Cedar Ridge High School

The Cedar Ridge women’s tennis team wrapped up its season in the state dual team playoffs on Monday. During its senior night game against Walter Williams, each of the six seniors were honored by their underclassmen. Each underclassmen presented a poster to a senior, explaining to the honoree what they admired about them. All of the posters contained messages of congratulations signed by each player. It was the final match for Ella Caltabiano, who had played varsity for four years. In her final match at South Johnston, Caltabiano won over Alyssa Newton 2-6, 7-5, 11-9 in the ten-point tiebreaker. It was also the final time that Caltabiano and Adeline Cummings teamed together in doubles. Caltabiano and Cummings won over Newton and Olivia Meyers 8-3. Caltabiano and Cummings were named the top doubles team in the Central Conference this year. Caltabiano won 18 matches this season. It was the second straight year that Cedar Ridge advanced to the 3A State Playoffs. Lila Rhoades played #5 singles. Rhoades is also a member of the Cedar Ridge swimming team. It was also the final match for seniors Sydney Lund, Anna Grove and Lily Golden. Cedar Ridge ended the year 9-7 overall with a third-place finish in the Central Conference. They were led by first-year head coach Al Caltabiano.

Cedar ridge women’s tennis seniors Caltabiano, Cummings, Golden, Rhoades, Grove & Lund talk season

The Cedar Ridge women’s tennis team wrapped up its season in the state dual team playoffs on Monday. During its senior night game against Walter Williams, each of the six seniors were honored by their underclassmen. Each underclassmen presented a poster to a senior, explaining to the honoree what they admired about them.

Photo from UNCPBraves.com 

Anaya Carter: Carter has transitioned to libero for the Division II UNC Pembroke Braves. Against Mount Olive on October 23, Carter finished with seven digs, two assists and two aces. Mt Olive won 3-1 on scores of 25-21, 25-19, 23-25, 25-20. Last Tuesday, Lander swept the Braves (27-25, 25-18, 25-14).  UNC Pembroke is 9-13 overall, 6-4 in Conference Carolinas.

Graylinn Serge: The former Cedar Ridge outside hitter made her college debut for UNC Greensboro on September 13 in a win over Norfolk State. Serge is playing as a libero for the Spartans. On October 19, Serge had nine digs in a win over Samford. She played four sets. She has also seen action against Chattanooga, Mercer and at Furman, where she nine digs in a loss to the Paladins. UNCG is 7-14 overall, 2-7 in the Southern Conference.

Cameron Lloyd: The Bucknell volleyball team’s 15-game winning streak came to an end on October 13 when Colgate defeated the Bison 3-1 at Cotterell Court in Hamilton, NY. Lloyd finished with seven kills, 12 digs, three blocks and one ace, but the Red Raiders prevailed on scores 15-25, 25-20, 25-14, 25-14. On October 12, Bucknell swept Loyola (Md.) on scores of 25-17, 25-16, 25-12 at Davis Gym in Lewisburg, PA. Lloyd tied for the team-high in kills with ten. She added seven digs and an ace. The win over the Greyhounds gave the Bison the nation’s longest winning streak, which ended the next day. Nonetheless, Bucknell is tied with Colgate for first place in the loss column of the Patriot League.  This weekend, the Bison will face Lehigh and Lafayette.

Cameron Lanier: Stony Brook swept a two-match set from Elon at Pritchard Gymnasium in Stony Brook, NY last week. On October 19, the Seawolves won 3-1 (25-12, 22-25, 25-16, 26-24). Lanier was second on the team with eight kills. She also had six digs. On October 20, Stony Brooks won 3-2 ( 24-26, 25-15, 25-21, 22-25, 15-4) Lanier had 12 kills. Elon falls to 11-10 overall, 5-5 in the Coastal Athletic Association. They will host Towson on Saturday to start a two-match series.

