I’m never going to grow up. And that’s OK.
I think.
On Tuesday night, I sat in the same gym I spent growing up in the late 1980s-early 1990s at Orange High School. Back then, volleyball was still in its formative years. The yearbook from my senior year shows that Orange finished with a 3-19 record. To date myself even more, a team couldn’t score points unless they were serving.
I was getting emotionally wrapped up in basketball games and wrestling matches at Orange inside that gym when I was a teenager.
Fast forward 32 years to this past Tuesday night. And what has changed?
Nothing! Except I was getting emotionally wrapped up in volleyball.
As Orange faced Carrboro for the 3A Eastern Regional Championship, I was still pumped up to see the team from Hillsborough potentially accomplish something that only one volleyball team from my alma mater has doine before: reach the state championship match. I was just as emotionally charged up when Cedar Ridge faced J.H. Rose in each of the past two regional championship games in 2021 and 2022 because I grew up with several of the Red Wolves players’ parents.
I guess that was reflected in the broadcast on Tuesday.
Listening back to the broadcast on Wednesday, that’s an understatement.
When Orange sophomore Katie Silcott scored to set up match point on a soft poke over the net, I couldn’t just label that “a kill” on the air. I had to emphasize the moment. So I drew it out, like Geddy Lee of Rush did leading into the guitar solo on the song “Anthem,” (this reference is nearly 50 years old!).
“killlLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” is how it sounded. My lungs had to take the brunt at the expense of the emotion of the moment.
Maybe it isn’t healthy for someone my age to be this emotionally wrapped up into what teenagers play, but it’s why this website is taking up cyberspace. And what better moment to capture for the Orange seniors on Tuesday night? Ella Wimsatt, Sadye Porter, Josie Crawford and Blessiny Deronette truly deserve to play in Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh on Saturday at noon. And we’ll be there to broadcast it.
Hopefully, my lungs will have recovered by then.
We’re actually behind with our Magnificent 7, so we’re going back to the week of October 8-October 14 for this edition. We’ll play catch up once things start to slow down next week. Once again, these are the top performance aforementioned week in no particular order.
- Finn Kelly, Orange, Sr.: It was a strong week for Orange men’s soccer. The Panthers defeated Cedar Ridge 2-0 in the second leg of the Hillsborough Derby. Kelly, the Orange goalkeeper, may have had the best week of his career. He had a clean sheet against the Red Wolves, followed with another clean sheet against Person and earned the win against Eno River Academy on October 13.
- Rachel Alverson, Cedar Ridge, Sr: On her senior night, Alverson surpassed 1,000 career assists for the Cedar Ridge volleyball team as the Red Wolves defeated Walter Williams 3-0 in Hillsborough. Alverson finished with 35 assists against the Bulldogs as Cedar Ridge wrapped up second place in the Central Carolina Conference.
- Katie Silcott, Orange, Soph.: On her way to 1,000 career assists, Silcott wracked up 27 helpers as the Orange volleyball team defeated Eastern Alamance 3-0 in Mebane. Against Williams in Burlington, Silcott had 21 assists. Silcott is the younger Orange player ever to 1,000 assists.
- Naomi Dyreng, Cedar Ridge, Jr: Another strong finish for Dyreng in the NC Runners Elite Cross Country Invitational in Kernersville on October 14. In a field of 88 runners, Dyreng finished 13th with a time of 20:08.86. Cedar Ridge finished sixth as a team in a quality field of competitors.
- Erinn Sollars, Orange, Sr: Sollars won her final tennis match at Orange on October 10. She defeated Camila Rosa of Eastern Alamance 8-0 at #1 singles. Orange won the match 8-1 to end the dual match season with a winning record.
- Gabriel Schmid, Orange, Sr: Another strong finish for the Orange senior at the NC Runners Elite Cross Country Invitational. He finished second in a field of 153 runners. Only Dawson Reeves of Christ School finished ahead of Schmid. This weekend, Schmid will go for his second career individual state championship, also in Kernersville.
- Joseph Lopez, Orange, Jr.: Scored the game-winning goal for Orange soccer in the overtime win over Cedar Ridge. He followed that with a goal in the 6-0 win over Person.