When Kelly Young took over the Orange volleyball program in June, she first noticed how versatile her new team was.
While she didn’t have the biggest team in the Big 8 Conference, Young was impressed in workouts with how her squad could play multiple positions. In no other game this season was that best exemplified than on Tuesday night.
Orange swept Cedar Ridge 3-0 at Red Wolves Gymnasium to improve to 5-2 overall. It was Orange’s fourth straight win over the Red Wolves.
Emma Clements and Libby Jones had seven kills each, while senior Liz LaNier had six kills, two assists and a block. Freshman Lydia Wood and senior Sarah McCuiston paced the Red Wolves with six kills each. Junior Celeste Pasley had four kills.
Orange never trailed in any of the three sets, earning the win on scores of 25-13, 25-14 and 25-16.
“Anyone I put in, they did their job,” said Young. “They wanted to win. They want conference wins. We’ve set some high goals for this team and they’re working for them.”
Cedar Ridge dropped its fourth straight and fell to 2-5, 0-3 in the BIg 8 Conference. The Red Wolves were coming off a three-game road trip that ended with a match last Thursday against Chapel Hill, the two-time defending 3A Eastern Regional Champions.
Orange was coming off a five-set loss against Person in Roxboro on Monday night, an effort that Young was proud of.
“They worked their tails off (against Person),” said Young. “They wanted to win.”
The same can’t be said about Orange’s opening Big 8 match last week, a 3-0 loss to East Chapel Hill.
“We played awful,” said Young. “It wasn’t like one or two people wasn’t on. The majority of us weren’t on. I don’t think we outpsyched ourselves. We just couldn’t get any momentum going. We definitely were not playing our normal play.”
With Clements serving, Orange jumped out to a 6-1 lead to start the second set. During the run, Clements had a kill and an ace. Cedar Ridge narrowed the deficit to 7-6 following an ace from Pasley. Orange pushed their advantage back to 16-12 following a block from LaNier and an Celements kill assisted by Kaitlyn Werden who finished with a team-high 14 assists. Jones wrapped up the set on a kill assisted by Werden.
The third set was the most competitive with Cedar Ridge tying it three times, including at 8-8 after Colby Rabelais scored a kill off an assist from Macy Henry. Orange went on a 6-1 run to take control of the set, which included two kills from Natalia Ruble. The Lady Panthers closed with the final six points to close out the win.
Cedar Ridge’s last win over Orange in volleyball came on September 1, 2016 at Red Wolves’ Gymnasium. It’s a long way from the 2013-2015 under former head coach Charlie Oakley, Cedar Ridge defeated Orange five consecutive times.
Orange will travel to Northwood on Thursday night. Cedar Ridge will journey to Poe Gymtorium to face Northern Durham on Thursday. Northwood and Northern Durham will enter their respective matches in a three-way tie for third place in the Big 8 with 2-1 records.