THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Edmond Santa Fe High School Athletics

SAPULPA — Kaeli Robinson torqued her right arm back and unleashed. A split second later, the ball hit the floor at the Chieftain Center, and Edmond Santa Fe claimed the Class 6A state championship. The Wolves finished off Norman North 3-2 (25-17, 18-25, 25-22, 26-28, 15-10) to claim their first state championship since 2013 and their sixth championship in the program's history. "Just had to battle through it," Edmond Santa Fe coach Will Ethridge said of his team surviving a do-or-die fifth set. "You're to drop points to good teams, so you just have to preserver." Norman North, last year's runner-up in four sets against Edmond Memorial, fought off elimination in the fourth set, and advanced the match to a fifth set by winning 28-26. But the Timberwolves weren't able to prevail in the fifth set. "There's going to be some big shoes to fill, I'll tell you that," Norman North coach Stephanie Kane said. "I think their legacy is they set a standard of what Norman North volleyball needs to be, so that the girls coming up know what to do, they know how to be, they know what it takes." Edmond Santa Fe was too much in the final set. Robinson finished the final set with three kills, including two of the Wolves' final three points. Lauren McCarty was also a force at the net in the fifth set with three kills, including her third which extended Santa Fe's lead to 12-9. Rori Chartier got in the scoring mix for Edmond Santa Fe in the fifth set with two aces. Olivia Stenzel was quite popular at the Chieftain Center on Tuesday night. First came the trophy hoisting after fifth-ranked Victory Christian survived a five-set marathon against No. 2 Mount St. Mary, 3-2 (25-23, 11-25, 18-25, 25-21, 18-16). Stenzel, Victory Christian's lone senior, was handed the Conquerors' first-ever state championship trophy, and she was swarmed by her jubilant teammates. Then there was the picture taking. Stenzel, with a gold medallion draped around her neck, enjoyed precious few free seconds as she fielded photo requests. Did she care? Not at all. "This is literally indescribable," Stenzel said, adorned with smile that would not subside. "This is the best way to go out for my senior year. I'm just so excited." She'll graduate from Victory Christian knowing that she captained a Conquerors team that hadn't been in the state finals since its lone appearance in 2006. "I'm just at a loss for words," Stenzel said. "I just can't believe that happened." Oh, but it did. And the Conquerors topped the 5A world by winning three straight five-set matches on Monday and Tuesday. The Conquerors (27-10) overcame No. 3 Cascia Hall before leaving top-ranked Bishop McGuinness in stunned silence on Monday. Then came the state finals — a match that left a raucous crowd in awe as the fifth set progressed. The Conquerors and Mount St. Mary (29-10) were tied 13 different times in the fifth set, including being knotted at 16 until Victory Christian managed to escape with the last two points. Down 17-16, Mount St. Mary's final kill attempt went long, and the Conquerors' overjoyed bench spilled out on the floor as they unseated the Rockets as 5A champions.

THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Edmond Santa Fe High School Athletics

EDMOND SANTA FE WINS 6A VOLLEYBALL CROWN

BEN JOHNSON

News OK | 10/17/2017

PHOTO CREDIT: Santa Fe Athletics