Sandite Volleyball Falls 3-0 to Union in Thriller

For the second match in a row, the Sandite volleyball team played excellently as a team but just couldn’t quite find an answer for their opponent’s star power.

Last week it was a 3-2 heartbreaker to 5A No. 11 Booker T. Washington (5-2, 1-1), whose sophomore star Arriana Brown put up 29 kills.

This Tuesday it was a 3-0 sweep by Union (3-5, 2-1), whose senior star Brittney Smith recorded 22 kills.

Sand Springs dropped to 5-5 on the young season and is 0-3 in conference play.

The RedHawks jumped out to an early 6-2 lead in the first set but the Sandites battled back to take a 10-9 advantage on a kill from Brooklyn Shope.

The most the Sandites would lead was 12-10, however, before Union went on a nine-point run.

Sand Springs got the side out on a kill from freshman Adelynn Ray, who has been showing high potential this season. The visitors made the rest of the set competitive but couldn’t quite dig out of the hole, falling 25-18.

Game two was neck-and-neck from the very start with 12 tie scores and six lead changes. Neither team led by more than a point till Union went up 8-6, but the Sandites responded with a three-point run and an ace from Evyn Morrow.

The RedHawks finally began to build momentum late in the game on a deadly combination of low set-pieces by Jayden Smith (each team had their own Jayden Smith) and hammer-fist kills by Brittney Smith that were nearly impossible to dig.

After falling behind 21-16, Sand Springs clawed its way back with kills from Claire Day, Ray, and Averi Tippit before Alia DeBerry served an ace to tie it 22-22.

Brittney Smith and Ray traded kills to tie at 23-23 and again at 24-24, but Brittney Smith got the final kill of the set and Jayden Smith served an ace for the win.

In game three Union jumped out to a fast 5-1 lead, Sand Springs cut it to 8-6, then the RedHawks went on a six-point run to make it 14-7.

Day and Shope scored three kills in a row and Morrow added an ace to cut it to 14-12, but the Sandites never could quite tie it up and ultimately fell 25-20 on an ace from Bailee Mueller.

Day led the Sandites offensively with 10 kills, followed by Jayden Smith with 8, and Ray with 7. Hannah McKelvey had 19 assists and Ray had 17. Morrow recorded 17 digs.

Sand Springs will return to action Friday at the Claremore tournament in a battle of the spouses as current Sandite coach Skylar Jackson leads her girls against her husband, former Sandite coach Derek Jackson.

The Sandites and 5A No. 2 Zebras (11-2) will play at 4:00 p.m. but first the Sandites will take on Collinsville (1-13) at 9:00 a.m., 5A No. 4 Sapulpa (11-5) at noon, and 5A No. 12 Edison (8-4) at 2:00 p.m.

On Saturday they will play Tulsa Memorial (2-2) at 9:00 a.m., 4A No. 7 Verdigris (7-5) at 11:00 a.m. and Tulsa Will Rogers (1-5) at 2:00 p.m.

The tournament will be a small world reunion of Sandites as in addition to the Jacksons, former Sand Springs coaches Wally Poplin (Collinsville) and Caleb Horton (Verdigris) have both coached in Sand Springs and Memorial coach Audra Estrada lives in Sand Springs.

Union 3 CPHS 0 (25-18, 26-24, 25-20)
Kills: Union 43, CPHS 40.
Blocks: Union 2, CPHS 1.
Aces: Union 3, CPHS 9.
Errors: Union 12, CPHS 28.

(Sand Springs stats)
Kills: Day 10, Smith 8, Ray 7, Tippit 5, DeBerry 5, Shope 4, Pearce 1.
Assists: H. McKelvey 19, Ray 17, Morrow 2, Smith 1.
Blocks: Ray .5, Pearce .5.
Digs: Morrow 17, Smith 6, Pearce 5, Ray 3, DeBerry 3, F. McKelvey 2, Day 1, H. McKelvey 1.
Aces: DeBerry 3, Ray 2, Smith 2, Morrow 2.

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 Weekly Sports Roundup: Basketball Sweeps Roughers, Athletes Sign LOIs

Sandite basketball swept the Muskogee Roughers Friday night with the varsity boys winning 72-65 while the girls won 63-41.

