Lady Sandites Place Second at Strother, Kiya Dover Wins Gold

The Charles Page High School girls powerlifting team came up 28 points shy of defending its title at the Strother Invitational on January 19th, but a finished a strong second place behind Kiya Dover’s gold medal.

Dover won despite being quite undersized for her weight class, with top marks in all three events. The heavyweight benched 145 pounds and deadlifted 325 for close victories, but blew out the competition with a 315-pound squat that was 65 pounds heavier than the runner-up’s mark.

Gracey Massey placed third overall at 198. She was third in squat at 255 pounds, fifth in bench at 125 pounds, and second in deadlift at 285.

Bailey Doughty was third overall at 220 but won two of her events. Doughty had the top bench at 120 pounds and the top deadlift at 295, while squatting 210 for fourth.

Paisley Brown placed fourth at 123, squatting 155 pounds and benching 80 for second place in each division and deadlifting 145 for ninth.

Kelsi Hilton was fourth at 157 with a 200-pound squat for fifth and a 115-pound bench for third. Her 265-pound deadlift was sixth.

Hannah George placed fifth at 168 with the best bench of her division at 120 pounds. She was also fifth in deadlift at 240 pounds and sixth in squat at 200.

Kadence Grant placed eighth at 168 with a 205-pound squat for fourth, a 95-pound bench, and a 205-pound deadlift. Tessa Urrey was ninth at 168 with a 170 squat, 105 bench, and 220 deadlift.

Jocelyn Wright placed sixth at 145 with a 190 squat, 95 bench, and 230 deadlift. Laila Mirza was ninth in the same class with the same squat and bench, but deadlifted 215.

Preslie Graham was sixth at 198 with a fifth-place 210-pound squat, a 105-pound bench, and a 230-pound deadlift. Amaia Harp was seventh with a 160 squat, a 95-pound bench, and a 220 deadlift.

Callie Brown placed ninth at 220 with a 115-pound squat, 75-pound bench, and 205-pound deadlift. Brooklyn Buckaloo placed tenth at 132, squatting 175, benching 100, and deadlifting 190.

The junior high team won the Strother meet for the second consecutive year, led by Marlee Dixon in first place at 181 pounds.

Dixon had the top bench at 105 pounds, the top deadlift at 215, and was second in squat at 195.

Kayleigh Felsinger was third at heavyweight with fourth-place finishes in squat and deadlift. She squatted 180, benched 90, and deadlifted 225.

Adelynn Ray finished sixth at 168 but had the top mark in deadlift at 250 pounds. She squatted 135 and was fifth in bench at 95.

The junior high also compete at the Little Axe Invitational on Wednesday and placed third.

Cheyenne Meritt placed second and Ambrielle Chambers was third at 108 pounds. Meritt squatted 105, benched 65, and deadlifted 140 for second, fifth, and second, respectively. Chambers squatted 100, benched 80, and deadlifted 125 for third, first, and third.

Dixon was second at 181, squatting 200 for second, benching 115 for first, and deadlifting 225 for third.

Taliah Rushing placed third at heavyweight with a 175-pound squat, a 100-pound bench for fifth, and a 300-pound deadlift for third.

Ray placed fourth at 165, squatting 145 for fourth, benching 90 for third, and deadlifting 260 for first.

The Lady Sandites will return to action in a few weeks at the McAlester event on February 16th.

Sandite Volleyball Players Receive All-Conference Accolades

The Charles Page High School varsity volleyball team had four players receive Frontier Valley All-Conference accolades this week following a 14-17 season.

Senior libero Evyn Morrow was named to All-Conference First Team after registering an impressive 409 digs and 30 aces.

Freshman Adelynn Ray was named to the Second Team with 40 aces, 102 kills, 241 assists, and 19 blocks.

Receiving honorable mentions were senior Averi Tippit and sophomore Brooklyn Shope.

Sandite Volleyball Falls 3-0 to Bishop Kelley, Ends Season at Regionals

The Charles Page High School volleyball team wrapped up a 14-17 season Tuesday evening with a 3-0 loss to No. 6 Bishop Kelley (21-12).

“We prepared much better than we played,” said head coach Skylar Jackson. “We know they run two different defenses…we worked on blocking well, we worked on attacking both defenses. We looked really sharp yesterday and we just didn’t play our best tonight.”

Sand Springs fell 25-13, 25-15, and 25-13 to the Comets, who went on to win a 3-0 sweep of No. 11 Mustang (22-8) for their 38th consecutive Regional Championship. The Sandites, meanwhile, have never won a Regional title, and haven’t survived the first round since 2017.

