Orange High School

While they’re only two games into their conference slate, the Orange volleyball team has established itself as the team to beat in the Central Carolina Conference. The Lady Panthers defeated crosstown rival Cedar Ridge 3-0 on scores of 25-18, 25-21 and 25-14. Orange ended Cedar Ridge’s 44-game conference winning streak, as well as the Red Wolves’ 31-game home court winning streak. Senior Ella Wimsatt made her final game inside Red Wolves Gymnasium a memorable one. She had 19 kills, tying her second-highest total of the year. She also had 12 digs. Sophomore Aubrey Jordan had 15 kills, her second-highest total of the year. Orange ended an eight-game losing streak to the Red Wolves. While conference play just started, Orange is already the only undefeated team in CCC play and stand alone in first place with a 2-0 league mark. On Thursday, Orange will start a string of two games in two days, both against teams from Roxboro. The Panthers will face Person on Thursday night in Hillsborough. It will be their first home game since August 15. On Friday night, the Lady Panthers will travel to Roxboro Community School, currently the #5 team in the 1A East RPI rankings. Orange is 8-3 overall.

Orange volleyball’s Ella Wimsatt and Aubrey Jordan discuss win at Cedar Ridge

While they’re only two games into their conference slate, the Orange volleyball team has established itself as the team to beat in the Central Carolina Conference. The Lady Panthers defeated crosstown rival Cedar Ridge 3-0 on scores of 25-18, 25-21 and 25-14.

If you couldn’t feel a sense of urgency from the Orange volleyball team on Tuesday night, you were numb.

Ella Wimsatt mixed her attacks between soft changeups that fell harmlessly between three players with overhead strikes that tried to put a hole into the new floor at Cedar Ridge. Senior setter Sadye Porter stepped in front of kill attempts by Cedar Ridge players that looked like speeding bullets, just to keep them off the ground and give Orange another chance at a point. Even setter Katie Silcott, a sophomore, came up with clutch blocks when her main role is setting up Wimsatt and Aubrey Jordan for kills.

Why the sense of urgency? For obvious reasons, it was the seniors last chance to beat Cedar Ridge at Red Wolves Gymnasium, something they’ve never done. Most of all, the past four years, the Orange volleyball team has been a formidable team in Hillsborough. But they’ve never been THE team in Hillsborough.

Until now.

On Tuesday night, Orange put a resounding end to four years of frustration with a 3-0 sweep of Cedar Ridge at Red Wolves Gymnasium. The Lady Panthers (8-3, 2-0 in the Central Carolina Conference) captured the match 25-18. 25-21 and 25-14. The win ended Cedar Ridge’s streak of 42 consecutive conference wins and their 31-match home court winning streak.

Plus, Orange broke Cedar Ridge’s eight-game winning streak in the series. The last time the Panthers beat the Red Wolves, it was October 8, 2019, also at Red Wolves Gymnasium.

Cedar Ridge’s last conference loss came against East Chapel Hill on October 15, 2019. Their last home loss was on September 20, 2022, when they fell to D.H. Conley, the defending 3A State Champions. The Red Wolves would win the 3A State Championship six weeks later.

While Orange coach Hope Heverly realized how important the match and the rivalry are, she had no idea the magnitude of the win.

“I didn’t know Cedar Ridge had gone that long without losing a conference match,” Heverly said. “I knew that was a lot at stake and I knew the girls had a long of drive coming in. But I didn’t know they had all those streaks. That makes this win a little sweeter.”

Orange will host Person on Thursday in Hillsborough. Tuesday’s match against Cedar Ridge was its ninth straight tilt on the road.

“The girls knew how important this game was,” Heverly said. “They were laser focused in practice on Monday. They made the adjustments they needed for today’s game. Every timeout, when we switched up something, they came out and switched it up. They came out with heart and desire to win together.”

