There was a new coat of paint for Cedar Ridge volleyball in its season opener–literally and figuratively.
For starters, there’s a new hardwood at Cedar Ridge gymnasium. The menacing dark gray that symbolized an angry Red Wolves’ menacing glare is gone. In its place is a traditional interlocking “CR” at center court with fresh coats of burgundy paint and a more traditional shiny, brown hardwood with “The Ridge” spelled out on opposite ends of the floor. It took roughly two weeks to install last month.
Of course, there’s the volleyball team itself. Cedar Ridge’s all-time leader in kills, Cameron Lloyd, has graduated and gone to Buckell University. The schools’ second all-time leader in kills, Cameron Lanier, is practicing 30 minutes up I-40/I-85 at Elon University. The all-time assists and aces dddleader was in the gym on Monday night for the Red Wolves’ season opener against Eno River, but Julie Altieri wasn’t in uniform. Instead, she took in her first game as a Cedar Ridge graduate, standing with the rest of the student section as she prepares to leave for Salisbury University in Maryland by week’s end.
While almost all the Cedar Ridge starters from the past four years have moved on, there’s still plenty of players left behind with lots of experience. Senior outside hitter Graylinn Serge, setter Rachel Aversion and sophomore Claire Hargett all registered plenty of sets during Cedar Ridge’s many blowout wins last year. They’re hardly green and it showed in its first-ever matchup against Eno River.
Serge finished with 15 kills and 23 digs, while Hargett had eight kills and ten digs as the Red Wolves swept the season-opener from the Bobcats 3-0 on scores of 25-17, 25-13 and 25-18. The Red Wolves have now won 29 consecutive games at home and 58 consecutive sets in regular season play.
It was the first win for new Cedar Ridge head coach Latacha De Oliveira, who replaced Fiona Cunningham last month.
With Altieri watching from the sidelines, it was Alverson’s responsibility to fill her considerable shoes as setter. Alverson finished with 34 assists, spreading the ball around to five different attackers who registered 37 kills. Averson also had two aces.
“I thought Rachel did a great job,” De Oliveira said. “She ran a great offense and she connected well with all of her hitters.”
Eno River sophomore C’hannah Lawson opened the game with a block of a Hargett attack and finished with five kills and two blocks. Junior libero Zua Vang came away with 12 digs for the Bobcats.
Leading 9-7, Cedar Ridge ran off eight consecutive points with Aversion serving to take control of the opening set. Serge had back-to-back kills to spark the run. Senior Addie Reid slammed home match point off a feed from Serge to put the Red Wolves up a set.
Eno River’s Natalia Rossi started the second set with four straight Bobcats points, ending with an ace. The Red Wolves responded with an 8-0 run, keyed by four aces from Hargett. After the Bobcats reduced its deficit to 14-10, Cedar Ridge reeled off another eight straight points with Hargett serving again. Senior Ellie Woolson, who finished with seven kills, slammed home a point off an pass from Alverson to increase the Red Wolves advantage to 21-10.
Not everything was different in the season opener. As is custom whenever the Red Wolves lead a match 2-sets-to-nothing, Cedar Ridge public address announcer Jon Franklin plays 1990’s one-hit wonder RedNex’s techno-Bluegrass version of “Cotton Eye Joe” between the second and third sets, which always leads to Cedar Ridge players (and occasionally opponents) dancing at the expense of discussing strategy.
Eno River pushed its lead to 7-3 to begin the third set behind kills from Joss Young and Hannah Smith. This time, Cedar Ridge evened the set with a six straight points, including two finishes by Hargett and another by Reid. The Red Wolves used an 8-1 spurt to take a 16-12 lead behind consecutive kills from Serge and an ace by Natasha Buchler-Fosado.
Another thing that hasn’t changed is Cedar Ridge playing tough nonconference schedules. On Tuesday night (tonight), the Red Wolves will travel to Raleigh to face defending 4A State Champion Millbrook. It’s the second straight year the Red Wolves have played the defending 4A State Champions in Wake County. Last year, Cedar Ridge swept Green Level at Garner High School.
“Love to come out and play some good volleyball tomorrow,” De Oliveira said. “I love the atmosphere here at Cedar Ridge. We have the public address announcer and fans getting into the game. It was a lot of fun. Can’t wait for the future.”