Lottie Scully: Binghamton University defeated NJIT at West Gym in Binghamton, NY on Sunday (25-15, 25-19, 25-16). Scully started as setter and had 37 assists. It was her eleventh performance with 30 assists or more this year. She also had six digs and one kill. On October 16, Colgate defeated Binghamton 3-1 in Hamilton, NY (25-23, 25-18, 23-25, 25-21). Scully finished with her fourth double-double of the season with 45 assists and 14 digs. She also had three kills. Binghamton is 13-9 overall, 2-2 in the America East Conference.

Ella Wimsatt: Division II Lenoir-Rhyne has won six in a row. Wimsatt played three sets in a sweep of Coker on October 15 at the DeLoach Center in Hartsville, SC. She finished with five kills and two digs. Currently, the Bears sit atop the South Atlantic Conference with a 10-1 record. They are 19-1 overall and will travel to Lander College on Saturday.

Julie Altieri: The Division III Salisbury Sea Gulls has won 12 in a row. Last Saturday, Salisbury defeated Stevens 3-0 at Canavan Arena in Hoboken, NJ. Altieri had 38 assists, six digs, one kill and one ace. Later in the day, Salisbury defeated William Patterson 3-1 on scores of 25-19, 25-27, 25-18, 25-20. Altieri had her fourth double-double of the season with 44 assists and 13 digs. She also totaled four kills.

Grace Young: Greensboro College defeated Southern Virginia at Hanes Gymnasium in Greensboro on Wednesday. Young finished with 16 digs and one ace. Last Saturday, Greensboro swept a tri-match at Mary Baldwin University in Staunton, VA. The Pride defeated William Peace University 3-1. Young played in all four sets and finished with five digs and one ace. Later, Greensboro defeated Mary Baldwin 3-0. Young came away with six digs and one ace. Greensboro is 17-6 overall, 10-3 in the USA South.

Melissa Benkowitz: Franklin & Marshall defeated Ursinus 3-1 at the Mayser Center in Lanaster, PA on Wednesday. Benkowitz had 13 digs and one kill. Last Saturday, the Diplomats knocked off DeSales 3-0. Benkowitz had seven digs and one ace. Franklin & Marshall is 18-3, 6-0 in the Centennial Conference. On October 16, the Diplomats swept Gettysburg for a road win. Benkowitz finished with nine digs and one kill.

This week’s Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week is junior volleyball outside hitter Ellamarie Perel. This year, Perel helped the Red Wolves win a share of the Central Conference regular season championship with a 10-2 league mark. Perel emerged as a strong outside hitter opposite Claire Hargett to help the Red Wolves sweep Orange on September 3 at Panther Gymnasium. Perel, the younger sister of former Cedar Ridge men’s basketball center Harrison Perel, had 141 kills this season. She had a season-high 14 kills in a 3-2 victory over Person on September 19 in Hillsborough. Last week in the Central Conference Tournament semifinals, Perel finished with eight kills as the Red Wolves defeated Person in another five-set match. In addition to playing volleyball, Perel is a member of the International Baccalaureate program at Cedar Ridge. She is also the starting goalkeeper for the Cedar Ridge women’s soccer team, which had its best season since 2005 last year. Perel was goalkeeper as the Red Wolves defeated Richlands 3-1 for its first home playoff win in 19 years. On Tuesday night, Perel delivered four aces and eleven straight winners overall as the Red Wolves swept Franklinton in the opening round of the 3A State Playoffs. Cedar Ridge will face Southern Nash in the second round tonight.

Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week: Ellamarie Perel

This week’s Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week is junior volleyball outside hitter Ellamarie Perel. This year, Perel helped the Red Wolves win a share of the Central Conference regular season championship with a 10-2 league mark. Perel emerged as a strong outside hitter opposite Claire Hargett to help the Red Wolves sweep Orange on September 3 at Panther Gymnasium.

Ellamarie Perel isn’t necessarily a server for the Cedar Ridge volleyball team, but the postseason can bring out something new even with experienced players.

In the third set against Franklinton on Tuesday night, Perel served up eleven straight winners to turn a tight set into a runaway as the Red Wolves defeated the Red Rams 3-0 on scores of 25-19, 25-15 and 25-14 in the opening round of the 3A State Playoffs at Red Wolves Gymnasium.

