Orange 3, Person 0: During the 2001-2002 UNC men’s basketball season, generally considered by all Carolina fans as the nadir of the program that finished 8-20, they lost to Ohio University in the Smith Center.
It was a fact brought up to then-Bobcats Coach Tim O’Shea in the postgame press conference, who responded “Yeah, but it’s still Carolina. And this win will be on the front of our basketball program next year.”
And it was.
Likewise, the Person volleyball team may have lost nine players from last year’s squad that reached the state quarterfinals. But it’s still Person volleyball, and that fact alone makes Orange’s win on Thursday night special.
The Lady Panthers swept the Rockets 3-0 on scores of 25-19, 25-13 and 25-19. It was the first time that Orange won in Roxboro since 2014.
Going into Thursday night, the Rockets had beaten the Lady Panthers in nine of its previous ten matches.
Senior Allie Wilkerson finished with ten kills and five digs. Junior Ella Wimsatt came away with ten kills and 14 digs as Orange won its fifth match in seven attempts. Senior Caitlin Carden had 19 assists, 16 digs and four aces.
The opening set was tied 13-13 when Orange went on a 6-1 run. It started when junior libero Josie Crawford led Wimsatt for a kill at the net, which kept the Lady Panthers in the lead for the rest of the frame. Allie Wilkerson got a kill from an assist from Carden. Later, Carden scored her own kill off a feed from Wimsatt, while Wilkerson served up an ace to give Orange its largest lead of the set at 19-14. Carden clinched set point with her third ace.
Orange broke up the second set with a 10-1 run to go ahead 17-8. Wilkerson and Wimsatt each had five kills in the frame, while Aubrey Jordan has four. Allie Wilkerson had an unassisted dunk at the net to vault the Lady Panthers’ ahead 19-9. Jordan’s kill, off an assist from Carden, put the Lady Panthers ahead 24-13.
Orange never trailed in the final set, which started with back-to-back kills from Wimsatt. Freshman Ava Wilkerson dunked home a point, them immediately followed with a block to put Orange ahead 9-4.
The Lady Panthers (8-5 overall, 3-1 in the Central Carolina Conference) host Northwood on Tuesday in Hillsborough.
Cedar Ridge 3, Eastern Alamance 0: Cedar Ridge got creative with its celebrations during the third set of Thursday’s win over Eastern Alamance at Red Wolves Gymnasium. The Red Wolves won its 29th consecutive conference match on scores of 25-12, 25-6 and 25-11.
It was the ninth straight win for the Red Wolves this season, not having lost a set since its season-opener against J.H. Rose, a 3-1 Rampants win. Cedar Ridge remains atop the CCC at 4-0.
Senior Cameron Lloyd finished with eight kills and six digs. Julie Altieri had 12 assists, six digs and two aces.
Lloyd and Lanier didn’t play in the third set, so reserves got their opportunities to show their stuff while many of the starters watched on. Graylinn Serge, normally a regular on defense, came away with a career-high four kills. After every successful kill, several Cedar Ridge players did the worm (which became fashionable around the mid-1980s) on the bench. The consensus was that Addie Reid had the best form on her worm (By the way, Form on her Worm will be opening for Heim next summer).
When junior Cecilia Kenan scored two kills in the third set, each Cedar Ridge reserve ran a lap around on the sidelines around acting head coach Megan Skouby, who was in for Fiona Cunningham.
Cedar Ridge (9-1, 4-0) will travel to Western Alamance on Tuesday night. The Red Wolves will host Southern Alamance on Wednesday as part of three games in three days. Cedar Ridge will also face Walter Williams in Hillsborough on Thursday.