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.