“We’re taking the right steps,” said Jackson. “We’ve just got to figure out our identity as Sand Springs Volleyball.”

The first game against the Comets was only as close as 7-6 before the home team went on an 8-1 run to put establish the tone of the sweep to come.

Sand Springs struggled to adjust to Kate Schneeberg, who doubled as middle blocker and setter, recording four blocks, 31 assists, and six kills, including tips and attacks.

Also posing a challenge was Indiana State-commit Curry Kendall, who amassed a game-high 17 kills as the most powerfully accurate hitter the Sandites have faced this season.

In game two the Sandites actually jumped out to an 8-4 lead with a seven-point run early in the game. Adelynn Ray scored three kills, Jayden Smith and Averi Tippit combined on a block, and Hannah McKelvey scored with a tipped ball during the exciting streak.

The Comets came surging back, however, with an 8-1 run, tying it up on an ace from Kate Strandmark before taking the lead on a pair of errors.

Sand Springs never led again, only getting as close as 13-12 before Schneeberg used a tipped ball to kick off a six point run. The Comets ended game two on a five point run to keep the momentum into set three.

The visitors got as close as 7-6 on a kill from Ray before a service error sparked a nine-point streak that put the game firmly in the Comets’ arena.

Alia DeBerry and Brooklyn Shope scored two kills apiece to make it 18-11 but it was too much of a deficit to overcome and Elle Miller put an end to the Sandites’ season.

Ray led the Sandites’ offense with 9 kills while Evyn Morrow led the defense with 13 digs. Hannah McKelvey had a team-high 10 assists.

The Sandites will be losing seven seniors next year, including four who saw significant playing time. Hannah and Faith McKelvey, Tippit, Morrow, Mikayla Bradford, Natalie Szabo, and Patience Pearce will all graduate in the spring.

“They’re strong at their positions for sure,” said Jackson. “They’re some of our stat leaders. Evyn’s definitely one of our energy leaders on the court. They’re going to leave a big gap next year for sure and our underclassmen are going to have to learn how to fill their shoes just like our current senior class did this year.”

BK 3 CPHS 0 (25-13, 25-15, 25-13)
Kills:
BK 42, CPHS 21.
Blocks: BK 4, CPHS 2.
Aces: BK 7, CPHS 1.
Service Errors: BK 5, CPHS 5.
Total Errors: BK 17, CPHS 22.

(Sand Springs Stats)
Kills: Ray 9, Shope 4, DeBerry 3, Smith 3, Morrow 1, H. McKelvey 1.
Assists: H. McKelvey 10, Ray 7, Morrow 2, DeBerry 1, Shope 1.
Digs: Morrow 13, Shope 7, H. McKelvey 7, Ray 5, Smith 2, DeBerry 1, F. McKelvey 1.
Blocks: Tippit 1, DeBerry 0.5, Smith 0.5.
Aces: H. McKelvey 1.

(Bishop Kelley Stats)
Kills: Kendall 17, Gentry 6, Schneeberg 6, Laubach, 5, Williams 3, Liechtl 2, Toon 1, Jackson 1.
Assists: Schneeberg 31.
Blocks: Gentry 3, Schneeberg 2.5, Toon 0.5.
Aces: Williams 2, Strandmark 2, Jackson 2, Johnson 1.

Sandites Sweep Muskogee 3-0 on Senior Night

It was a Senior Night sweep for the Sandites Tuesday night at the Ed Dubie Field House.

The Charles Page High School volleyball team (14-15, 1-7) earned its first conference win of the season, 3-0 against Muskogee (16-13, 0-8) in a dominant performance.

“Our conference is tough,” said head coach Skyler Jackson. “The Frontier Valley is full of teams that are always contending for the State tournament. It’s good to get a win in the conference.”

The visiting Roughers took a 4-0 lead to open the match but Sand Springs soon surged ahead with a 14-point streak led by five aces from Brooklyn Shope and a trio of kills from Averi Tippit.

After losing game one 25-14, Muskogee hung much closer in game two. Muskogee led 9-8 till Adelynn Ray heated up with four aces to put her team out front for the remainder of the set.

The Roughers cut it as close as 15-13 before a kill from Shope kicked off an 8-1 run to put the comeback firmly out of reach. Shope capped the win with another ace at 25-16.

Sand Springs never trailed after 2-1 in the final game, though the Roughers never quite let the Sandites pull away.

It looked like Sand Springs would run away with things after going up 17-8 on kills from Ray, Mikayla Bradford, and Patience Pearce, but the Roughers responded with four in a row to make it 17-12.

Sand Springs finished strong, however, and Evyn Morrow capped off an exciting final rally with a kill at 25-18.