Cedar Ridge, which received the #13 seed after tying Orange for the Central Conference regular season championship, advance to the second round to face Southern Nash on Thursday night. The Firebirds swept Southern Lee in the opening round.

It’s Cedar Ridge’s 14th state playoff win since the 2021 season and the fifth straight year where the Red Wolves have won a postseason match.

Cedar Ridge’s latest state playoff win hardly resembled its previous one, which was also against Franklinton at Lester Wilder Court. Last year, the Red Wolves won a thrilling five-set match where they trailed 7-4 in the fifth set, only to finish the match on a 9-1 run to advance to the third round.

Cedar Ridge led two-sets-to-nothing, but trailed in the third 8-6 before a return by Franklinton’s Tierrah Simmons sent an attack over the end line. Perel stepped up to serve and started a run of 12 straight Red Wolves points. Perel delivered five aces in that span, which vaulted the Red Wolves ahead 18-8. Senior Ellie Miller, in likely her final match on her home court, served consecutive aces in the match’s final two points.

Cedar Ridge junior Claire Hargett had 14 kills and nine digs. She has 392 kills this season and 810 for her career. Junior setter Mia Marty finished with 26 assists. Middle blocker Kayla Stoll finished with 12 kills.

The Red Wolves improve to 17-6. Franklinton ends the season 13-12 after finishing 2nd in the Big East Conference.

Orange 3, Triton 0: In the opening night of the 3A State Tournament, three of the 16 host. teams in the Eastern Regional lost. Orange quickly dashed any hopes by Triton of playing Cinderella.

Sophomore Sawyer White finished with eleven kills, eleven digs and eight assists as Orange defeated Triton 25-7, 25-12 and 25-10. The Lady Panthers won a state playoff match for the fourth straight year. Orange, seeded fifth overall, will host South Central in the second round on Thursday night in Hillsborough. The Falcons swept West Johnston on Thursday.

Orange rolled out to a 10-1 lead in the opening set. Mariah Poole had three blocks and a kill in the 1st set. White finished with four kills, seven digs and four assists. Ava Wilkerson, who leads Orange with 322 kills, finished with ten kills. It was her 17th match with double-digit kills this year. Poole had consecutive blocks that started a string of nine straight Orange points to finish the opening set. Aubrey Jordan spiked down set point off an assist from White.

Orange never trailed at any point in the match, nor were there any ties. The Lady Panthers started the second set with seven straight points, which included consecutive aces from Katie Silcott. White had two kills during the opening run. Orange finished the second set with an 8-2 run, keyed by an ace by Sawyer White and two more kills by Wilkerson. Silcott had two aces in the second set while Wilkerson added two blocks.

In the third set, Wilkerson had a block that sparked an 8-2 Orange run. Silcott and Aubry Hodges had consecutive blocks. Senior Peyton Sigmon got into the match late and scored an ace. Wilkerson scored match point.

Orange, the defending 3A Eastern Regional champions, has now won a season-best six straight matches. They won three matches over three days to take the Central Conference Tournament last week, beating Western Alamance and Cedar Ridge in five sets on Wednesday and Thursday, respectfully.

Cedar Ridge and Orange’s wins were the theme for a great opening night by Central Conference teams. Five of the league’s six teams won 1st round matches, including 27th-seeded Southern Alamance stunning Quad County Champion South Johnston in five sets. 22nd-seeded Northern Nash, who lost to Orange in the opening round last year, will actually host a 2nd round match against the Patriots after beating South Brunswick on Tuesday. Person, seeded 14th, won at Croatan in five sets.

