliché, but we’ve got eight seniors and there’s a good chunk of them out there all the time. They want to win this year."

A series of offensive errors gave Washington the 23-21 lead but a service error gave the Sandites a spark. Shope followed it with a kill, Morrow served an ace, and Tippit capped off the four-point run with a tip to win 25-23.

In game four, however, Washington used a commanding seven-point run to go up 15-7 and the Sandites never recovered, ultimately falling 25-17.

Weaver opened the tie-breaker set with back-to-back kills to ensure the Sandites never took the lead. The home team got as close as 8-6 before Washington rattled off six points in a row on an uncharacteristic five errors from the Sandites. Lauren Pero and Carly Alexander combined on a block for the 15-7 victory.

Jayden Smith was the offensive star for the Sandites with 14 kills, followed by Ray with 7 and Claire Day with 5. Ray and Hannah McKelvey had 11 assists apiece.

Defensively there was no shortage of star power. Morrow led the team with 22 digs, Ray added 16, and Smith had 9.

The Sandites will take a week off before traveling to Union (1-1, 1-1) for a conference match on Tuesday. The RedHawks have won six in a row against the Sandites since 2018 but last year’s meeting was a close 27-25, 25-19, 27-25.

BTW 3 CPHS 2 (25-22, 20-25, 23-25, 25-17, 15-7)
Kills: BTW 56, CPHS 34.
Blocks: BTW 3, CPHS 5.
Aces: BTW 7, CPHS 7.
Errors: BTW 32, CPHS 30.
Service Errors: BTW 18, CPHS 10.

Sand Springs Stats
Kills: Smith 14, Ray 7, Day 5, Shope 4, Tippit 2, Pearce 1, DeBerry 1.
Assists: McKelvey 11, Ray 11, Morrow 2, Pearce 2, Smith 1, Day 1.
Solo Blocks: Pearce 1.
Block Assists: Ray 3, Pearce 2, Tippit 2, Smith 1.
Digs: Morrow 22, Ray 16, Smith 9, Shope 7, McKelvey 6, Tippit 4, Casey 3, Day 2, Pearce 1.
Aces: Tippit 2, Morrow 2, McKelvey 1, Shope 1.

Volleyball Places Second at Sandite Invitational, Evyn Morrow Named All-Tournament

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The Charles Page High School volleyball team (5-3) failed to defend its home tournament for a third consecutive year, but it did take second place at the Sandite Invitational with a 4-2 record.

“I feel like we’re doing pretty good,” said senior libero Evyn Morrow, who was named to the All-Tournament team. “I think our team chemistry is pretty great this year and I feel like we’re off to a great start.”

Morrow was also named to the All-Camp team at the Licking Summer Camp in Branson where the girls went 8-2 for second place.

“She’s All-Tournament team for good reason,” said second-year head coach Skylar Jackson. “She’s the heart and soul into volleyball and into this team. She’s just a great leader. She’s a ball of energy. It’s just one of those things that comes naturally to her and she’s never going to give you less than 110-percent.”

“We graduated four starters last year that were pretty big for us and the eight seniors that we have this year are really filling in those shoes,” said Jackson.

“They’re each willing to shoulder their part of the load and they’re committed.”

Sand Springs opened the season with a trip to Bartlesville where they won a 3-0 sweep of Enid (0-8) in sets of 25-7, 25-16, and 25-20. But in the second match they lost 3-0 to the home team (2-0) in conference action, falling 25-6, 25-23, and 25-23.

In the Sandite Invitational the girls won 2-0 in a rematch with Enid and 2-1 against Yukon (3-4) before falling 2-1 to Choctaw (3-4) on Friday. After winning the first set 25-17 they lost a pair of close ones 25-23 and 25-23 to end day one.

“The match we lost was a hard-fought match,” said Jackson. “Both teams played really great volleyball and the scores were all close. I told the girls ‘there’s nothing to hang your head about. We played good ball and they played good ball. They just got us this time.’”

On Saturday they lost 2-0 to tournament newcomer Mustang (7-0), who went undefeated to win the title.

The first set was neck and neck with the Sandites leading as late as 17-16 before the Broncos pulled away to win 25-20. Mustang won the second set 25-14.

“We played a good Mustang team and didn’t play as well as we would’ve like to but I think that they rebounded well,” said Jackson.

