Photo by Jacques Morin
The first-ever 5A State Volleyball Tournament has quickly turned into a battle of familiar rivals.
Cedar Ridge will face a conference foe in one Eastern Regional semifinal on Saturday.
Orange will face a former one.
On Thursday night, Dani Solomon continued a memorable freshman season with 12 kills while senior libero Sydnee Tapper finished with eight aces as the top-seeded Red Wolves defeated Western Alamance to advance to the 5A State Quarterfinals at Red Wolves Gymnasium. Cedar Ridge (24-1) moved into the quarterfinal round for the first time since 2022.
Cedar Ridge will face Seaforth for the fourth time this season in the state quarterfinals on Saturday afternoon at 1PM in Hillsborough. The Hawks returned from a long trip to Morehead City with a sweep of West Carteret.
Western Alamance, which had been a conference rival of Cedar Ridge the previous four years in the Central Conference, ends the year 16-8.
Cedar Ridge broke open the first set with six consecutive points to go ahead 13-6. Solomon and Claire Hargett each had four kills in the opening frame. During the longest rally of the set, Emory Williams made two digs, leading to Solomon getting a kill off an assist from Mia Marty. Tapper delivered consecutive aces to spark another 6-0 Red Wolf run, which included back-to-back blocks from Addilyn Jackson and Kayla Stoll. Hargett delivered set point to take the frame 25-14.
Despite an opening ace from the Warrior’s Hadleigh Surles to give Western its first lead of the match, the Red Wolves started the second set with a 7-2 run. Cedar Ridge had balanced attacking with six players collecting kills in the second set. Tapper had four aces during a 12-o Red Wolf run to put them ahead 19-6. The Red Wolves scored the final six points to win 25-11, ending with a Solomon spike along the far post.
Cedar Ridge won the third set 25-18. Western Alamance junior Reese Walker finished with eight kills.
Orange 3, Southern Nash 1:
The lessons learned from a brutal nonconference schedule paid off for Orange in Bailey on Thursday night. The Lady Panthers became just the second team this season to defeat Southern Nash, advancing to the state quarterfinals for the third year in a row.
Orange defeated the Firebirds on scores of 25-20, 25-14, 25-23, 25-20.
The Lady Panthers will travel to 3rd-seeded Person on Saturday night at 6PM. It will be a rematch of the longtime rivals. On August 21, Orange defeated Person 3-1 in Hillsborough. Orange has defeated Person seven straight times.
The Firebirds, which won the Big East Championship with a 13-0 record, end the year 20-2. It was their first loss since falling to Bunn on September 29.
Southern Nash jumped out to a 7-3 lead in the decisive fourth set. Orange’s Sawyer White kicked off a 8-2 Orange run with a kill assisted by Katie Silcott, who followed with a block on the subsequent point. After a block from senior Mariah Poole, Silcott tied the set off a swing assisted by White.
The Firebirds fought back to take a 14-11 lead, but senior outside hitter Aubrey Jordan delivered an ace to start another Orange rally. Orange brought the block party late in the frame. It started with a rejection by junior Kaleeya Fearrington, then another by Poole to give Orange the lead 20-19, its first advantage in the set since it was 2-1. Orange scored five consecutive points to take a 22-19 lead, capped by two straight kills from Silcott. Once again, Silcott delivered for the Lady Panthers 24th point. On match point, the Firebirds sent a return wide.
Despite a nonconference schedule that included Green Level, Green Hope, D.H. Conley and J.H. Rose, all of whom are still alive in their respective state tournaments, the win at Southern Nash guarantees the Lady Panthers will have a winning season. They improved to 13-11.
