Not that it was in question for the past month, but the Cedar Ridge volleyball team is officially headed back to the state playoffs for the first time since 2015.
Meanwhile, Orange will journey across the Triangle for its opening round game.
The North Carolina High School Athletic Association released the 3A State Volleyball brackets on Thursday afternoon.
Orange received a 19-seed and will face Clayton on Saturday at 1 o’clock Saturday afternoon. Clayton (15-10) finished 2nd in the Greater Neuse Conference with a 8-2 record. The Comets lost three matches to the Rams, including in Wednesday’s Greater Neuse Tournament Championship game in three sets.
The winner of Clayton-Orange will face 3rd-seeded Gray’s Creek or 30th-seeded Southeastern Guilford in the 2nd round.
Cedar Ridge earned a 20-seed. The Red Wolves will travel to Fayetteville to face Terry Sanford of the 4A/3A Patriot Athletic Conference on Saturday at 2 o’clock. The Bulldogs finished 19-4, 12-4 in the PAC. Three of its four losses came against PAC Champion Grey’s Creek, who is 24-0.
The winner of Cedar Ridge-Terry Sanford will face 4th-seeded Cleveland or 29th-seeded Northwood next week.
The final MaxPreps ranking of the season was released Wednesday morning. It was the first poll of the year that had Orange ahead of Cedar Ridge, who jumped out to a 6-0 start and virtually guaranteed itself of its first winning season in four years by mid-September.
Orange and Cedar Ridge split the regular season series with two five-set battles. What may have pushed Orange ahead of the Red Wolves at the last minute was consecutive wins over teams that made the state playoffs. Last Friday, the Lady Panthers defeated Roxboro Community School in five sets. RCS wound up making the 1A playoffs as a #20 seed. In its regular season finale on Tuesday, Orange rallied from two sets down to defeat Northern Durham at Poe Gymtorium. The Knights earned a 26-seed in the 3A playoff and will travel to Union Pines on Saturday.
Cedar Ridge, on the other hand, were swept by East Chapel Hill on Senior Night. They concluded the regular season with wins over Vance County and Southern Durham, the only two teams from the Big 8 to miss the state playoffs.
The unveiling of the bracket proved what had been obvious to anyone who paid attention to the local volleyball scene this year: the Big 8 is really deep.
Six of the league’s eight teams made the playoffs. Big 8 Champion Chapel Hill received the top seed and will host Triton in the opening round. The Tigers have reached the final eight in each of the last three seasons, and claimed the Eastern Regional Championship in 2016 and 2017.
Big 8 runner-up East Chapel Hill received a 10-seed and will host South Johnston on Saturday at Wildcat Gymnasium.
Orange’s 16 wins are the most for the team this decade. The Lady Panthers will go for its first state playoff win since 2015, when they reached the Round of 16 with victories over Eden Morehead and Northern Guilford.
In the three years since then, Orange has been eliminated in the opening round each time. Franklinton took out the Panthers last year. Chapel Hill eliminated Orange in 2017 and Cleveland swept them in 2016.