VOLLEYBALL UPDATE: DEWEY IS STATE BOUND; BARTLESVILLE SLATED FOR REGIONALS TUESDAY; WCS SEASON ENDS
Bartlesville High School’s Emma Parsley (16) sets up the ball during an earlier season game. The Lady Bruins play in Class 6A regionals in Bixby on Tuesday.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
Dewey High School’s Marcella Ward prepares to send one over the net during earlier season play. The Lady Bulldogers won their regional tournament and head to state on Thursday.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
By Mike Tupa
Oct. 14, 2025
BARTLESVILLE AREA SPORTS REPORT
Dewey High School is on the final slope that leads to the top of the volleyball mountain.
Coming off last week’s Class 3A regional championship title, the Lady Doggers will travel Thursday to Carl Albert High School (Choctaw) for what might be the team’s first-ever appearance at state.
Or at least a very, very rare occurrence.
Meanwhile, Bartlesville will board the bus Tuesday for the Class 6A regional playoffs hosted by Bixby.
The Bartlesville Lady Bruins will need only two wins to qualify for state for the first time since 2010.
But Wesleyan Christian School won’t be returning to the Class 3A state tournament for the second-straight year. The rebuilding Lady Mustangs still advanced to the final in their Holland Hall regional last week.
But Holland Hall yanked out the victory.
Following are more details.
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Dewey High School volleyball players surround head coach Hayley Harris after the team won regionals hosted by Dewey. The Lady Bulldoggers open state tournament action on Thursday.
Photo courtesy of Dewey Bulldoggers Volleyball
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DEWEY
The Lady Doggers (23-7) — who hosted a regional tournament for the first time in approximately 20 years — battled past Oklahoma Union, 3-1, and Corn Bible Academy, 3-2, in last Thursday’s regional.
Dewey’s climb to the state tourney has been incredible.
This year’s seniors won only two games each their freshmen and sophomore seasons.
But after marked improvement last season, the team put it all together this year with Hayley Harris as head coach.
In the regional semifinal, Oklahoma Union won the first set — but Dewey bolted back to win the next three sets and the match.
That was only a warm-up for the nail-biting drama against Corn Bible.
How dramatic?
Corn Bible shucked the Lady Mustangs in the first two sets and led 22-14 in the third set.
That’s kind of like standing hip deep in a mud hole with a tidal wave about to crash down.
Somehow, Dewey dug itself out of the morass.
The catalyst for Dewey's amazing comeback was freshman Marcella Willard.
“She completely took over,” said Harris. “She really pulled us out of the hole.”
Then, in the fifth and final set, Corn Bible popped out to a 7-0 lead.
“After two timeouts our girls finally pulled it together … Nevaeh Straley pulled us out of a huge hole,” Harris said. “Again, Callie Posch in the middle on the blocks shut them down.”
As mentioned, the battle against Corn Bible started out in the wrong direction for Dewey.
“The first set was a little ugly and we also lost the second set,” Harris said. “Our momentum was so low. Corn Bible was such a strong defensive team. … Those girls were getting almost everything up. That third set our girls knew what was on the line.”
That didn’t stop Corn Bible from springing out to the 22-14 lead. But thanks to Willard, Straley and Posch and other players, Dewey overcame the huge deficit and won the next two sets.
“All nine of my players, every single player, did their job,” Harris said. “They all played phenomenal games. Lacey Nichols had some tremendous attacks. … She just reads the court well.”
Harris highlighted several other players as well, both for the regionals and the season in general.
Olivia Croucher aided Dewey’s chances with her serving and "C.J. Jones had a lot of really good saves. Isabella Villanueva was an absolute monster at libero. … My hitters trusted her.”
Setters Kaylee Cole and Rylan White “worked their tails off,” Harris said.
Dewey opens state play in Thursday’s quarterfinals at 1 p.m. against No. 1-ranked Metro Christian (28-2).
If they were to win, the Lady Doggers would play in the semifinals at 6:15 p.m. Friday. The state championship match is set for 2:30 p.m. on Saturday.
Thursday’s other three quarterfinal matchups are: Rejoice Christian (25-9) vs. Casady (19-11), 9:30 a.m.; Heritage Hall (18-9) vs. Chouteau-Mazie (31-5), 11:15 a.m.; and Southwest Covenant (26-10) vs. Holland Hall (24-11), 2:45 p.m.