Jayden Smith let the team offensively with 5 kills while Adelynn Ray, Alia DeBerry, Claire Day, and Averi Tippit scored 3 apiece. Ray also had 7 assists and Morrow recorded 8 digs in the loss.

They bounced back in the final match with a 2-0 sweep of Ponca City (2-5), however, winning 25-16 and 25-17.

The Sandites maintained complete control over the first set and also stormed out to 14-5 lead in the second before the Wildcats rallied to make it as close as 14-12 with a seven-point streak.

Then senior blocker Patience Pearce tipped the tide with a crucial block to kick off a four-point run for the home team and from there the girls never let off the gas.

“It was huge, especially for a kid who’s never played varsity middle,” said Jackson. “She played right side for us last year some and this year she’s in the middle. She’s still learning and asking questions all the time and getting better. She’s got that natural athleticism.”

Smith and Tippit led the attack with 6 kills apiece while Hannah McKelvey recorded 8 assists and Morrow made 9 digs. Tippit, Morrow, and Smith also served up 2 aces apiece.

“I think that we’re going to keep growing through the season and we’ll be pretty great,” said Morrow.

Sand Springs has now placed within the top three all five years of the tournament’s history.

The Sandites will return to action Tuesday at home with a 6:30 p.m. conference match against Booker T. Washington (0-0) in a rematch of last year’s Regional elimination game, which the Hornets won.

“We are really working on being aggressive regardless of who’s across the net from us, because that’s how we’re going to win” said Jackson. “We’re going to be aggressive from the serving line, we’re going to attack big, we’re going to play big defense. So we’re excited to see them Tuesday.”

Full Tournament Results

Matches

Mustang 2-0 Sand Springs (25-20, 25-14)
Mustang 2-0 Enid (25-18, 25-17)
Mustang 2-0 Choctaw (25-20, 25-14)
Mustang 2-0 Ponca City (25-10, 25-13)
Mustang 2-0 Yukon (25-12, 25-16)
Mustang 2-1 Southmoore (25-19, 16-25, 25-17)
Sand Springs 2-0 Enid (25-21, 25-14)
Sand Springs 2-0 Southmoore (25-19, 25-23)
Sand Springs 2-1 Yukon (23-25, 25-22, 25-23)
Sand Springs 2-0 Ponca City (25-16, 25-17)
Southmoore 2-0 Choctaw (25-10, 27-25)
Southmoore 2-1 Yukon (25-13, 22-25, 25-20)
Southmoore 2-1 Enid (18-25, 25-20, 28-26)
Yukon 2-0 Ponca City (25-15, 25-14)
Yukon 2-0 Choctaw (25-22, 25-23)
Yukon 2-1 Enid (23-25, 25-22, 25-23)
Choctaw 2-1 Sand Springs (17-25, 25-23, 25-23)
Choctaw 2-0 Enid (25-22, 25-20)
Choctaw 2-0 Ponca City (25-12, 25-17)
Ponca City 2-1 Enid (30-28, 23-25, 25-16)
Ponca City 2-0 Southmoore (25-19, 25-22)

Standings

6-0 Mustang
4-2 Sand Springs
3-3 Southmoore
3-3 Yukon
3-3 Choctaw
2-4 Ponca City
0-6 Enid

Sandite Volleyball Downs Sapulpa 3-1

Sandite Volleyball defeats Sapulpa in Highway 97 Rivalry play.

The Highway 97 Rivalry trophy is back in Sand Springs.

The 6A No. 15 Sand Springs volleyball team (8-6, 1-4) recorded its first conference win of the season, 3-1, Tuesday night at 5A No. 6 Sapulpa (13-11, 1-4) in a thriller.

After losing the first set 25-18, the Sandites cleaned up their act and won the next three games 25-18, 25-17, and 25-18.

“My husband lost (the trophy) so I had to go get it back,” joked first-year head coach Skylar Jackson after the match. Jackson took the program over from her husband, Derek, who is now at Claremore.

Sapulpa stormed out to an insurmountable 9-1 lead in the first game after four consecutive Sandite attacks sailed out of bounds to kick off an eight-point run. 

The Sandites totaled 11 errors in the first set, while Stailee Heard and Wrigley Adkisson combined for nine kills. Jayden Smith tallied five kills for the Sandites. 

