Lady Sandite Volleyball sweeps No. 6 Coweta 3-0

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).