This week’s Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week is senior tennis player Ella Caltabiano. It’s the third time in her career that Caltabiano has been honored as Red Wolf of the Week. This season, Caltabiano helped Cedar Ridge reach the 3A State Dual Team playoffs. She qualified for the Mideast Regionals, playing against the best players in the state at the Burlington Tennis Center on Friday and Saturday. Caltabiano took over for Cameron Mayhew as Cedar Ridge’s #1 singles player this season and won seven matches. This year, Cedar Ridge’s players had to spend two-thirds of its season on the road while their home court was renovated. She started the year with a 6-0, 6-0 victory against Southern Alamance. Throughout the course of the year, Caltabiano was in three-set matches. Against Orange on September 18, Caltabiano defeated the Lady Panthers’ top singles player, Shannon Sollars 6-1, 1-6, 10-5 (10-point tiebreaker). In a win over Western Alamance on September 25, Caltabiano defeated Reagan Williams 4-6, 7-5, 10-7. In her final home match, Caltabiano defeated Gabby Canup of Southern Alamance 6-2, 6-0. Caltabiano and her doubles partner, Adeline Cummings, recorded a record of 6-4 together. Caltabiano has been a four-year varsity player. Next week, Cedar Ridge will face South Johnston in the opening round of the 3A State Dual Team Playoffs.

Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week: Ella Caltabiano

This week’s Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week is senior tennis player Ella Caltabiano. It’s the third time in her career that Caltabiano has been honored as Red Wolf of the Week. This season, Caltabiano helped Cedar Ridge reach the 3A State Dual Team playoffs.

Before school started in August, Naomi Dyreng laid out her objective for her senior year.

She had already won a conference championship in women’s cross country, plus several regional championships in track and field. Her goal for 2024 was to spread toe joy of running to her team in hopes of greater success as  a whole.

“I want to make Cedar Ridge a place where people can really learn how to love running,” Dyreng said back in August. “I want to be able to communicate what I’ve learned from my success to the new people we have coming up. I’m focus on that more than winning this race of that race.”

By that measure, Dyreng has already accomplished her mission.

On Wednesday, Cedar Ridge won the women’s cross country team championship at Lake Cammack Course in Burlington. Dyreng repeated as the Central Conference individual champion, finishing first with a time of 20:15.40. Orange’s Reilly Jermyn, a freshman, came in second at 20:38.60.

Dyreng’s first place finish was enough to give Cedar Ridge 31 points. Orange, with its best showing since the Central Conference was formed in 2021, finished second with 50 points.

Dyreng has spent the past week adding on to her legacy at Cedar Ridge. Last Saturday, Dyreng set the school record at the North Carolina Runners Elite Cross Country Invitational at the Ivey Redmon Sports Complex in Kernersville, which also hosts the state championship each November. Dyreng finished at 18:58.57, eighth overall against some of the top runners in the state.

In addition to two conference championships in cross country, Dyreng has also won three conference championships in outdoor track & field (two in the 3,200 meters, one in the 1,600 meters in 2023). She has captured three regional championships in outdoor track and field, winning the 1,600 and 3,200 meters in 2023 at Franklinton High School. Last year, she won the 3,200 meters at UNC Pembroke, along with a runner-up finish in the 1,600. She has qualified for the state championships three times, finished 7th in the 1,600 meters as a sophomore in 2023. Later that day at North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro, she came in 8th in the 3,200 meters.

While Orange had three of the top five finishers, Cedar Ridge placed runners 6-through-9 to take the conference title. All four were underclassmen. Sophomore Gracie Whitaker came in sixth (23:01.63) while freshman Ila Diaz earned 7th pace (23:16.78). Elaina Sobus, a freshman, crossed the finish line 8th (23:23.34). Kate Finnegan, a sophomore who plays basketball in the winter and soccer in the spring, came in 9th (23:29.96).

Cedar Ridge senior Anna Peterson finished 11th at 24:08.36.

Jermyn, the younger sister of Orange’s Myles Jermyn, led the best individual finish by a female Orange runner in five years. Of the top five finishers, three were Orange freshman. Finishing behind Jermyn were Ava Bishop, who came in fourth at 21:36.32. Another Panther 9th grader, Kinsey Ross, came in fifth at 22:06.07.

Ava Childress of Walter Williams was the only non-Hillsborough runner in the top five, crossing the finish line in third place at 21:30.85.

Orange senior Caroline Cathey finished 15th (24:40.49). Cedar Ridge senior Serena Summers earned a 23rd place finish (26:56.12). Another Orange underclassman, sophomore Mia Blake, came in 25th at 27:06.67.