Game two was all tied up at 15-15 till the Sandites ran away with things late in the set. Sand Springs only committed six errors and that proved to be the difference maker. Payton Robbins recorded six kills and two aces for the Sandites.

In game three the Sandites only led 19-16 before winning six of the final seven rallies. Hannah McKelvey’s ace secured the win and this time it was Layla Lenex leading the set with five kills.

Robbins played her best in game four with seven kills and two aces and Lenex won a thrilling final rally on a tipped ball.

Six different Sandites recorded kills in the match, led by Robbins with 20, Lenex with 16, and Smith with 12.

“Our setters do a really great job of making sure all of our hitters are involved,” said Jackson. 

McKelvey recorded a team-high 24 assists and Allie Wright had 18. Olivia DeWitt had a team-high 17 digs and Evyn Morrow added 12.

Robbins was the star of the night with 16 digs and four aces to complement her attacking prowess. 

“She’s the calm in the middle of the storm,” said Jackson. “She’s not a real high emotional player. She doesn’t get real down, she doesn’t get real up. She’s kind of the even tone of our team, so for her to come out and have a good night is important. It’s really important for our team.”

Stailee Heard, an OSU basketball commit, led all scorers with 22 kills, but Adkisson was the only other Chieftain in double digits with 10.  

Sand Springs has now won eight of the last ten meetings with Sapulpa.

“This game is kind of big on its own because it is a rivalry, but we have a tough tournament coming up so it was even more important for us to gain some momentum before going into our tournament,” said Jackson.

The Sandites will play No. 6 Owasso (12-9) at 10:00 a.m. Friday in the first round of the Ram Invitational in a rematch of their 3-0 conference loss. 

They will also play No. 4 Edmond Memorial (16-4) and Southmoore (7-11) in Friday’s pool play. They previously defeated Southmoore 2-1 at the Sandite Invitational.

Bracket play will begin at 10:00 a.m. Saturday with two guaranteed matches.

Sandite Sports Weekly Roundup: Volleyball and Softball Suffer Tough Week

The 14th-ranked Charles Page High School volleyball team has lost five matches in a row, but it’s the way they lost their last match that has coach Skylar Jackson excited.

The Sandites (6-6) fell 3-0 to 4A No. 1 Regent Prep (17-3) Thursday night at the Ed Dubie Field House, but the last two sets were neck and neck.

After winning game one 25-16, the Rams prevailed by close margins of 26-24 and 27-25 for the sweep.

“We’ve really been struggling with this feeling of being second best,” said Jackson. “We’re in a tough class. 6A is tough, so the history has kind of been middle of the road. We’ve really had to work hard against the mentality of being second best.”

“In the last couple of matches it really showed; we really struggled with that. But today, even though we did lose, I think we stayed up much better than we have in our last couple of matches.”

The Sandites have gone through the gauntlet over the past two weeks, falling in 3-0 sweeps to No. 4 Owasso, No. 7 Bixby, and No. 2 Broken Arrow.

The Tigers (13-2, 4-0) dismantled Sand Springs 25-14, 25-7, and 25-8 on Tuesday, dropping the Sandites to 0-4 in Frontier Valley conference play.

Regent Prep started to run away with things in the first set, scoring most of their kills on tipped balls while the Sandites’ power hitters struggled with accuracy early on.

“We made one switch, I put Jayden Smith on the outside,” said Jackson. “But I think we served tougher and kept them out of system. They were unable to get their big hitter the ball as often, or as prime of a set, and that played in our favor.”

“We did adjust to the tip. Obviously they kind of go to that pretty often if they’re off in any sort of way, so we picked that up quite a bit.”

The adjustments worked well, taking the next two sets to extra rallies.

Sand Springs trailed by as much as 16-11 in game two before surging back to a 22-21 lead before University of Central Arkansas-commit Ella Drake scored back-to-back kills for the win.

In the final game the Sandites were down 21-13 before rattling off an eight-point streak, highlighted by some aggressive blocking from Payton Robbins and Averi Tippit.

The decisive point ended up being an ace from Ellen Jenkins that was nearly a service error, just barely rolling up over the net and dropping on the other side.

“I’m just proud of our girls for staying up even though we lost the first and the second,” said Jackson. “We were down a bunch in the third and still rallied, so I’m proud of them for staying up and not just giving it away.”