Despite the two schools being evenly matched, Orange pulled away in the opening two sets. The third was a blowout. In the opening frame, Cedar Ridge led 10-6 after consecutive kills by Graylinn Serge assisted by Rachel Alverson, which led to an Orange timeout. Ella Wimsatt ended the run with a kill, then slammed the subsequent point home unassisted after it went off the fist of Cedar Ridge middle blocker Addie Reid.

Serge notched another kill to increase the Red Wolf lead to 12-8, but Wimsatt struck a thunderous attack to give Orange a side out. Aubrey Jordan registered two straight kills, while Wimsatt delivered a changeup to tie the set 12-12. The Red Wolves couldn’t chain together consecutive points after Porter notched an ace to put the Lady Panthers ahead 14-13 in the set, and Orange wouldn’t trail again in the frame and for most of the match. Jordan scored off an attack despite Silcott and Porter nearly colliding going for a loose ball. Ava Wilkerson rejected an attack from Serge to put Orange ahead 16-13.

Reid delivered a thunderous kill to cut the Red Wolf deficit to 18-16, but Wilkerson notched a kill when Reid’s block attempt went wide. Wimsatt notched four consecutive kills to increase the Orange lead to 23-17. Porter made a deep dig off a serve by Caroline Park that bounced over the net into the Cedar Ridge backcourt. Jordan ended the set with a swing from the near post.

Though Cedar Ridge extended the second set, they never led in the frame. Orange junior Abby Silinski had an ace during an 6-1 run to put the Lady Panthers ahead 7-3. Cedar Ridge responded with five straight points, including kills by Claire Hargett and Addie Reid. Orange came back with a 6-3 run with finishes from Jordan and Silinski.

After Cedar Ridge’s Rachel Alverson delivered an ace to cut Orange’s lead to 19-18, Jordan came back with another kill. and later got another to set up set point. Silcott scored off a block to put Orange ahead by two sets.

There was no drama at all in the third set. Orange jumped out to a 12-3 lead, which included Silinski delivering two aces and consecutive finishes from Wimsatt. Orange led by as much as 18-8. Silcott again got match point off a block to end a string of dominance by Cedar Ridge and put Orange into sole possession of first place in the Central Carolina Conference.

This week’s Orange Panther of the Week is senior volleyball outside hitter Ella Wimsatt. Through the first nine matches of the season, Wimsatt leads Orange with 152 kills. That includes a career-high 24 kills in a win at Falls Lake. She also had 19 kills against Southwest Randolph on August 19 at East Chapel Hill High School. Wimsatt has been a member of the varsity for the past four years. Wimsatt has had double-digit kills in nine of Orange’s ten matches this year. She started the season with 12 kills in Orange’s 3-1 win over Jordan in Hillsborough on August 15, which is the only time this year that Orange has played at home. As a sophomore, she registered 104 kills. Since her sophomore year, Wimsatt has helped Orange reach the state playoffs and has won at least one match each time. As a sophomore, Wimsatt was also an integral part of the Orange women’s soccer team making its deepest run in the state playoffs in school history. Wimsatt scored six goals last season to help Orange make the state playoffs. In volleyball, Orange hasn’t won a conference championship in 17 years. Wimsatt is aiming to help the Lady Panthers end that drought. Orange is 7-3, 1-0 in the Central Carolina Conference with a showdown against Cedar Ridge set for Tuesday at Red Wolves Gymnasium.

Orange Panther of the Week: Ella Wimsatt

This week’s Orange Panther of the Week is senior volleyball outside hitter Ella Wimsatt. Through the first nine matches of the season, Wimsatt leads Orange with 152 kills. That includes a career-high 24 kills in a win at Falls Lake. She also had 19 kills against Southwest Randolph on August 19 at East Chapel Hill High School.

Payton Wilson: N.C. State started its season with a 24-14 win over Connecticut at Pratt & Whitney Stadium in East Hartford, CT on Thursday night. Wilson, a redshirt senior linebacker for the Wolfpack, clinched the game with an interception on the Wolfpack’s final defensive play of the night. Wilson led N.C. State with ten tackles. He also had a pass breakup and a tackle for loss. The Wolfpack will host Notre Dame in its home opener at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh next Saturday.