The 6A-East No. 6 Lady Sandites (12-5, 5-3) never trailed against No. 14 Muskogee. It was still a close game at 39-31 entering the fourth but the Sandites steamrolled the Roughers 24-10 in the final stanza.

Hailey Jackson scored 24 points to lead all scorers, Taiona “Yanni” Morris added 13, Sakauri Wilson had 9, and three different Sandites scored 5 apiece.

“We’re starting to play better as a unit,” said head coach Josh Berry. “We have more people stepping up.”

Sand Springs will have to cover six games over the final two weeks after meetings with Bartlesville and Booker T. Washington were postponed due to weather. This is the second time the Washington game has been rescheduled.

“This is our second game in 17 days,” said Berry. “It’s a bit different from when we start the season out with eight games in like 14 days.”

“We’re rested and we’re ready to go. It’s nothing that we can control so we just try to get better.”

The No. 11 Sandite boys (9-8, 2-6) snapped a five-game conference skid and got back above .500 overall with a win over the No. 15 Roughers (3-13, 0-9).

The Sandites led 34-27 at halftime but a seven-point run put the Roughers up 45-44 entering the final stanza.

Jamarian Ficklin tied it for the final time at 52-52 but Kooper Kelly hit a pair of free throws and layed up on a steal to put his team ahead for the final three minutes of the game.

Kelly tied his career-high with 20 points to lead all scorers while Luke Hooper also had a career night with 15 points.

“Any conference win, especially on the road, is a good feeling,” said head coach Eric Savage.

“In the past we’ve kind of lost our composure. A couple of times this wear we gave up the lead and never got it back. We showed some growth tonight and were able to weather the storm and get back in control late in the fourth quarter.”

Sand Springs will travel to Bixby on Tuesday and Bartlesville on Thursday before hosting Sapulpa Friday night.

Signing Day

School may have been canceled, but the festivities couldn’t be stopped Wednesday morning at the Ed Dubie Field House. Sand Springs celebrated 10 student-athletes who signed letters of intent to continue their careers at the collegiate level.

Many of the players will get to enjoy Sand Springs connections on their new rosters.

Kyle Morrall, Jacob Blevins, and Drake Fain signed with Northwestern Oklahoma State University to play Division II football. There they will be reunited with former Sandite assistant coach Jason Medrano, who recently took over as Offensive Coordinator for the Rangers.

Brody Rutledge signed to play Division II football at Northeastern State University. There he will join former Sand Springs teammates Gabe Brown, Landon Hendricks, and Blake Jones.

Dominic Ornelas and Jabe Schlehuber signed to play junior college baseball together at Northern Oklahoma College in Enid.

Carson Sargent signed to play Division II soccer at Rogers State University, where she will join former teammates Ali Day and Karsen Lynch.

Payton Robbins signed to play NAIA volleyball at Friends University in Kansas, where she’ll be reunited with Sandites Tehya Johnson, Charley Fahland, and Kasidy Holland.

Madori Bland signed with the stunt team at Drury University, a Division II program in Missouri.

Coleman Hight signed to play NAIA golf at Southwestern College in Kansas.

Baseball

Freshman quarterback Easton Webb has been getting lots of attention as a football prospect, but on Friday he announced his commitment to Oklahoma State University as a baseball player before ever playing a varsity minute.

Sand Springs will kick off the preseason with a home scrimmage against Sapulpa on the 16th at 4:30 p.m.

Girls Powerlifting

The Sand Springs girls powerlifting team took second place at the All-American Lift-a-thon in Shawnee Saturday with two champions. The Sandites had 137 team points, just behind Choctaw with 141.

Madison Thompson won the 220 weight class, sweeping all three events. She benched 140, squatted 285, and deadlifted 295.

Jaden Jordan won at heavyweight, taking first in squat at 335 pounds, first in deadlift at 375, and third in bench at 155.

Melani Skelly placed third, Gracie Worthington placed fourth, and Bailey Doughty and Kiyah Dover placed fifth.

Sandites Place 5th at Union IceFighter Open with 7 Champions

The Sand Springs wrestling team took fifth place at the 31st annual Union IceFighter Open on Saturday with seven champions, three runners up, and 16 total medalists.

Jayden Pait and Jesse Moore won in the high school boys division; Laila Mirza won in high school girls; Jaxon Grigsby, Kaden Pope, Matthew Moore, and Corbin Wooley won in boys’ junior high.

