Photo by Erik Perel
As she has done throughout her career, Claire Hargett was there to lift Cedar Ridge volleyball during a time of adversity.
The Red Wolves finished a stretch of three games over three days with a 3-1 win over Jordan on scores of 25-20, 18-25, 25-19 and 25-19 on Wednesday night at Red Wolves Gymnasium. Cedar Ridge is 5-0 going into its Big 7 Conference opener at Orange next Tuesday.
Freshman Dani Solomon, who led the Red Wolves in kills going into Wednesday night, was injured after a collision with a teammate midway through the second set. Solomon played regularly afterwards, but was rotated out of the lineup more than usual for the remainder of the match and finished with ten kills.
Jordan (5-2) had a three-match winning streak snapped.
The fourth set was tied 12-12 before Hargett sparked five straight Cedar Ridge points with two aces, the last of which put the Red Wolves ahead 17-12. The Falcons’ Ella Baggett got consecutive kills, but Cedar Ridge finished the match with four straight points, including two kills by Hargett. After Calla Lundberg delivered an ace, Kayla Stoll spiked home match point off an assist from Mia Marty.
Marty finished with 32 assists and five digs. Hargett added 19 digs and four aces.
Jordan led 19-16 in the opening set before Cedar Ridge scored eight straight points. It started when Marty delivered a flash kill assisted by Sydnee Porter. Solomon, who had four kills in the opening frame, had an unassisted spike to put the Red Wolves ahead 20-19. An attack by the Falcons’ Tamari Hill went wide on set point.
The collision involving Solomon took place with Jordan leading 16-12. Solomon left the match and it appeared to throw the Red Wolves off rhythm. Jordan’s advantage grew to 21-12 before tying the match after a serve by Cedar Ridge sailed over the end line.
Hargett totalled seven kills in the third set, which was tied 15-15 before Marty got a kill off a dig by Anna Musser. Stoll followed with an ace. Cedar Ridge closed with five of the last six points in the third set, including kills by Stoll and Solomon. Marty scored on set point.
Green Hope 3, Orange 0:
Green Hope’s Taylor Bruce finished with 13 kills to lead the Falcons to its fifth straight win in Cary on Wednesday night. Green Hope swept the Lady Panthers on scores of 25-10, 26-24 and 25-15.
Orange senior Ava Wilkerson had seven kills as the Lady Panthers fell to 1-2.
Senior libero Addison Guentensberger had 12 digs.
In the second set, the Lady Panthers staved off a set point to force overtime when Wilkerson scored on an overhand punch off a feed from Sawyer White, tying the frame at 24-24. Orange was called for a foot fault on the subsequent serve. Green Hope went ahead by two sets when a Panther attack went into the net. Orange led 23-22 after a kill by Maddie Silcott got down at the center of the floor.
Orange fought back from 18-13 to pull even in the second behind kills from Aubrey Jordan and Aubry Hodges. The Lady Panthers reeled off five straight points to take a 23-22 lead.
The Falcons controlled the first set behind kills from six different players. Xuell Wang and Bruce each had three. Setter Chloe Burbage finished with 27 assists and four kills in the match. The Falcons scored the final nine points of the first game to win 25-10.
Green Hope scored seven straight points to take control of the third set. A kill by Samantha Cowen vaulted the Falcons ahead 11-4. From that point, the closest the Lady Panthers would get was 13-8, but the Falcons scored four more points to take a 17-8 lead.
On Thursday night, Orange will finally play its first home game against the Person Rockets. Person arrives into Hillsborough having won three straight matches, including a win over Carrboro on Tuesday. The Rockets started the year with a five-set loss at Cedar Ridge.
