Cedar Ridge and Orange have met in volleyball eleven times since 2021.
There have been regional and state champions to emerge from those meetings. No less than six current Division I college players played in those games. With that much star power, regardless of who won, there was never really an unlikely hero in any of those matches.
That’s why Tuesday night at Orange High was different.
Senior Leah Pritchard, who had not played in the previous two sets, was inserted in the midst of a third set that appeared to be Orange’s to lose. The Lady Panthers, trailing two-sets-to-none, had led 15-6 at one point and still led 23-19 after junior Ava Wilkerson notched her fifth block of the set.
Cedar Ridge got a side out following an Orange attacking error. Cedar Ridge coach Latacha De Oliveria put in Pritchard for Mia Marty for serving purposes. The first point ended with the last of Claire Hargett’s 15 kills.
Then Pritchard served up one knuckleball after another that handcuffed Orange almost effortlessly. All told, Pritchard delivered four straight aces, the final one on match point that flailed off the hands of an Orange outside hitter into the front row of bleachers While it was the first match in September, it wasn’t too early for Cedar Ridge to have a dogpile and celebrate on Orange’s home floor for the second straight trip to Panther gymnasium.
Cedar Ridge took over first place in the Central Conference with a surprising sweep of Orange, winning all three sets by the score of 25-23. In addition to her 15 kills, Hargett finished with 13 digs. Cedar Ridge is 5-1 overall, 3-0 in the Central Conference.
Wilkerson had 12 kills and six blocks, but the Panthers fell to 4-5 overall. Orange already has as many losses as they did in all of 2023, when they won the 3A Eastern Regional championship.
“We just needed to give her a chance to serve,” said Cedar Ridge volleyball coach Latacha De Oliveira about Pritchard. “She came in fresh and had a great serve. She’s serving very aggressively in practice. I was trying to make a game changer. She knew what she needed to do, she knew where she needed to be. That’s her strength. She did a great job. It was exactly what we needed.”
Last year, the Red Wolves upset Orange in the Central Conference Tournament championship game, the only league team to beat the Lady Panthers all year. They were also the last team from the Eastern Region to beat Orange in 2023.
“We’ve been focusing in practice on how to prepare for the game,” De Oliveira said. “We studied how to keep them out of tempo. We came in relaxed. We came in ready to fight with everything we had.”
When practice started last month, it appeared on paper that Orange was at an advantage over everyone else locally. They returned four starters from a team that was three points away from winning the 3A State Championship. Hargett is the Red Wolves only returning starter, but De Oliveria believes it’s a group that’s grown together in a short time.
“A lot of them worked hard over the summer,” De Oliveira said. “They came in with the same goal. They put some values together and they really just focused on them. They’ve leaned on each other and have a lot of trust in each other. I think that’s going to make all the difference.”
In each of the three sets, the score was tied at 23-23. Every time, Cedar Ridge found the answers, winning the next two points in each frame.
Wilkerson used her 6-foot-2 frame to score three of Orange’s first four points, but a block from Cedar Ridge middle blocker Charlotte Lowry evened the opening set at 6-6. Red Wolf libero Sydnee Tapper laid down the first of Cedar Ridge’s 13 aces in the match to put the visiting team ahead 12-8. Ellamarie Perel had a kill, followed by another Tapper ace to give the Red Wolves a 21-17 lead. Orange setter Katie Silcott delivered consecutive aces to whittle Orange’s deficit to 22-21. Wilkerson scored consecutive kills to even the first set at 23-23, but the subsequent serve by Orange’s Mariah Poole went long. Orange was called for touching the net while the ball was in the air on the first set point.
“I think the girls played hard,” said Orange coach Hope Heverly. “There are a lot of emotions that go into a crosstown rivalry. I think being in a high emotion game got to us.”
Cedar Ridge continued the momentum in the second set, winning the first five points. Orange ran off four straight points to briefly take an 11-10 lead after kills from Aubrey Jordan and a block from Aubrey Hodges. Cedar Ridge responded with a 6-1 spurt, including an ace from Hargett, to retake the lead 16-12. Jordan found her swing late in the set, laying down three straight kills, followed by an ace from Sawyer to even it up at 23-23. A return by White went long, and Jordan’s attack on set point went wide, putting Cedar Ridge ahead 2-0.
Orange played poised for most of the third set. Wilkerson had four kills and five blocks in the third. A kill by Jordan assisted by Silcott gave Orange at 15-6 lead, but the Red Wolves sawed away at the advantage. Mia Marty, who finished with 11 digs, 14 assists and three kills, fooled Orange with a quick attack, starting a 6-1 Red Wolf run. Emory Williams got her third ace of the set to trip Orange’s lead to 22-19, but Wilkerson turned back an attack from Hargett, which appeared to be all Orange needed to force a fourth set.
Instead, it was their last point.
“I think we’re really young and we’re still growing,” Heverly said. “Some I’m excited to see how they’ll bounce back from this. I feel like their still pretty confident. We’ve been playing some hard teams so they’ll keep growing from here.”