Morrow, a senior, set the tone on defense with 24 digs to accompany her kill and four aces.

“Always exceptional,” said Jackson. “Even her bad days are good days for everybody else. She’s always our spark plug. She just goes hard, loves the game, and loves her team.”

Shope ended the night with six aces while Morrow and Ray had four apiece with a team total of 17.

“We have kind of gone up and down on our serve game, so it was nice to see some consistent, tough serving today,” said Jackson.

Shope led the offense as well with seven kills, followed by Tippit with six. Ray and Hannah McKelvey had nine assists apiece and Jayden Smith had 14 digs.

Before the match, the Sandites celebrated their seven seniors: Hannah and Faith McKelvey, Tippit, Morrow, Bradford, Natalie Szabo, and Pearce.

“It’s exciting, but it’s sad,” said Jackson. “Senior Night means the end of the season is around the corner.”

“Last year’s seniors really left a big hole and these seniors really stepped up and filled the gap. They’ve evenly shouldered the weight and they’ve been real role models and great teammates.”

Sand Springs will look to ride the momentum of its first conference win into a Thursday regular season finale at No. 3 Jenks (27-5, 8-0), who has already clinched the conference title.

The girls also received their postseason assignment this week and will travel to No. 6 Bishop Kelley (18-9) on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. The winner of that match will play for the Regional Championship at 7:30 p.m. against the winner of No. 11 Mustang (22-7) vs. Union (8-22).

“We’re just going to focus on us and continue to figure out how we can be aggressive and things that we can do to get better through that match and through our practices leading up to Tuesday.”

CPHS 3 Muskogee 0 (25-14, 25-16, 25-18)
Kills:
CPHS 24, Muskogee 21.
Blocks: CPHS 2, Muskogee 1.
Aces: CPHS 17, Muskogee 5.
Service Errors: CPHS 8, Muskogee 5.
Errors: CPHS 21, Muskogee 32.

(Sand Springs Stats)
Kills: Tippit 6, Shope 6, Pearce 4, Smith 2, Morrow 1, Bradford 1, Ray 1, Egger 1, Szabo 1.
Assists: H. McKelvey 9, Ray 9, Morrow 2, Tippit 1.
Digs: Morrow 24, Smith 14, Ray 11, F. McKelvey 5, H. McKelvey 2, Pearce 2, Taff 1, Bradford 1, Shope 1.
Blocks: Tippit 1.5, Szabo 0.5.
Aces: Shope 6, Morrow 4, Ray 4, H. McKelvey 2, Tippit 1.

(Muskogee Stats)
Kills: Essex 9, Rodriguez 7, Chyenne 2, Russel 2, Ficklin 1.
Assists: Ficklin 10, Moore 4, Doughty 1, Tremblay 1.
Blocks: Russel 0.5, Lewis 0.5.
Aces: Rodriguez 2, Essex 2, Rainbolt 1.

Sapulpa Wins Highway 97 Rivalry - Sandites to Play at Southmoore Tournament Friday

Chants of “let’s play football” rang out through the Ed Dubie Field House as the Sapulpa volleyball team took away the Highway 97 Rivalry trophy from the defending Sandites Tuesday evening.

5A No. 7 Sapulpa (24-11, 2-4) picked up its second Frontier Valley Conference win of the season while depriving Sand Springs (11-12, 0-7) of its first - winning the match 3-1.

Sand Springs lost three closely contested games while running away with the third in one of the most exhilarating matches of the season.

In game one the Sandites trailed by as much as 16-10 before battling back to 22-21 after an ace from Brooklyn Shope, but a pair of kills from Tyla Heard and an ace from Jailey Battles secured the 25-22 win for the road team.

Game two was the highest-scoring set for the Sandites since 2019 but once against Sapulpa came out on top following nine lead changes and fifteen tie scores.

After a Chieftain block tied it up at 11-11 the Sandites won five of the next six rallies and led by as much as 20-15 before Sapulpa came roaring back.

The Sandites had match point four times but Heard tied it up thrice on two kills and a block. A service error for the Sandites tied it again at 27-27 and Sapulpa took its first lead since 8-7 on a kill from Wrigley Adkisson.

A Chieftain error tied it once more and the Sandites once against got match point on a kill from Shope, but this time Jazymyne Cole tied it with a kill.

The Sandites’ final lead came on a Chieftain error, but the visitors won the final three rallies on a kill from Battles and two Sand Springs hitting errors to prevail 32-30.

Complete undiscouraged, the home team stole set three 25-13 with their biggest win against the Chieftains since 2020.

