The joyride that has been the Class of 2023 Cedar Ridge volleyball team is entering its final days.
Regardless of whether the end comes on Tuesday in the second round of the state playoffs against Orange, on November 8 in the 3A State Championship match at Reynolds Coliseum or somewhere in between, there’s no disputing the numbers continue to add up for the most accomplished group of Cedar Ridge athletes in the 20-year history of the school.
On Saturday, Cedar Ridge rolled past Richlands 3-0 in the opening round of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association 3A State Playoffs. The Red Wolves (22-1), the defending 3A State Champions, are the #2 seed in the east region. They advanced to face crosstown rival Orange in the second round on Tuesday night in Red Wolves Gymnasium.
It was the 80th win for Cedar RIdge’s senior class of Cameron Lloyd, Cameron Lanier, Julie Altieri, Anaya Carter, Grace Young, Melissa Benkowitz, Lauren Cecil and Isabelle Sheppard. Lloyd, Lanier, Altieri and Carter all played for the Red Wolves on the varsity as freshman. Young, Benkowitz, Sheppard and Cecil joined the varsity as sophomores (Benkowitz transferred from East Chapel Hill).
The Red Wolves used superior serving to easily take the victory. In the opening set, Young had eight aces and eight digs. Lloyd, who is second in school history for most career aces behind only Altieri, finished with five aces and nine digs, which led the team.
For the third straight game, Altieri was out. The Red Wolves went with freshman Mia Marty as setter in the opening two sets. Marty finished with eight assists, a lower total than usual simply because there weren’t many rallies.
Freshman Claire Hargett led the Red Wolves with five kills. Benkowitz added four while Lanier had three kills and three blocks.
Cedar Ridge has now won 22 consecutive matches and 66 of its last 67 sets. Its only loss of the season came against J.H. Rose, who is the #1 seed in the east region. On Saturday, the Rampants rolled past South Brunswick in the opening round to set up a matchup against C.B. Aycock on Tuesday night.
After winning all six of its state playoff matches last year, Cedar Ridge’s senior class has won nine state playoff matches. Asha Barnes, who graduated from Cedar Ridge in 2016, was a member of teams that won 13 sate playoff matches during her four years. In her senior year, the Red Wolves hosted the 2015 3A Eastern Regional championship match, which Asheboro captured 3-1.
Altieri holds the school record in assists and aces. She is the only player in Cedar Ridge history with over 200 aces. She also has 1,921 assists.
The remarkable thing about Cedar Ridge’s various record holders is they all were robbed of 10-15 games in the 2020-2021, which was limited to ten games because of the pandemic. The Red Wolves had 24 matches in 2019-2020 and 33 last year. With a standard length regular season, Lloyd could have become the first player in school history with 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs.
Going into Saturday, Lloyd’s listed statistics on MaxPreps was 990 kills and 728 digs. Based on records kept on MaxPreps, the all-time digs record in Cedar Ridge history belongs to Lindsay Thompson, who finished with 745.
When they face Orange on Tuesday, the Red Wolves will go for its 40th consecutive win over a conference opponent. In what may be a good omen for Orange, the Lady Panthers were the last team from the Central Carolina Conference to defeat the Red Wolves. They won 3-2 on October 18, 2019.
Cedar Ridge has won 25 consecutive home matches.