Dewey is in the same bracket with Southwest Covenant and Holland Hall.
During the regular season, Metro Christian downed Dewey in their only meeting, 2-0, in the Wesleyan Tournament.
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Bartlesville High School’s Avery Matney (10) plays in a recent game. The Lady Bruins go to Bixby on Tuesday for Class 6A regional playoffs.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
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BARTLESVILLE
Following a season of learning, a season of adversity, a season of adjustment, a season of development and a season of green leaves turning golden, the Bartlesville High School volleyball team is ready to shine in the postseason.
Ranked No. 12 in the state, the Lady Bruins (19-16), will travel Tuesday to Bixby for the Class 6A regional playoffs.
They are just two wins away from returning to state for the first time since the early 2010s.
Bartlesville will face Southmoore (10-25) in the 4:30 p.m. semifinal, while No. 5-ranked Bixby (22-11) takes on Enid (9-21) in the other semi.
The two semifinal winners will clash at 6 p.m. for the regional title and a spot in state.
Bartlesville played two of the regional teams in the regular season — they beat Enid, 3-0 (25-20, 25-12, 25-17), back on August 13, and fell to Bixby, 3-1 (25-21, 25-16, 22-25, 25-17) when they met on September 9.
Bartlesville flows into the regional hot off a road win last week at Muskogee, 3-0 (25-19, 25-18, 25-19).
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The Wesleyan Christian School volleyball season is over after they fell regionals last week.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
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WESLEYAN CHRISTIAN SCHOOL
Even though the Lady Mustangs came up just shy of returning to state, their future appears brighter than a super model’s smile.
Veteran coach Mariah Cooks returns most of her main rotation and bids good-bye to only five seniors — albeit replacing them will be a difficult task.
“I’m incredibly proud of this senior class,” Cooks said. “They’ve done an incredible job of remaining unified with friendships on the team. … All five seniors worked hard. They just set a really, really good example.”
And, they almost helped the Lady Mustangs go to state for the second-straight year.
In last week’s regional, WCS stumped Millwood, 3-0 (25-4, 25-10, 25-5), in the quarterfinals.
Next up, WCS eliminated Okay, 25-10, 25-19, 25-12.
That put WCS in the final against Holland Hall. Holland Hall won, 3-0, 25-14, 26-24, 25-19.
“The first time we played them this year we lost 11-25, 16-25,” Cooks noted. “This time we did a lot better.”
Lady Mustang setter Ashley Reich “did her best to get the sets in the right direction,” Cooks said. “Our hitters did their best in trying to make plays.”
Emily Christenson and Miranda Hadrava led the effort to try to close down Holland Hall’s best hitter.
“Holland Hall did a good job of using other girls,” Cooks said. “They made less mistakes than we did. … They outplayed us. They had a really, really strong offensive team.”
Cooks praised her team for coming into the match with a strong mindset.
Christenson turned in a 45-percent kill percentage to lead WSC’ attackers. Hadrava made only one hitting error and Lauren Miller notched a 33-percent kill percentage.
Among the departing seniors are Reich, Olivia Week, Ava Gatrell, Whitlie Tennison and Shelby Goodson.
Week “did an awesome job every year in a different position for us,” Cooks said.
Goodman “came into every single practice ready to work and gave it her all year after year. She was one of the most supportive girls, always encouraging her teammates and helping me clean up after practices. … She has a sweet and caring heart.”
Gatrell joined the program as a freshman or sophomore and added to the hitting corps, setter option and a back row defender. “She did a good job of being adaptable,” Woods said. “Even right on the spot. She had no complaints. … She plays with confidence. … She doesn’t seem intimidated.”
Tennison “was our team chaplain. That gave her some really big shoes to fill. … She was completely prepared to lead those discussions and she knew just how to influence our team the right way,” Woods said. “As a defender this year you could hear her in the back row.”
Reich contributed in multiple areas, the coach added.
In addition to her seniors and other players, Cooks also praised her coaching staff of three assistants, which came together by unplanned design..
The core was her official assistant coach Hannah Yearout. Her husband Noah Yearout also began to show up at practices and work with the girls. Carlee (Tate) Williams, a former Bartlesville High player, also responded favorably to Cooks’ appeal to join the staff.
Cooks said she felt “incredibly grateful” for the assistance of these three individuals.