After giving up the first two points to Sapulpa, a kill from Shope sparked a 7-1 run for the Sandites and they never trailed again

Game four was another back-and-forth affair with seven lead changes and 11 tie scores. The Sandites had their final lead at 16-13 but Sapulpa went on a 7-1 run of their own to make it 20-17.

A big-time kill from Patience Pearce sparked a three-point run to tie it at 20-20, but Sapulpa would lead from then on, winning 25-22 on a kill from Heard.

Heard, an Abilene Christian University basketball commit, led all scorers with 15 kills closely followed by Cole with 11. Rylie Steward had 15 assists for the Chieftains and Battles had three aces.

Shope and Jacelyn Smith both recorded double-doubles for the Sandites. Shope had 12 kills, 14 digs, and six aces while Smith had 10 kills and 11 digs.

Hannah McKelvey recorded 20 assists and Adelynn Ray contributed 17. Evyn Morrow led the defense with 31 digs.

Sand Springs will return to action Friday at the Southmoore Invitational. The Sandites will play No. 12 Bartlesville (19-9) at 10:00 a.m., Norman (5-16) at 12:00 p.m., and No. 13 Westmoore (11-8) at 3:00 p.m. in pool play. Bracket play will begin at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday.

Sapulpa 3 CPHS 1 (25-21, 32-30, 13-25, 25-22)
Kills:
Sapulpa 37, CPHS 40.
Blocks: Sapulpa 5, CPHS 5.
Aces: Sapulpa 9, CPHS 13.
Errors: Sapulpa 40, CPHS 44.
Service Errors: Sapulpa 8, CPHS 17.

(Sand Springs Stats)
Kills: Shope 12, Smith 10, Tippit 6, Ray 6, Pearce 5, DeBerry 1.
Assists: H. McKelvey 20, Ray 17, Morrow 2.
Digs: Morrow 31, Shope 14, Smith 11, Ray 9, H. McKelvey 8, Tippit 5, F. McKelvey 5, DeBerry 2, Pearce 1.
Solo Blocks: Tippit 1.
Assisted Blocks: Tippit 3, Ray 2, Shope 1, Pearce 1, DeBerry 1.
Aces: Shope 6, H. McKelvey 3, Tippit 2, Morrow 1, Ray 1.

Broken Arrow Sweeps Sandite Volleyball 3-0

The Charles Page High School volleyball team is still looking for its first conference win after falling 3-0 to No. 5 Broken Arrow (16-7, 5-1) Tuesday night at the Ed Dubie Field House.

Sand Springs (11-11) dropped to 0-6 in the tough Frontier Valley Conference despite playing a fairly competitive match against the perennial powerhouse.

The Tigers ran away with the first game, building momentum behind an eight-point run early in the set to go up 17-3.

Sand Springs responded with a five-point streak of its own behind kills from Brooklyn Shope and Averi Tippit, but Broken Arrow got hot once again and closed out the set with an 8-1 run.

The next two games were much closer, however.

After falling behind 12-5 early in game two, the Sandites cut their deficit as close as 16-13 but could never quite tie it up. Broken Arrow pulled away to win 25-19.

Game three stayed close much longer as the Sandites only trailed 10-9 midway through, but from then on it was one step forward and three steps back before Broken Arrow prevailed 25-15.

Despite the loss, the Sandites were impressive at times, extending the rallies with exceptional defense.

Evyn Morrow recorded 21 digs, followed by Adelynn Ray with 12. Jayden Smith showed off on both sides of the ball with eight digs and a team-high six kills to tie Shope. Hannah McKelvey had 10 assists.

The Sandites will look to get back above .500 when they host 5A No. 6 Sapulpa (23-11, 1-4) on Tuesday.

Sapulpa previously beat Sand Springs 2-0 (25-23, 25-12) at the Claremore Invitational, but the Sandites are the defending Highway 97 Rivalry champion after winning the conference match 3-1 last year.

BA 3 CPHS 0 (25-9, 25-19, 25-15)
Kills:
BA 34, CPHS 19.
Blocks: BA 2, CPHS 2.
Aces: BA 10, CPHS 5.
Errors: BA 17, CPHS 29.
Service Errors: BA 6, CPHS 8.

(Sand Springs Stats)
Kills:
Smith 6, Shope 6, Tippit 4, DeBerry 2, Ray 1.
Assists: H. McKelvey 10, Ray 3, Tippit 1, Morrow 1.
Digs: Morrow 21, Ray 12, Smith 8, H. McKelvey 2, F. McKelvey 2, Tippit 2, Shope 2, Taff 1.
Solo Blocks: DeBerry 1.
Assisted Blocks: Ray 1, Pearce 1.
Aces: Tippit 2, H. McKelvey 1, Morrow 1, Ray 1.