There’s no football at Roxboro Community School. Their Friday night lights are inside a gymnasium.
When the Orange volleyball team’s bus rolled down Highway 157 on Friday night, they were greeted by a group of students who packed the opposite end zone bleachers facing them. It makes for an intimidating sight to hit towards, but Orange once again proved they were up for the task.
Sophomore Ava Wilkerson finished with 13 kills and seven digs while Aubrey Jordan added 15 kills as Orange swept Roxboro Community School on scores of 25-22, 25-20 and 25-19. Senior Ella Wimsatt added eleven kills and seven digs, while sophomore setter Katie Silcott had 35 assists, three aces and five kills as Orange won its ninth straight match.
The victory completed a span of two wins over Person County teams in two nights for Orange (10-3). On Thursday, the Lady Panthers swept Person in Hillsborough.
RCS opened with leads in the first and second sets. RCS (7-4) jumped ahead 7-3 lead following a kill from Peyton Hogan and an ace from Vivi Carcamo. Orange evened the set after a kill from Wimsatt set up by Josie Crawford. There were eleven ties in the opening set, the final one coming when Wilkerson smashed a point off an assist from Silcott. Orange finished the fame with the final four points, ending with a kill by Jordan, an ace by Silcott and a return by the Bulldogs that went wide on set point.
After conceding the opening two points in the second set, Orange reeled off six in a row, ending with a Wimsatt ace. Jordan and Wilkerson each had two kills in the run. Wilkerson had seven kills overall in the second as the Lady Panthers opened up a 14-10 lead following another Wimsatt ace. The Bulldogs’ Baylee Long scored a point to reduce Orange’s lead to 15-13. An ace by Abby Silinski concluded an 7-3 Orange run to put the Lady Panthers ahead 21-16, but the Bulldogs responded with four in a row, capped by a kill from sophomore Peyton Hogan. Wilkerson ended the run with a kill, then followed with an ace to make it 24-20. RCS sent a return out on set point to put Orange ahead 2-sets-to-nothing.
The third set was the only one that Orange led wire-to-wire. Blessiny Deronette had a block for Orange, followed by an ace from Silcott to make it 5-1. RCS’ Hogan, Long and Jenna Hogan each had kills in succession to reduce the Orange lead to 10-9. Five Orange players had kills in the final set for Orange, led by Jordan with five. Orange had a 7-1 run to take a 24-17 lead, which included two kills each from Jordan and Silcott. Jordan ended the night with a kill on match point assisted by Silcott.
Orange has had ten of its last eleven matches on the road. They will play away from Hillsborough again on Tuesday night (tonight) when they face Southern Alamance in Graham. Orange returns home to face Roxboro Community School in a rematch Wednesday night.
Women’s Tennis: Orange 9, Person 0: Ten different players saw action for Orange in a sweep of Person on Thursday at Panther Tennis Courts.
Sophomores Molly Kruse and Kyla Mehl each won two matches on the night, where singles matches consisted of one set to ten games. Kruse defeated Amaya Hargrove 10-0. Mehl shutout Hailey Martin 10-0. Kruse and Mehl teamed at #1 doubles to defeat Annie Adcock and Danni Brown 8-1.
Erinn Sollars won at #1 singles over Adcock 10-0. Shannon Sollars defeated Brown 10-0 at #2 singles. Makayla Davis rolled past Maria Scott-Dubbusco 10-0. At #6 singles, sophomore Casey Robinson won over Jordan O’Grady 10-1.
At #2 doubles, Adelyn Alvis and Evelyn Over defeated Dubbusco and Hargrove 8-0. In the most competitive match of the day, at #3 doubles, Madeline Dutton and Isabella Panek teamed to defeat Martin & O’Grady 7-6, winning a seven-point tiebreaker 7-0.
Orange is 5-3, 2-2 in the Central Carolina Conference. They will step out of CCC action to host Roxboro Community School in Hillsborough on Tuesday night.