Sandite Volleyball Falls 3-1 in Exciting Match Against Owasso

View fullsize

The difference between an average team and a good team oftentimes comes down to how it responds to adversity. Do they resign themselves to failure after tough losses, or do they learn and grow with their losses?

The No. 16 ranked Charles Page High School volleyball team (10-9, 0-4) has taken some tough losses this season, but thus far has refused to roll over - coming out strong time and time again against higher-ranked programs.

That competitive spirit showed up again in a 3-1 loss to No. 7 Owasso (15-8, 3-0) Thursday night at the Ed Dubie Field House.

“It was good volleyball and I’m just so proud of them for continuing to work hard even though it hasn’t necessarily shown up in the win column,” said head coach Skylar Jackson.

After losing the first set 25-22 the Sandites rallied from a 17-11 deficit in game two to win 25-22 before falling 25-18 and 25-14 against the Rams.

“Last year we played a really really great first match against Union and just couldn’t rebound,” said Jackson. “Even though we played so well, we got hung up on the fact that it’s a loss.”

“(This year) we played Booker T. early, we took them to five (sets), they’re one of the top 5A teams in the state. And I told the girls you have one of two options. We can either keep pushing forward or we can get hung up on the fact that we still lost and do what we did last year.”

“They haven’t gotten hung up on it. They work hard every day in practice and it’s starting to show. Taking sets from a top-ten Owasso is a good day.”

A very good day. In fact, the Sandites have only taken a set from Owasso twice since 2017 as the Rams have won the last eight meetings by a combined 22-2.

Sand Springs played a close opening set with four lead changes, six tie scores, and several strong rallies to stay in it. After falling behind 18-13, Adelynn Ray scored a kill and served two aces to close the gap to 18-16.

Owasso tried to pull away again, leading by as much as 23-19 before Averi Tippit and Jayden Smith scored back-to-back kills to keep it close. The Sandites won three of the final five rallies but couldn’t quite even the score before Madi Hill secured the Owasso victory.

In game two it looked like the Rams would run away with it, jumping out to leads of 5-1 and 17-11.

An Owasso service error gave the Sandites new life and Brooklyn Shope served a pair of aces to make it 17-14. Another Owasso service error kicked off a four-point streak with a pair of kills from Smith as the Sandites tied it up at 19-19.

Kiya Colvin scored a pair of kills as Owasso got back in front, 22-20, but yet another service error sparked the Sandites to win five-straight rallies for the victory.

Tippit and Alia DeBerry combined on a block, Evyn Morrow served an ace, and Shope and DeBerry scored kills to tie the match up.

“We’ve had that talk a lot, that when you’re down you’ve got to find another level to go to,” said Jackson. “So that’s something we’ve been talking about - being ready and working hard until October. They did that tonight.”

In game three, however, the Rams took an early lead and never relinquished it, though the Sandites made several late rallies. After trailing 15-7 midway through they cut it as close as 20-17 late in the match before Owasso won five of the final six rallies.

Owasso ran away with game four, winning eight rallies in a row for a 17-6 advantage that the Sandites couldn’t claw their way out of. After trailing 20-8 the girls cut it as close as 23-14 before a pair of errors put the match to bed.

An offensive adjustment for the Rams was the key difference as they ran a higher volume of their attacks through University of Oklahoma-commit Carley Butler in the final two sets. After scoring only two kills through the first two games, she scored eight in the final two.

Freshman phenom Madi Hill scored 14 kills to lead the Rams while Colvin added 11 to put three Rams in double-digits.

Sand Springs was led by Smith with 9 kills, Hannah McKelvey with 15 assists, Morrow with 23 digs, and Shope with 4 aces.

“I’m always impressed with Evyn Morrow,” said Jackson. “She just absolutely freaking kills it. Alia DeBerry - she hasn’t gotten a lot of playing time this season but she stepped out there on right side and had a really great blocking night.”

“All around, our servicing was great and our offense looked good. We were getting some good big blocks out there. I’m just proud of my team.”

