Last fall, a matchup between Cedar Ridge and Person could have easily been for the 5A Eastern Regional volleyball championship.
Fate intervened and the Red Wolves’ dream season ended against conference rival Seaforth in Hillsborough, its only home loss of the year.
While Cedar Ridge and Person both lost plenty of seniors from last year, they met on Thursday night in another entertaining contest and another showcase for Cedar Ridge sophomore Dani Solomon.
The Red Wolves top outside hitter notched a career-high 28 kills to push Cedar Ridge past Person 3-1 on scores of 25-23, 26-28, 26-24, 25-21. It was the Red Wolves home opener after four straight road matches to open the season.
The Red Wolves improved to 5-0. Senior Addilyn Jackson added a career-high 17 kills, including a spike on match point assisted by Solana Guiterrez-Quintero.
Cedar Ridge’s school record for kills is held by Claire Hargett, which racked up 37 kills in a 3-2 win over Person on October 16, 2024.
Person senior Taylor Massey had 24 kills for the Rockets, who led for a majority of the match.
The Rockets led 14-7 in the opening set following a 5-1 spurt capped by a kill by freshman Madison Gehris off a feed from junior Kylee Hayden, who finished with 34 assists, 12 digs and three kills. Cedar Ridge had a freshman of its own step up.
Middle blocker Florence Mwanza made a crucial block to start a string of seven consecutive Cedar Ridge points. Sophomore Kaitlyn Dixon got the first of three aces. Jackson scored off a pass from sophomore Nora Stoll to cut the Person lead to 15-14.
Solomon had consecutive kills to give the Red Wolves its first lead of the match at 21-20. Mwanza notched her second block of the set, leading to Jackson scoring the 24th point off a kill. Cedar Ridge took the set when a Person serve went into the net.
Solomon had six kills in the second set while Avery Owens had five as the Red Wolves built a 17-11 lead. The Rockets stormed back behind Ava Deharo, who had three aces during a 8-1 Rocket run to push Person ahead 22-20. Person’s first set point was denied when Jackson scored. Cedar Ridge served for the chance to go ahead by two sets, but a Red Wolf serve went long to tie it up at 26-26. The Rockets won the set when an attack by Cedar Ridge went over the end line.
There were seven lead changes and eight ties in the third set. With Person leading 17-16, the Red Wolves went on a 5-1 run triggered by another block from Mwanza and back-to-back kills from Solomon. Dixon scored off an unassisted kill to push Cedar Ridge ahead 23-19. The Rockets got two kills from Massey and another from Gehris to reduce its deficit to 24-23. After Person tied it up at 24-24, Jackson scored off a pass from Guiterrez-Quintero. Mwanza slammed down set point off a hanging ball that hovered over the net to put the Red Wolves up a set.
Cedar Ridge led for most of the fourth set, but the Rockets scored five straight points to take a 14-13 lead, its only advantage of the frame. Cedar Ridge went on a 6-1 run. Senior Calla Lundberg delivered her only ace of the match to put the Red Wolves ahead 20-16. Person got a kill from Massey to reduce the Red Wolf lead to 23-20, but Owens and Jackson scored the final two Cedar Ridge kills to take the match.
Cedar Ridge went undefeated in a string of three matches over four days. On Wednesday, they defeated Southeast Alamance in Haw River on scores of 25-13, 25-24 and 25-8. Solomon finished with 13 kills. Jackson finished with seven kills. Owens and Dixon each registered three aces.
The Red Wolves will travel to Pittsboro for a long-awaited matchup against Seaforth to kick off Big 7 Conference play on Tuesday.