Robbins scored 8 kills to lead the Sandites and added 10 digs. Olivia DeWitt recorded a team-high 17 digs, Hannah McKelvey had 15 assists, and Layla Lenex had 5 blocks and 4 kills. Sophomore Josie Myers also impressed with 6 kills.

“I told them you always want to work hard because even if you lose, it’s so worth it.,” said Jackson. “If you give it your best and at the end of the day they still get the best of you, then that’s okay. You’re still going to be proud of what you did out there, so they continue to work hard for their teammates.”

Drake scored 17 kills and 2 aces for the Rams, while Meg Goodwin and Ellen Jenkins added 7 kills and 3 aces apiece.

Sand Springs will get a week to recover before traveling to Pryor (2-13) Thursday.

Softball

After Monday’s “Youth Night” game against Bixby was rained out, the Sandites brought the heat to district-leading Jenks (12-2, 7-0) on Tuesday’s Alumni Night game.

Sand Springs (8-8, 2-3) fell in a close 6-4 affair after battling back from a 6-1 second-inning deficit.

Ashyln Clark, Jaden Jordan, Kenzie King, and Addison Tuttle scored for the Sandites.

Addie Hughes (4-7) and Kelsi Hilton (4-1) combined for 12 hits and 9 strikeouts from the circle.

After the game, the Sandites celebrated their many former players who were in attendance.

Sand Springs will return to action Tuesday at home with a district-double header against the combined team of Tulsa Memorial and Booker T. Washington (0-12, 0-4) at 5:00 p.m. for Senior Night. They will also host Bartlesville (9-6, 3-2) on Thursday.

Football

The Sandite 8th graders won their season opener 20-6 at Muskogee while the freshmen posted a 32-0 shutout against the Roughers. Varsity football is taking a bye week to prepare for Bixby on the 9th.

Sand Springs Sports Roundup: Lainey Stanfill scores 4 goals in 9-0 rout of Enid

This story was originally written for the Sand Springs Leader.

The Sand Springs girls soccer team (8-2) has won five straight games and opened district action with a bang on Friday, winning 9-0 against Enid (5-4).

Freshman star Lainey Stanfill scored four goals and Ava Watts scored a hat trick in the rout. Alyssa Cunningham and Carson Sargent also scored goals for the Sandites.

“Laynie’s having a standout year,” said head coach Cisco Chavez. “No words to describe what I’m seeing from her.”

“We’ve got one of the best defenses in the state and we look to keep them healthy and just keep going forward. 

On Tuesday they won 1-0 against Ponca City, with Stanfill scoring the lone goal on an assist from Karsen Lynch. 

The boys soccer team (0-6) is still looking for its first win after falling 5-0 to both Ponca City (2-7) and Enid (7-2). 

“This is a very young team this year,” said head coach Brent Lollis. “We played eight freshmen during the course of that game.”

“We knew going into this year that it would be a rebuilding year. First-year coaching staff, graduated a lot of guys who are good college-level players, so this was about taking a step forward.”

“They were organized, they knew their matchup, and I told them in the locker room at halftime; that was the best they’ve played all season. These freshmen are getting some valuable experience that most 6A freshmen don’t get.”

One freshman in particular stole the show for the Sandites. Midfielder Eddie Hernandez made his first appearance at goalie and notched 15 saves as the aggressive Enid forwards kept him on his toes at all times. 

“He came in for our senior goalkeeper who’s having some health issues. And as I told him at halftime, he just played out of his mind. He led the team, made tons of saves, and kept us in the game the first half.”

Sandite soccer will return to action Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. with district home matches against Jenks before traveling to Choctaw on Friday.

Fishing

Sandite duo Mack Taylor and Parker Haling took second place out of 81 teams at the Oklahoma Bass Nation trail event on Lake Texoma Saturday with five fish totaling 12.1 pounds. They also had the largest single fish of the tournament at 5.45 pounds.

Cruz Norris and Gunnar Casey took 23rd place with a 3.6-pound fish, and Nathaniel Griffin and Jaxon Trotter placed 26th with a 3.15-pound fish.

Golf

The Sandite golf teams competed at the Edison Invitational in Claremore last week, with the girls playing Heritage Hill on Tuesday and the boys on Thursday.

Gina Foster shot 111 and Madison Chambers shot 114 for the girls.

Mason Ward led the boys with an 82. Zane Downey shot 87, Cameron Villines 92, Seth Benton 93, and Drew Paden 97.

