Photo by Kelly Snow
In the southern part of Orange County, Carrboro volleyball has won 134 matches since 2014, taking a pair of 2A state championships and reaching the Eastern Regional Finals four times. They lost to South Granville twice with a berth to the state title match on the line.
Across the way is Chapel Hill, which has captured three consecutive Big 8 Championships since Ross Fields arrived as head coach in 2016 from Indianapolis. In his first two years, the Tigers won the Eastern Regional Championship. They lost to Cox Mill 3-0 in the 2016 3A State Championship match. The following year, they fell to North Iredell in five sets.
Across Weaver Diary Road, East Chapel Hill ended Chapel Hill’s 30-match conference winning streak last season, finishing 24-5 under first-year head coach Rachel Kline.
If you shift up north, residents in Person County like to think of Roxboro as Volleyball Town, perhaps justifiably. The Person Rockets went 24-1 in 2017, falling to Chapel Hill in the 3A Eastern Regional Championship match. Matchups with Person and crosstown rival Roxboro Community School are carried on the town’s local radio station and play to a crowd filled to the brim in bandbox gymnasiums.
Needless to say, it’s a competitive area for volleyball. And in between is Orange and Cedar Ridge.
There have moments of glory in Hillsborough volleyball. In 2015, Cedar Ridge won the Big 8 Championship behind the finishing of middle blocker Asha Barnes, the reliable sets of Lili Henry and the passing of Leah Thompson. They went 12-0 in the Big 8 and even hosted the 3A Eastern Regional Championship match, losing to Asheboro in four sets.
Since then, Cedar Ridge hasn’t won more than eight matches in a season. Orange has reached the state playoffs three straight years, each first round eliminations to Cleveland, Chapel Hill and Franklinton.
Which is exactly why the first two weeks of 2019 are so noteworthy.
Orange stumbled to a three-match losing streak to begin the season, including getting swept by Person in Roxboro on August 20. Last Thursday, the Rockets arrived to Hillsborough 3-0 without losing a set.
They came away with a 3-1 loss to the Lady Panthers in an upset that was surprisingly anti-climatic. Orange won 25-15, 12-25, 25-18 and 25-16. In between the Person win was two victories over traditional 2A power South Granville, including a 3-0 sweep in Creedmoor on August 26.
Seniors Emma Clements and Kaitlyn Werden, along with libero Brooke Fryar excelled in the three wins.
“Our girls have been working very hard,” said Orange coach Kelly Young. “When we played Person, they nit-pick us like crazy. They showed me exactly where we were weak in our defense and our offense. So after playing them, I had a list of things that I wanted to work on. And I’ve been pushing the girls in practice and they proved it on the court tonight.”
At Cedar Ridge, the Red Wolves are off to its best start this decade. After beating Eastern Alamance 3-0 in Mebane on Thursday, they’re 5-0.
Freshmen Cameron Lloyd, the younger sister of former Orange High player Jordan Lloyd, leads the team with 44 kills and 51 digs. Another freshman, Cameron Lanier, is second with 34 kills while rookie Julie Altieri has 23 kills. She also leads the team with 17 aces and 68 assists.
The Red Wolves won three matches on the road last week. In addition to the Eastern win, they defeated the North Carolina School of Science and Math and Durham School of the Arts.
Lloyd finished with 18 kills and 18 digs against the Bulldogs, while Lanier had 17 kills. Junior Marlee Rakouskas finished with 17 digs. Altieri registered 28 assists.
After playing five matches in the span of ten days, Cedar Ridge will play its Big 8 Conference opener against Northwood on Thursday in Pittsboro. The Chargers have beaten the Red Wolves six consecutive times.