The Sandites will return to action Tuesday at Bixby (4-15, 3-1) as they look for their first conference win of the season. The Spartans have won their past two meetings with Sand Springs.

Owasso 3 CPHS 1
(25-22, 22-25, 25-18, 25-14)
Kills: Owasso 51, CPHS 32.
Blocks: Owasso 3, CPHS 4.
Aces: Owasso 9, CPHS 7.
Errors: Owasso 36, CPHS 34.
Service Errors: Owasso 17, CPHS 14.

(Sand Springs Stats)
Kills: Smith 9, Ray 7, DeBerry 6, Shope 5, Tippit 4, Pearce 1.
Assists: H. McKelvey 15, Ray 9, Morrow 1, Smith 1, F. McKelvey 1.
Solo Blocks: Pearce 2, Tippit 1.
Assisted Blocks: Tippit 1, DeBerry 1.
Digs: Morrow 23, Smith 7, H. McKelvey 6, Ray 5, DeBerry 2, Pearce 2, Shope 1, F. McKelvey 1.
Aces: Shope 4, Ray 2, Morrow 1.

Sandite Volleyball Falls 3-0 at 5A No. 5 Regent Prep

View fullsize

Averi Tippit scored 8 kills in the match against Regent Prep. (Photo: Charity Emigh).

Sand Springs has been putting itself through the wringer lately with three matches against top-five 5A teams in the past week.

The 6A No. 16 Sandites (11-8) took a trip to Tulsa on Thursday for a non-conference battle with 5A No. 5 Regent Prep (10-4) and fell 3-0 after the Rams surged back from an early game-one deficit.

The visiting Sandites rode a three-game win streak into the match and opened strong, taking an 8-3 lead on aces from Averi Tippit and Adelynn Ray.

Regent cut it to a one-point game four times but didn’t take its first lead till Ellen Jenkins scored a trio of kills for the 21-20 advantage.

A pair of huge digs from Evyn Morrow kept the next rally alive long enough for Jayden Smith to tie it up. Brooklyn Shope served an ace and Tippit scored a kill to make it 23-21, but Jenkins scored two more kills to tie it once more.

Tippit gave the visitors one last lead with her fifth kill of the set, but Evelyn Goodwin and Liv Redman scored back-to-back kills and the Rams secured the 26-24 victory after Alia DeBerry’s attack hit the net just an inch or two short.

In game two the Sandites only led once after the Rams’ opening serve came up short, but the home team won the next four rallies and never looked back.

Sand Springs never got within two points of the Rams, but the set stayed close till 18-15 before the home team got hot and won 25-16.

The final game was the same as the second - super tight till 18-16, then Regent won seven of the final eight rallies to prevail 25-17.

Jenkins led her team to its fifth consecutive win with 22 kills while Meg Goodwin recorded 23 assists.

The Sandites were led by Tippit with 8 kills, Shope with 7, and Smith with 5, while Hannah McKelvey and Ray each had 11 assists. Morrow led the defense with 32 digs.

Sand Springs will return to conference action next Thursday with a home match against No. 7 Owasso (6-3, 2-0) where the Sandites will look for their first Frontier Valley win of the season.

Regent 3 CPHS 0 (26-24, 25-16, 25-17)
Kills: Regent 42, CPHS 25.
Blocks: Regent 0, CPHS 3.
Aces: Regent 7, CPHS 7.
Errors: Regent 22, CPHS 27.
Service Errors: Regent 9, CPHS 9.

Sand Springs Stats
Kills: Tippit 8, Shope 7, Smith 5, DeBerry 3, Ray 2.
Assists: H. McKelvey 11, Ray 11.
Solo Blocks: Pearce 1.
Assisted Blocks: Tippit 2, Ray 2.
Digs: Morrow 32, H. McKelvey 8, Shope 8, DeBerry 7, F. McKelvey 5, Tippit 5, Ray 5, Smith 1.
Aces: Tippit 2, Shope 2, Ray 1, Morrow 1, H. McKelvey 1.

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

View fullsize

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 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.