Slow Pitch Softball

The No. 16 Lady Sandites (5-4) won a 6-3 battle with Berryhill on Tuesday before going 2-2 at the Haskell Tournament on Thursday. They won 7-5 against No. 4 Jenks and 12-0 against McAlester before falling 13-5 to Ft. Gibson and 12-2 to Haskell.

Tennis

The Lady Sandite tennis team competed at the Skiatook Quad on Tuesday and won a Highway 97 rivalry dual with Sapulpa.

Abbie Dunn won in No. 2 Singles, Caitlin Shipman and Daffaney Snyder won No. 1 Doubles, and Jayden Smith and Gracie Young won No. 2 Doubles against Sapulpa.

Kira Shipley won her No. 1 Singles match against Skiatook, and Shipman and Snyder won their match against Bristow.

Track and Field

The girls track team placed 13th and the boys took 16th at Tahlequah on Friday with one champion. 

Jestin Rawlins won the boys discus throw with a mark of 143 ft. 9 in.

Layne Kirkendoll placed second in high jump with a mark of 5 ft. 2 in., and was fourth in long jump with a distance of 16 ft. 10 in.

High expectations for Sandite Volleyball in new season

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Sandite Volleyball Camp, grades 7-9. Courtesy of Lisa Wright.

A version of this story was originally published in the Sand Springs Leader.

After two of the winningest seasons in school history, expectations are high for the Charles Page High School volleyball team as the 2021 fall season approaches. The girls recently wrapped up Catoosa summer league and youth camp, and are poised for success as they return the bulk of their roster from last season.

“I think we have a veteran group this year,” said Head Coach Derek Jackson. “Last year we were a little bit younger, lot of sophomores, quite a few juniors, a couple of seniors. This year it’s going to be a lot more senior and junior-type kids with maybe a couple of sophomores or freshmen tossed in. So I think it may be the most seasoned team I’ve had since I’ve been here.”

Jackson is entering his third season as coach and owns a 37-29 record. The team’s 19 wins last season are the second-most in school history, and marked the first time that the program had back-to-back winning records.

“Obviously these first two years you’re going to have some bumpiness in terms of a new coach, a new system, and learning that culture. And we’ve had success along the route with that, which is good. Now it’s time to see some of that start to pay off. Summer league was pretty beneficial and showed we could compete with a lot of people.”

“They have been with me for a couple of years, they understand what we’re trying to do, the culture we’re trying to build. I think that’s going to be the difference between here and the very first year. I had a group of seniors that first year, but they hadn’t been with me, they were still learning the ins and outs, and this group kind of already has that under their belt.”

A big part of the team’s recent success has been building out the middle school and junior varsity programs. Last season they added a third middle-school team, and the 7th Grade-only team finished with a winning record in their first year. Jackson has also focused on introducing the sport to younger grade levels, offering a camp for grades 3-9.

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Volleyball youth camp, grades 3-6. Courtesy of Lisa Wright.

“Last year we didn’t get to do the little kids’ camp (due to COVID-19). We were able to do it this year and it went really well. We had about 50 kids between two age groups. A lot of kids had a ton of fun and got a little bit better. That was our motto for the entire camp, ‘lots of fun, little bit better,’ so it was awesome.”

Jackson will have a big talent pool to draw from next season. “We had a really big freshman class last year, 18 kids. A lot of them played club, a lot of them went to clinics and camps. I think honestly that’s one of the biggest things I’m looking forward to is that JV is going to be so much stronger and can push varsity in practices every day.”

Evyn Morrow, Jayden Smith, Hannah McKelvey, and Averi Tippit are expected to make an impact as rising young players, while the team will be anchored by upperclassmen Tehya Johnson, Kasidy Holland, Jacelyn Smith, Olivia DeWitt, Payton Robbins, Charley Fahland, and Layla Lenex.

“I really think this year we really have an opportunity to be the most successful in school history. We’ve had the second and third-winningest seasons. I think this year if big players play big, younger ones step up, we stay together and stay healthy, we have a chance to upset some people that we maybe haven’t ever beat.”

Sandite Volleyball will start the season with a conference home game against Owasso, August 10th at 6:30 p.m. and will host the third annual Sandite Invitational that weekend. They will also compete at the Holland Hall, Edmond Santa Fe, and Glenpool tournaments this year.