Considering everything she accomplished in her Cedar Ridge career, it may seem surprising that Cameron Lloyd hasn’t won a conference player of the year award until now.
Yet Lloyd was honored as the Central Carolina Conference Volleyball Player of the Year earlier this month for the first time. Lloyd was one of five Cedar Ridge players to be named All-CCC.
Joining Lloyd on the All-Conference team was senior middle blocker Cameron Lanier, senior setter Julie Altieri, libero Grace Young and outside hitter Melissa Benkowitz.
Together, Lloyd, Lanier, Altieri, Young and Benkowitz ended their Cedar Ridge careers with three consecutive conference championships. Lloyd, Lanier and Altieri, all of whom started as freshman, ended their career with a cumulative record of 83-11. They won 40 consecutive games against conference opponents and became the first female team to win a state championship in Cedar Ridge history when they captured the 2021 state championship.
This year, Cedar Ridge won 25 consecutive matches. Its only two losses came against J.H. Rose, who defeated the Red Wolves in its season-opener and in the Eastern Regional Championship match in Greenville.
Lloyd, who set the school record for career kills in her junior season, had 346 kills in her senior season. It was 14 kills shy of her school single-season record of 360 set in 2021. Lloyd, who committed to Bucknell in August, had a career-high 243 digs. She had ten games where she finished with double-digit kills, including a season-high 20 in a sweep of Southern Alamance on September 14. In her final match at Cedar Ridge, Lloyd had seven kills against Wilson Hunt in the state quarterfinals.
Altieri, the all-time assist lead in school history, is also the all-time leader in assists. This season, Altieri had 479 assists and 38 aces. Against Hunt, with Cedar Ridge trailing 23-20 in the final set, Altieri served the Red Wolves out with back-to-back aces. She assisted on the final two points, the last she would score in Hillsborough, as the Red Wolves won its tenth consecutive playoff match. Altieri ended her career with 1,978 assists and 213 aces.
Lanier, who committed to Elon, had 165 kills in her senior year. She finished with 671 career kills, the second-highest total in school history. Lanier had a season-high 14 kills against Orange on September 6, on a night where the Red Wolves were without Benkowitz. On August 27, Lanier had eleven kills in a sweep of Green Level, the 2021 4A State Champions, in Garner. Lanier also finished with 33 blocks, which led the team.
Young, in her third varsity season, committed to UNC Asheville last year. She led the team with 292 digs and finished her career with 623 digs. Young had a career-high 86 assists as she would occasionally play as a setter. She had a season-high 24 digs in the second round of the 3A State Playoffs against Orange. She also had 21 digs against Walter Williams on October 11. She is currently playing basketball for head coach Megan Skouby, who is also an assistant in volleyball.
Benkowitz, who transferred from East Chapel Hill at the beginning of 2021, provided a priceless attacking presence for the Red Wolves to take the load off of Lloyd and Lanier. Benkowitz was third on the team with 143 kills. Over the course of her two seasons with Cedar Ridge, Benkowitz had 331 kills with 75 aces, 325 digs and 346 service receptions. This season, Benkowitz had three matches where she finished with double-digit kills. She had a career-high eleven kills against Walter Williams on October 11. She also had ten kills in a sweep of Person on September 22, as well as ten kills against Eastern Alamance on October 4.
Cedar Ridge only had three matches all season where they dropped a set. After the 3-1 loss to Rose to open the season, the Red Wolves won its subsequent 20 matches without dropping a set. Overall, they won 62 straight sets before dropping the third set against Orange in the Central Carolina Conference tournament championship match on October 19.