Darius Satterfield: Catawba defeated Division II Elizabeth City State 31-23 at Roebuck Stadium in Elizabeth City on Saturday. Satterfield averaged 32.4 yards on five punts. His longest was 56 yards and one was downed inside the 20-yard line.

Trenton Gill: In what was a mere formality, Gill made the final roster of the Chicago Bears after cutdown day across the NFL on Tuesday. Gill’s season will start agains the Green Bay Packers at Soldier Field on September 10.

Braxton Mergenthal: The Division III Hampton-Sydney football team started its season with a 29-28 loss to Wabash (Indiana) in the Gentleman’s Classic at Everett Stadium in Hampden Sydney, VA on Saturday. Mergenthal, a former Cedar Ridge interior lineman, started his senior season with one tackle.

Mia Davidson-Smith: Davidson was announced as a member of Team USA Softball that will play in the Pan American Games this fall. Davidson was one of 16 players who will play in Santiago, Chile on October 29-November 4. This will be the second time this year that Davidson has played in an international competition for Team USA. In June, she played during the WBSC World Cup Group A event in Dublin, Ireland, where the Americans went undefeated to qualify for the World Cup Finals next year.

Cameron Lloyd: The Bucknell volleyball team hosted the Bucknell Invitational at Davis Gym in Lewisburg, PA. The Bison went 1-2 in the two-day event. William & Mary defeated the Bison 3-1 on scores of 25-22, 19-25, 25-23 and 25-19. Lloyd played all four sets and had two aces with eight digs. Bucknell defeated Cornell 3-0 on scores of 25-22, 25-22 and 26-24. Lloyd had her biggest college game thus far with six kills, 13 digs and one ace. On Saturday, Princeton swept Bucknell 3-0 on scores of 25-18, 25-20 and 25-11. Lloyd had six kids, a block and six digs. Bucknell is 2-4 and will face Akron in the Cleveland State Tournament on Friday.

Cameron Lanier: This weekend, the Elon volleyball team went 1-2 in the Wofford Invitational in Spartanburg, S.C. Georgia State defeated Elon 3-0 (25-17, 25-22 and 26-24). Lanier led the team with 14 kills on a whopping 37 attempts. She also finished with eight digs and one block. The Phoenix swept South Carolina State (25-12, 25-15 and 25-16). Once again, Lanier led the team with nine kills. She also had two digs. On Saturday, Wofford swept Elon (25-20, 25-20 and 25-17). Lanier finished with five kills, one ace and one dig. Elon is 1-5.

Grace Young: The UNC Asheville volleyball team lost two matches to Furman last week. On Wednesday, the Paladins defeated the Bulldogs 3-0 (25-17, 25-15 & 25-23) at Alley Gym in Greenville, SC. Young played in two of the sets and had two aces and two digs. In a rematch on Friday, the Paladins once again gained a sweep inside of the Justice Center in Asheville (25-17, 25-20 and 25-19). Young played in two sets and had five digs. The Bulldogs are 3-3 and will travel to Western Carolina on Tuesday.

Anaya Carter: The Division II UNC Pembroke volleyball team started its season by going 3-1 during the Cedarville Invitational in Cedarville, Ohio. On Saturday, Palm Beach Atlantic defeated the Braves 3-0. (25-17, 25-21, and 25-10). Carter played one set.

Julie Altieri: Altieri, the all-time assist leader in Cedar Ridge history, started her college career on Friday with the Division III Salisbury Seagulls with three wins. The Seagulls defeated William Peace University 3-1 in the first match of the Margie Knight Classic at the Maggs Physical Activities Center in Salisbury, MD (25-7, 25-23, 22-25 and 25-22) on Friday. In her first college game, Altieri had ten assists, five digs and one ace in three sets. On Saturday, Salisbury swept Drew (25-15, 25-22 and 25-14). Altieri played all three sets and finished with one kill, 12 assists, two aces and five digs. Salisbury completed the weekend with a 3-2 win over Stevenson (25-23, 16-25, 25-27, 27-25 and 15-11). Altieri registered 23 assists, one ace, and ten digs. The Seagulls will compete in the Garnet Invitational starting on Friday.

