Kelly Young has played and coached volleyball in elementary school, middle school, high school, recreation and intramurals at N.C. State. She has never seen a 64-point set until last Thursday night. Fortunately for her, she was on the right side of it.
Orange won the 2nd set against South Granville 33-31, then captured the subsequent two sets to complete a season sweep of the Vikings 3-1 in Creedmoor. The Lady Panthers, who defeated the Vikings on Tuesday, are off to a 3-0 start for just the third time in nine years.
“I told my team I’ve never even play in, seen or coached a game into the 30s,” said Young, who just completed her first week as Orange’s volleyball coach. “I think the highest I’ve ever gotten was maybe 28, but never into the 30s”
Junior Emma Clements had a season-high 22 kills, 38 digs, five blocks and one ace. Senior Libby Jones had eleven kills and ten blocks. Junior Kaitlyn Werden finished with 23 assists. Senior Liz LaNier came away with 12 blocks, six kills, and two aces.
Beating South Granville in Hillsborough was one thing, but winning in the spirited confines of Viking Gymnasium was another level of achievement for Young’s team.
“(South Granville) was very solid,” said Young. “I think they played even better than they did here on Tuesday. They’re hitting was on. They’re blocking was on. Each set was point-for-point. We started off a little slow in the first set. But we did not stop hustling and we came back.”
Orange will host Eastern Alamance on Monday night before starting play in the Big 8 Conference. They travel to East Chapel Hill for its conference opener on Tuesday, followed by a home match against Hillside on Thursday.
On the other side of Hillsborough, the Cedar Ridge Red Wolves won its second game of the season by beating Eastern Alamance 3-1 on scores of 19-25, 25-19, 28-26 and 25-21. Junior Emma Downing had eight kills to lead the Red Wolves. Downing also had four blocks. Senior Cody Rabalais finished with seven kills. Freshman Lydia Wood, in just her third game, had six kills. Senior Rachel Tucker finished with 21 kills, while sophomore Marlee Rakouskas had 30 digs.
On Wednesday, Cedar Ridge dropped its first game under new head coach Anna Seethaler to Durham School of the Arts.
After playing three consecutive home games to open the season, Cedar Ridge has three straight road games this week. That includes the conference opener on Tuesday night against Northwood in Pittsboro. On Wednesday, the Red Wolves will face Eastern Alamance in Mebane in a rematch. Then on Thursday, they travel to power Chapel Hill. The Tigers, under head coach Ross Fields, are the two-time defending 3A Eastern Regional Champions. Last season, the Tigers defeated Person 3-1 to win the Eastern Regional title. They fell to North Iredell in five sets in the 3A State Championship match at Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh. In 2016, Chapel Hill fell to Cox Mill 3-0 in the 3A State Championship match.
Cedar Ridge’s next home match is set for August 28th against Orange.