In the first three years of the Central Conference, there’s been a clear front runner in volleyball.
In 2021, Cedar Ridge won 14 consecutive league matches en route to the state championship. A year later, they won 62 consecutive sets in clinching another league regular season and conference tournament title. Last year, Orange won 29 straight sets during an undefeated run to its first conference title since 2005.
This year, it’s different. While Orange and Cedar Ridge remain formidable opponents, there’s no dominant team this year because the Alamance County schools are making some noise.
Last week, Western Alamance upset Orange, which put Cedar Ridge in the lead by two games at the midway point of the conference season.
On Tuesday night, Southern Alamance pulled its own upset, beating the Red Wolves 3-1 in Graham on scores of 16-25, 25-23, 25-21 and 25-23. Cedar Ridge falls to 10-4 overall, 7-1 in the Central Conference. The Red Wolves are now one game ahead of Orange, who swept Williams on Tuesday night in Hillsborough.
Orange (8-7, 6-2) is now tied with Western Alamance for second place. If that wasn’t dramatic enough, Cedar Ridge and Orange will meet tonight at Red Wolves Gymnasium. The match was moved from Thursday to Wednesday because of rain in the forecast, which led to Cedar Ridge’s Homecoming football game being shifted to Thursday night.
Cedar Ridge suffered just its second loss to an Alamance County team in the four years of the Central Conference.
Cedar Ridge closed out the opening set against the Patriors with a 4-1 run. Kayla Stoll ended a long rally with a kill set up by Mia Marty on set point.
There were 13 consecutive points with a side out in the 2nd set as neither team could gain momentum. Kayedance Wright delivered three straight aces during a 6-0 Patriots run. The Red Wolves evened things up following an unassisted kill by Stoll in the midst of a 7-0 spurt. Ellamarie Perel had four kills in the set. A kill by Stoll gave Cedar Ridge a 19-17 lead, but the Patriots scored five of the next six points, starting with an ace from junior Roslyn Taylor. Cedar Ridge led 23-22, the Patriots closed out the set with three straight points, ending with a kill by Poppie Shanklin.
The third set was tied 11-11 when Lexie Crawford spiked down a point off a feed from setter Ava Duggins. The Patriots didn’t trail again in the set, leading by as much as 21-16 after an ace from Duggins.
In the fourth, Stoll scored a kill, followed by an ace from Marty to put the Red Wolves ahead 15-14. Southern evened things up with a kill from Taylor, which started a 4-0 Patriots run. Sydnee Tapper delivered an ace to get the Red Wolves within one at 23-22, but the Patriots scored off a spike from Duggins. Taylor scored on match point leading to a big Patriots celebration.
ORANGE 3, WALTER WILLIAMS 0: Orange kept its chances alive to win the Central Conference title by crushing over the Bulldogs on scores of 25-12, 25-14 and 25-13.
Sophomore Sawyer White had eight kills, seven digs and eleven assists. Junior Ava Wilkerson finished with nine kills as the Panthers led for nearly the entire match. Junior Katie Silcott finished with 18 assists.
Orange finished the first set with five of the last six points, which included an ace from White. Wilkerson and White had kills to close out the first set.
The Panthers scored seven straight points to take a 7-2 lead in the second set. Mariah Poole had a block and Addison Guentensberger added an ace. Wilkerson closed out the set with a powerful spike along the near post.
Orange scored the opening seven points of the third set, which included three straight kills from Wilkerson. Silcott closed out the match with a kill assisted from Wilkerson.