Photo by Erik Perel
With two new starters, the Cedar Ridge volleyball team may have been thrown into the deep end of the swimming pool to start 2025.
But the water feels just fine.
On Monday night, the Red Wolves traveled to Greensboro to face a Grimsley team that won 25 games and the 4A Metro Conference championship last year. After a shaky start, the Red Wolves rallied to win the final two sets and take the match 3-2, capping it all with an epic fifth set that ended 22-20.
Cedar Ridge won its first-ever match against a 7A opponent. They are 4-0 for the first time since 2021, when they won the 3A State Championship.
It was Cedar Ridge’s second five-set win of the season. The Red Wolves held off Person on August 12 in Hillsborough.
Freshman outside hitter Dani Solomon continued to carve out an identity for herself in record time after registering 20 kills in just her third varsity match. She had a 40% hit percentage. Senior Claire Hargett added eleven kills and 20 digs. Senior libero Sydnee Tapper registered 32 digs, the third-highest amount in her career. She had 43 in a win over Person last year.
The Whirlies, which reached the round of 16 in the 4A State Playoffs last year, dominated the start of the game. They scored the first seven points and cruised to a 25-14 win in the opening set.
Each team scored at least 20 points in each of the final four sets. Cedar Ridge evened the match with a 25-21 win in the second, but the Whirlies took the third 25-23. Cedar Ridge forced a decisive fifth set with a 25-20 win in the fourth.
Late in the fifth set, Grimsley lost outside hitter Naomi Locklear to an injury. In 2024, Locklear led the team with 473 kills.
Cedar Ridge is in the midst of three matches in three nights. On Tuesday, the Red Wolves returned home to dominate Southern Alamance 3-0 on scores of 25-15, 25-10 and 25-11. It was a far cry from last year, when the Patriots upset the Red Wolves in Graham, costing Cedar Ridge a chance to win the final Central Conference regular season championship outright. Instead, the Red Wolves shared the crown with crosstown rival Orange.
The most excitement on the night happened in the second set with Cedar Ridge leading 17-8. The padding on the chair umpire’s seat came out from under him, causing him to fall off in the midst of a point. Fortunately, he wasn’t injured. After Cedar Ridge Athletic Director Emily Parker checked on him, the umpire had his seat reinforced and simply called for a do-over of the preceding point.
Not that it made much of a difference.
Hargett continues to climb closer to 1,000 career kills. She finished with nine on the night to lead the Red Wolves and added four digs and three aces. The Red Wolves totalled 13 aces. At one point in the second set, Solomon had three consecutive aces in the midst of a 9-2 Cedar Ridge run. Solomon finished with eight kills, four aces, four digs and one block. Setter Mia Marty came away with 13 assists and three digs. Tapper had 16 digs and four assists.
Southern Alamance had a 5-4 advantage in the first set before the Red Wolves reeled off four straight points triggered by Hargett serving. Hargett delivered an ace to put the Red Wolves ahead 6-5, a lead that the Red Wolves didn’t concede. Cedar Ridge scored five straight points behind a block from Ellamarie Perel and an ace from Stoll, which pushed their advantage to 18-10. Cedar Ridge won the set 25-15 and that was as narrow as it would get.
Cedar Ridge won the second set 25-10 and the third set 25-11.
With Hargett serving in the third set, Cedar Ridge scored eleven straight points to take a 15-7 lead. In that run, Hargett delivered three straight aces, followed by a kill from Perel.
Cedar Ridge will host Jordan on Wednesday night. It will be their first-ever match, in any sport, against an 8A opponent.