Melissa Benkowitz: Another former Cedar Ridge Red Wolf made her college debut this weekend. Benkowitz suited up for Division III Franklin & Marshall College at the Mayser Center in Lancaster, PA. Carnegie Mellon defeated the Diplomats 3-1 in the opening match (25-17, 25-18, 20-25, 25-17). Benkowitz played all four sets and finished with ten kills, seven digs and one ace. On Saturday, Franklin and Marshall defeated SUNY Geneso 3-0 (25-14, 25-17 and 25-21). Benkowitz tallied seven kills, eleven digs and one ace. Also on Saturday, the Diplomats swept Elizabethtown (25-17, 25-23 and 25-19). Benkowitz had two kills, two aces and seven digs.

Emerson Talley: The Lenoir-Rhyne women’s soccer team opened its season with a 1-1 draw with Lee University at Moretz Sports-Athletic Complex in Hickory. Talley, the all-time goals scorer in Cedar Ridge history, started her first game and played all 90 minutes. On Saturday, the Bears played to a scoreless tie with Mount Olive. Talley started and played 73 minutes.

Volleyball: Orange 3, Jordan 0: It’s been two weeks since the Orange volleyball team has had a home game, but they’ve adjusted just fine.

On Monday night, the Lady Panthers claimed its fourth straight road win with a sweep of Jordan in Durham. The Panthers never trailed in any of the sets, winning 25-18, 25-15 and 25-8. It marks the Panthers second win over the Falcons this year.

Sophomore Aubrey Jordan finished with ten kills and four digs. Senior Ella Wimsatt had 14 kills and 13 digs for Orange, who improved to 6-3 with its fourth straight win.

Sophomore setter Katie Silcott finished with 29 assists, three aces and a kill. It’s Orange’s third win over a 4A team.

Orange scored eight of the first nine points to begin the game, the first of several lengthy runs. Jordan started the game with a kill off a ball supplied by Silcott, followed by an ace from senior libero Sadye Porter. Jordan rolled off four out of five points to narrow Orange’s lead to 16-9, but the Panthers pulled out the frame when the Falcons hit the ball four times on set point. ‘Wimsatt and Ava Wilkerson each had three kills in the first set.

Jordan’s Taylor Shumate had a kill to even the second set at 4-4, one of only two times in the entire game there was a deadlock. Wimsatt followed with another point off a pass from Silcott, which triggered a 9-4 run that killed any possible drama in the second set. Wimatt had kills on the final two points of the set to put Orange ahead 2-0.

Wilkerson, a 6-4 sophomore, opened the third set with three kills as Orange built a 5-0 lead. The Lady Panthers followed with seven consecutive points, which included two aces by Silcott and two kills by Jordan. Wilkerson ended the match with a block off an attack attempt by Shumate, then notched a kill on match point.

Tonight (Tuesday), Orange will start its Central Carolina Conference slate with a road trip to Western Alamance. Last year, the Warriors extended Orange to five sets before the Lady Panthers won 15-13.

Tuesday’s trip to Elon will be Orange’s ninth straight game away from Hillsborough.

Women’s Tennis: Orange 8, Western Alamance 1: The Orange women’s tennis team opened defense of its 2022 CCC regular season championship with a convincing road win at Western Alamance on Monday night.

Shannon Sollars maintained her undefeated record with a victory at #2 singles, 6-1, 6-4. Sollars also teamed up with her sister, Erin, for a victory at #1 doubles 8-3.

Shannon Sollars is 4-0 in singles action and 4-0 in doubles play this year. All of Sollars doubles wins have been with her sister, Erin.

