Photo by Jacques Morin
CARRBORO–Youth can lead to greater variance on the volleyball court, or any other sport location.
Three weeks ago, Carrboro swept an Orange team with two freshman outside hitters in Hillsborough. On Tuesday night, Orange wiped out Carrboro in four sets behind another strong match from middle blocker Aubry Hodges and eleven kills from freshman Kynlee Albert.
The Lady Panthers took over third place in the Big 7 Conference with a victory on scores of 25-21, 25-21, 17-25, 25-13.
Albert, who came into the match leading the team with 2.9 kills per set, had her ninth double-digit kill match of the season. Hodges finished with eight blocks and seven kills. Senior setter Sawyer White recorded her fifth double-double with 31 assists and 13 digs.
Coming off a 3-2 win over Jordan in Hillsborough last Wednesday, the Lady Panthers are 8-7 overall, 4-3 in the Big 7 Conference with a home match against South Granville coming up on Thursday.
“The Jordan match showed a lot of heart,” said Orange coach Mary Alice Pike. “We showed a lot of grit. It kind of brought out a different side of us to really fight for a win. We brought that out in practice yesterday. We had a tough practice mentally. We had a team effort from the six people on the court and the eight people on the bench.”
Last summer, Carrboro (11-6, 5-3) entered into the Big 7 Conference having won eleven consecutive conference championships from 2013-2024. The loss to Orange all but guarantees they will finish without a league crown for the second straight year. The Jaguars are now two matches behind Seaforth and Cedar Ridge, who are tied for first place at 6-1.
Senior Violet Tyll put the fourth set out of reach. With Orange leading 10-7, Tyll delivered four straight winners, including an ace, followed by a block from White to put Orange ahead 16-8. Junior Addison Cowan also served two aces during a 7-0 spurt that made the frame a blowout. It didn’t help Carrboro that their attackers couldn’t get the ball over the outstretched arms of Hodges, who had two blocks in the set. Abigail Pfeiffenberger had an unassisted kill on match point.
The lead changed eight times in the opening set, but Albert came up big down the stretch. Carrboro got an ace from Sydney Frakes, followed by a return by Orange that went into the net to take a 20-18 lead. White and Albert had consecutive kills to even the set at 21-21. That triggered six consecutive Orange points, which included back-to-back kills from Albert. Carrboro’s Reagan Schaul was called for touching the net, which put Orange ahead 23-21. Albert scored again off a feed from White for the 24th point. On set point, Carrboro was called for another net violation. Albert had seven kills in the first set.
Orange libero Daphne Tyll finished with 27 digs, including eleven in the first set.
Six different Orange players had kills in the second set, which had nine ties and four lead changes. Carrboro junior outside hitter Sarah Vandersea scored a kill to give the Jaguars a 15-14 lead. Albert triggered a 4-1 Lady Panther run with another spike, followed by an ace from Molly Kate Ollis. Senior Kaleeya Fearrington scored a kill off a pass from Daphne Tyll to give Orange an 18-16 lead. Carrboro scored three straight to even the set at 20-20, but once again Orange was the better team during the pressure points. Violet Tyll scored consecutive aces to give Orange a 22-20 lead. A return by the Jaguars went wide on set point.
Carrboro won the third set behind strong play from Vendersea and Brakes, building a 16-8 lead after three straight aces from junior Penelope Downing. The Jaguars scored the final three points to take the set, which included a kill by Brakes.
