When Cedar Ridge faces Orange in volleyball, five dollars will get you ten that there will be a big crowd. There will be a warm gym. And there will be lots of noise.
This year, for the first time in quite awhile, there were also some big stakes.
Entering the night of October 8, Cedar Ridge was only one game behind Chapel Hill for first place in the Big 8 Conference. Orange was 6-3 and going for another state playoff spot.
On top of that, Cedar Ridge was going for its first sweep of Orange since 2015, having won the opening match 3-2 on September 12.
Orange captured the rematch 3-2 at Red Wolves Gymnasium in front of another large crowd that made noise with every point. Orange took the opening two sets on scores of 25-21 behind the strong finishes of sophomore Lottie Scully, who led the Lady Panthers with 12 kills.
It was a season of underclassmen at both Cedar Ridge and Orange. Scully was joined by fellow sophomores Avery Miller, and Emma Van Tiem as regular rotation players, along with Panther freshman Erin Jordan-Cornell. Red Wolf freshman Cameron Lloyd wound up on the All-Big 8 Conference team in November, while classmate Julie Altieri was named honorable mention. Freshman Cameron Lanier was also a regular contributor for Cedar Ridge.
Through the first two sets, Orange largely contained Lloyd, who led the team with 346 kills this season. With Cedar Ridge trailing 2-0, Lloyd got going. Lloyd delivered three kills over four points to vault the Red Wolves into a 23-22 edge in the third set.
With Orange on match point just moments later, Cameron Lanier delivered a middle kill and Julie Altieri dropped in back-to-back service aces to give the home team the 26-24 win.
In the fourth set, Cedar Ridge only trailed after Altieri sent the opening serve long. Strong serving from Haley Cothran and Lanier paved the way for a 25-19 Cedar Ridge victory to force a fifth set.
If Orange was knocked back after losing two straight sets to its archival, they didn’t show it when it mattered most. Orange won the first four points of the fifth set and won nine of the first ten overall before Lloyd finally got the Red Wolves settled with a kill.
Miller provided a rare left side kill to put Orange up match point. When Lanier’s diving bump pass attempt sailed wide, the Lady Panthers secured a 15-9 win to split the season series against its archival.
Scully finished with 12 kills, ten blocks, ten assists, eight digs, and three aces. Miller had six kills and three digs . Junior Chloe Riley and Devyn Norman each had five kills.
Lloyd finished with 25 kills, 17 digs and five aces. Lanier had nine kills, six aces and three blocks. Altieri had 45 assists, nine digs and four kills.
Orange would win four of its last five regular season matches, including coming back from two sets down to defeat Northern Durham for its final win of the year at Poe Gymtorium. The Lady Panthers lost to Clayton in the opening round of the state playoffs.