Erin Sollars also won two matches on the night. In addition to her doubles win, Erin won at #1 singles 7-5, 6-0.

Senior Makayla Davis earned her eighth overall wins on the season. Davis won her singles match at #3 over Hensley Gasaway 6-0, 6-3. Davis teamed with sophomore Molly Kruse to win at #2 doubles 8-6 over Gasaway and Sarah McLaughlin.

Kruse won her singles match at #5, beating Abigail Simpson 6-1, 6-1. At #6 singles, Orange senior Molly Shaw defeated Mia Sodano 6-2, 6-0.

Molly Kruse, in her first year as a full-time starter for Orange, is 4-1 so far in singles. She and Davis have teamed to win all four of their doubles matches.

McLaughlin won at #4 singles for Western Alamance, beating Ellie Wilson 6-1, 6-0.

Wilson and Shaw completed an Orange sweep at doubles, beating Abigail Stimpson and Sodano 6-3.

Orange is now 4-1 overall, 1-0 in the CCC. On Wednesday night, Orange will face Williams in Hillsborough at Orange Tennis Courts. Last year, Orange upset the Bulldogs in the second dual match between the two teams, which paved the way for the Lady Panthers to tie for first place. It led to Orange winning its first tennis conference championship, men’s or women’s, in school history.

This week’s Orange Panther of the week is senior wide receiver Brandon Cummings. The Defensive Player of the Week is junior linebacker DeAndre Brown. Plus, we’re also honoring junior Ja’Ki McDnaiels as part of our spring spotlight series. On Friday night, Cummings had a career-high 130 yards receiving in Orange’s 33-20 win over Southeast Alamance. Cummings scored Orange’s first touchdown of the season on a 30-yard reception on the first drive of the game. In the second quarter, Cummings broke free for an 89-yard touchdown catch-and-run which put Orange ahead 20-7. It was the first touchdowns of his varsity career. Brown was part of an exuberant Orange defense, which had seven sacks against the Stallions. Brown led the team with 15 tackles, including one sack. Brown is part of a young Orange defense that includes freshman Tyreek Battle, sophomore Jaylan Starks and junior Garrett Sawyer. Last spring, Ja’Ki McDaniels qualified for the 3A State Outdoor Track and Field Championships. In 2022, McDaniels scored Orange’s first touchdown of the season against South Granville. The efforts of Cummings, Brown and McDaniels were a big reason why the Panthers won its first season opener since 2017. Tonight, the Panthers will face longtime rival Chapel Hill at Auman Stadium. The Panthers will look to end a three-game losing streak to the Tigers.

Orange Panther of the Week: Brandon Cummings; Defensive Player: DeAndre Brown & Ja’Ki McDaniels

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Is this Orange volleyball’s time?

In the past ten years, Cedar Ridge, Chapel Hill, East Chapel Hill and Carrboro have all won conference championships in volleyball. Orange has been the odd team out.

The Lady Panthers have teetered on the edge of a championship before. For four straight years in the mid-2000s, Orange finished in second place as a 2A team. The problem was Cardinal Gibbons was a 2A team, too, and they finished ahead of the Lady Panthers each time.

Kelly Young was a player on those Orange teams. When she became Orange head coach in 2018, she took aim at Chapel Hill, the top dogs of the Big 8 Conference, where the Lady Panthers resided at the time.

Orange would beat Chapel Hill during the pandemic season of 2020. Cedar Ridge, however, had the firepower to become the most successful volleyball team in Hillsborough history, winning three straight conference championships and the 2021 3A State title. Last year, Orange was the only team from the CCC to take a set from the Red Wolves, but it didn’t stop Cedar Ridge from winning another league crown and reaching the Eastern Regional Championship match for the second straight year.

Plenty has changed across the CCC since then, including at Orange. Young stepped down as head coach and is now an assistant at Eno River Academy. Hope Heverly, who served three years as Person head coach from 2012-2014, returned to the high school ranks last week.