Pait pinned his first opponent at 138 and won three straight decisions from there, beating Union’s Thomas Toteh 6-4 in the finals.

Moore pinned his first two foes at 150, then edged out Jaiden Johnson 2-1 in the semifinals before majoring Brett Cornett 10-2 in the finals.

Mirza pinned all four of her opponents at 120 pounds.

Grigsby pinned three of his four opponents at 98 points and outscored his opponents 27-6.

Pope recorded two pins and a tech fall at 119, outscoring his foes 35-0.

Moore had two falls at 126 and defeated defending junior high state champion Rayvon McClellan 6-3 in the finals.

Wooley pinned three of his opponents at 132 pounds and outscored his foes 24-5.

Gracie Young was runner up at 110; Kasen McAffrey was runner-up at 140; Sawyer Briscoe was runner-up at 89; and Chandler Copeland was runner-up at 80.

Kayden Worthington was third at 132 with five pins. Aayla Asher also placed third, and Brody Ensten, Kelsi Hilton, and Lyla Waldren placed fourth.

Volleyball

Charles Page High School senior Payton Robbins recently signed a letter of intent to play volleyball at Friends University in Wichita, Kansas.

Robbins set the known school record in single-season kills at 290 this season and led the team in aces.

She will be joining former Sand Springs teammates Tehya Johnson, Charley Fahland, and Kasidy Holland, who are all freshmen at the NAIA private school.

Jaden Jordan Named to All-State Softball Team

The Sandite volleyball program donated $450 worth of non-perishables to Sand Springs Community Services on Tuesday, November 8th. Students from 7th through 12th grade collected more 262 pounds of food at its annual team banquet.

Softball

Charles Page High School senior Jaden Jordan was named to the All-Region, All-District, and All-State teams last week, and was named the district’s Offensive Player of the Year.

Jordan batted a team-best .493 this season with a .944 slugging average, .584 on-base percentage, 8 home runs, 39 RBI, 26 runs, and a .984 fielding percentage.

Jordan is the 49th All-State selection for Sand Springs. The Sandites have had an All-State player five years in a row.

Also receiving postseason accolades were Kelsi Hilton, who was named an All-District utility player, and Olivia Alexander, who made the All-Region team.

Bowling

Sandite softball star Olivia Alexander will be trading her cleats for bowling shoes when she enrolls at Oklahoma State University next fall. The senior signed a college letter of intent this week to bowl for OSU.

The Cowgirl bowling team just formed in 2021 and competes in the United States Bowling Congress.

Wrestling

Sandite wrestlers Mitchell Smith and Jaxon “Scout” Trotter were selected to wrestle for Oklahoma in the annual Red River All-Star Dual in Dallas on November 6th. Sandite alum Cody Karstetter was also selected as one of the coaches.

Texas won the dual 36-12 but Smith won his match 6-4, while Trotter fell to Angelo Ferrari, who was a State Champion at Stillwater this past season before moving to Melissa, Texas.

Smith is entering his senior year with a 74-27 record while Trotter is 20-12 entering his sophomore season. Both are returning State qualifiers.

Sand Springs took ninth place in the Joe Zamora / Skyler Holman preseason tournament at Broken Arrow on Saturday with three champions.

In high school action, Kelsi Hilton won the 140-pound girls bracket, Gracie Young placed third at girls’ 105, and Addison Tuttle was fourth at 125. Smith was the 157-pound boys’ runner-up and Ethan White was runner-up at 165.

Kaden Pope won the 119 junior high bracket, Jaxon Grigsby was second at 106, and Colt Chambers was fourth at 126.

Evan Sartin won the 6th/7th-grade 170-pound bracket, Kellen Foster was second at 98 pounds, and Lyla Waldren was second in girls’ 99-pounds.

Football

Sand Springs freshman star Riley Kester has accepted an invitation to play in the Football University Freshman All-American Bowl on December 19th in Naples, Florida.

Since its 2009 inception, the prestigious event has featured notable talents like Trevor Lawrence, JT Daniels, Christian McCaffrey, Bryce Young, and more.

The 6’4”, 265-pound freshman dominated both sides of the ball in junior high and is a starting offensive lineman on the varsity unit.