Claire Hargett joined Cedar Ridge when one legacy of the school’s volleyball excellence was ending.
She may not have known it during the fall of 2022, but she would eventually be the instrumental part of the next generation of excellence.
Now, she’s the all-time kills leader in Cedar Ridge volleyball history.
Last Tuesday, Hargett recorded her 1,063rd kill in a win over Durham School of the Arts in Hillsborough, officially surpassing Cameron Lloyd’s school record set from 2018-2022.
At another time, Hargett would have likely broken the record several weeks ago, but it would have been on a team with less wins than the current squad. After piling up 426 kills in 93 sets last year, Hargett currently has 231 kills through 72 sets. The emergence of freshman Dani Solomon, who leads Cedar Ridge with 243 kills, has led to a lighter workload for Hargett—and the most successful team of her career.
Naturally, Hargett and Solomon tied for the team lead with seven kills against the Bulldogs.
Cedar Ridge officially clinched the Big 7 Regular Season Championship outright with a sweep of South Granville on Thursday night in Hillsborough. The Red Wolves won on scores of 25-10, 25-7, 25-8 to end the regular season 20-1. They finished 11-1 in the Big 7 Conference, winning the league by two matches over Seaforth. On the final night of the regular season, Orange upset Seaforth 3-1 in Pittsboro.
At .952, it’s the highest winning percentage by a Cedar Ridge volleyball team ever to finish the regular season. The Red Wolves 2021 team finished the regular season with a .930 winning percentage before taking its final eight matches to win the Central Conference Tournament and 3A State Championship.
In her final regular season home match, Hargett led the team with 13 kills with five digs.
Hargett has played for three coaches in her four years at Cedar Ridge. Even with six starters returning from the 2021 state championship team, including Lloyd, Hargett was a regular rotation player her freshman year in 2022. Playing for Fiona Cunningham, now the head coach at Division I Le Moyne College in DeWitt, New York, Hargett had nine matches with at least five kills. She topped out at eleven kills in a sweep of Orange in the 2021 Central Conference Tournament championship match as Cedar Ridge reeled off 24 consecutive wins before its season ended against J.H. Rose in the Eastern Regional championship match in Greenville.
Lloyd (now at Bucknell), Cameron Lanier (currently leading Elon in kills), Grace Young (started at UNC Asheville, now at Division III Greensboro College), Julie Altieri (over 2,000 assists at Division III Salisbury College), Melissa Benkowitz (Division III Franklin & Marshall), and Anaya Carter (Division II UNC Pembroke) would all graduate in 2022.
As she has become a senior leader on the current Cedar Ridge team, Hargett took away lessons from the group that served as mentors to her.
“Cameron Lloyd was definitely a really good role model,” Hargett said. “She was someone who could play any position on the court. Having someone like that was really good offensively and defensively. It was really helpful.”
Hargett’s sophomore year was the only time in her career where Cedar Ridge didn’t claim a share of a regular season championship. Orange went undefeated in the Central Conference, but the Red Wolves still won the conference tournament with an upset of Orange in Hillsborough in the championship match. The Red Wolves would go on to win a thrilling five-set affair at Franklinton in the second round of the 3A State Playoffs, where Hargett led the team with 19 kills.
As a junior, Hargett registered a career-high in kills as Cedar Ridge swept Orange in Panther Gymnasium in the first of four meetings between the crosstown rivals in 2024. Orange strengthened as the season went on, beating Cedar Ridge in five sets in the rematch at Red Wolves Gymnasium. Eventually, Orange would get wins over Cedar Ridge in the conference tournament title match and the third round of the state playoffs.
This season, help arrived for Hargett on the outside. Solomon came in as a freshman from Discovery Charter School. Addilyn Jackson has been a vital extra weapon upon transferring from West Carteret.
Hargett found herself going from a freshman among future college stars to being a senior on a younger team with lots more firepower.
“I wanted to lead by example,” Hargett said. “Obviously, everybody is trying to talk as much as they can and be a leader. Leading by example and doing a good job in practice is where I wanted to focus.”
Hargett has an individual school record, three regular season conference championships, two conference tournament titles and eight state playoff wins already on her resume.
And the best may still be in front of her.