After a fifth-place finish at the East Chapel Hill Invitational, the Lady Panthers finished off an undefeated week with a 3-1 victory over Falls Lake in Creedmoor on Thursday night. The Firebirds came into the match ranked as the #1 team in the 1A East RPI rankings, but Orange handed them its first loss of the season.

This week, Orange completed a swing of six matches in six days (all of them away from Hillsborough) with three road wins over Seaforth, East Chapel Hill and Falls Lake. Orange defeated the Wildcats on Wednesday night 3-0 on scores of 25-17, 25-12 and 25-15. Senior Ella Wimsatt finished with 14 kills and 16 digs. Wimsatt emerged from Wednesday night with 101 kills on the young season, a team-high. Sophomore Aubrey Jordan finished with 12 kills and four digs.

Sophomore Katie Silcott, who has taken over setting duties after the graduation of Caitlin Carden, finished with 33 assists and nine digs. Senior libero Sadye Porter, who missed last season, led the Lady Panthers with 19 digs.

“Sadye’s presence is definitely seen out there,” Heverly said. “She covers a lot of court for such a little girl.”

Only the third set was competitive with East springing out to a 7-3 lead. With Panther junior Abby Silinski serving, Orange erased its deficit with a 7-2 run. Wimsatt had three kills in the spurt, while Jordan added two more and Silinki dropped in an ace that landed on the backline. The Lady Panthers ran off seven straight points starting with a Wimsatt kill off an assist from Silcott. Mariah Poole had a block while Wimsatt delivered an ace to put the Panthers ahead 16-10.

“I was a little bit nervous tonight,” Heverly said. “The girls had played all weekend and didn’t get any time to rest. But the girls came out strong and I think they learned a lot from this weekend about coming together as a team. This week, I feel we’ve seen an improvement in team cohesiveness than last week, our first week.”

Overall, five different players had kills in the final set, including five from Wimsatt. Sophomore Ava Wilkerson finished with six for the game. Poole scored match point to earn Orange’s second sweep of the Wildcats this season.

“Our setters are doing a good job in spreading out the sets more to give the outside hitters an option,” Heverly said. “All of the hitters are stepping up, instead of just are outside hitters.”

Next Tuesday, the Lady Panthers will begin the CCC slate with an important road trip to Western Alamance, who is currently ranked higher in the RPI rankings than any other CCC team. The Warriors will be a wildcard in a league turned upside down by graduations and coaching departures.

The looming question as the conference slate begins for Orange is whether this is finally the time they can rise above everyone for their first conference title.

Winning at East Chapel Hill is starting to become a habit for the Orange volleyball team. On Wednesday night, the Lady Panthers played its fourth game in five days inside Wildcats Gymnasium. Orange swept East Chapel Hill 3-0 on scores of 25-17, 25-12 and 25-15. Orange senior Ella Wimsatt had 14 kills and 16 digs as the Lady Panthers improved to 4-3. Sophomore Aubrey Jordan finished with 12 kills and four digs. Senior setter Katie Silcott finished with 33 assists. Senior libero Sadye Porter led Orange with 19 digs. Junior Abby Sillinski finished with seven digs. The Lady Panthers had a 7-1 spurt to take control of the first set, which included three kills by Jordan. Orange took a 23-13 lead with a 6-0 run late in the first set. Wimsatt wrapped up the first set with a kill assisted by Silcott. Sophomore Ava Wilkerson finished with six kills, an ace and a block. The Lady Panthers have two more games before its first conference matchup. On Thursday night, Orange will travel to Creedmoor to plays Falls Lake. Next week, the Lady Panthers travel to Durham to face Jordan. On Tuesday, Orange will play at Western Alamance to start its Central Carolina Conference slate. All told, Orange has played six straight games away from home. By the time they return home next Thursday, that number will be eight.

Orange volleyball’s Sadye Porter and Abby Sillinski discuss win over East Chapel Hill

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