Orange and Cedar Ridge each qualified as a team for the Mideast Regionals, which will be held in Louisburg on October 26.

Walter Williams, the defending conference champions, came in third with 65 points. Western Alamance was fourth at 96 points while Southern Alamance was fifth. Person had several individual runners compete, as well.

With the title, Cedar Ridge already has more Central Conference championships this academic year than all of 2023-24. The volleyball team shared the conference title with Orange last week.

Last year, Cedar Ridge’s wrestling team won the school’s only conference regular season title. (The volleyball team won the conference tournament championship)

Since 2019, Hillsborough has been Volleyball Town in central North Carolina.

Cedar Ridge added to its claim by claiming a share of its fourth Central Conference regular season crown in five years last week. Playing three matches over a span of three days to culminate the regular season, the Red Wolves easily disposed of Walter Williams 3-0 in Burlington to finish with a conference record of 10-2. Junior Claire Hargett finished with her first triple-double of her career, registering 15 kills, 10 aces and 16 digs.

Cedar Ridge will be the #1 seed in this week’s Central Conference Volleyball Tournament and receive a bye to the semifinal round. On Wednesday night, the Red Wolves will face Person. If Cedar Ridge wins, they will host the championship match on Thursday.

Cedar Ridge, which enters the tournament 15-5 overall, started its preparation for the conference tournament a week early. They opened last week with a sweep of Granville Central on Monday. Following the sweep of Williams, the Red Wolves went to Person County and swept Roxboro Community School on scores of 25-17, 25-10 and 25-20.

“I think all games are planned strategically,” said Cedar Ridge head coach Latasha De Oliveira. “It was good for us to have some good touches and have these games ready to go for next week.”

In the regular season finale against Roxboro Community, Hargett finished with 17 kills to finish the season with a team-high 303. She also added 14 digs, finishing second on the team with 299. Only Sydnee Tapper, with 389, had more.

Hargett had double-doubles in 14 matches this year.

“Right now, we’re focused on playing our side of the net no matter who we face,” De Oliveira said. “I want to make sure we’re executing with the ball. I think we’ve been up-and-down with that a little bit. I want to focus on playing our game.”

Against the Bulldogs, Cedar Ridge only trailed once over three sets. They opened with a 6-2 run, triggered by an unassisted kill from Kayla Stoll. Mia Marty, who finished with 33 assists, eight digs and one kill, set up Hargett with two kills in the opening run. Cedar Ridge would stretch its lead to 22-14 following an ace from Tapper, who registered a team-high 19 digs. Junior Emory Williams closed out the set with an ace.

Cedar Ridge pulled out ahead in the second set with four straight points, starting with a kill from senior Charlotte Lowry. Hargett followed with consecutive kills to put the Red Wolves ahead 8-4. Cedar Ridge increased its lead to 13-5 thanks to consecutive aces from Hargett and a kill by Ellamarie Perel. Lowry and Stoll registered blocks in the second set. Cedar Ridge pushed its lead to 23-8 following a kill by Hargett. A kill by Stoll assisted from Marty put the Red Wolves ahead by two sets.

Hargett had six kills in the third set, which was the tightest of the match. Roxboro Community took its only lead of the match by scoring the opening point, which Cedar Ridge erased quickly enough with four consecutive points, including a block from Stoll. A kill from Lowry increased the Red Wolf lead to 14-9. The Bulldogs reduced its deficit to 17-15 before senior Alleah Fredrick scored on a spike assisted by Marty. Cedar Ridge ended the match by scoring the final three points, two of which came from Stoll. Hargett spiked down match point.

Cedar Ridge will look to win its fourth consecutive Central Conference Tournament this week. Last year, the Red Wolves actually entered the postseason as a dark horse after Orange swept the regular season championship. But Cedar Ridge upset the Panthers in four sets in Hillsborough in the tournament championship match.

Cedar Ridge won the 2021 and 2022 Central Conference Tournaments behind Cameron Lloyd, Cameron Lanioer, Julie Aliteri, Grace Young, Melissa Benkowitz and Anaya Carter, all of whom are now playing in college.