Cedar Ridge Women’s Tennis

As a new feature on Hillsboroughsports.com, we’ll honor the seven best performances from the previous week in fall sports. Last week was a solid one for Cedar Ridge and Orange volleyball. Cedar Ridge women’s tennis defeated Orange for the 11th straight time.

1. Olivia Ward: Won three matches for the Cedar Ridge women’s tennis team last week. She started with a thrilling three-set victory over Chapel Hill’s top singles player, Lauren Bolzan, 4-6, 6-4, and won 10-8 in a ten-point tiebreaker. The following day, Ward defeated Orange’s Jera Hargraves 6-1, 6-4, then teamed with Nora Sauers to win at #1 doubles and capture the dual match for the Red Wolves. The following day, Cedar Ridge edged Bartlett Yancey 5-4 at Red Wolves Tennis Courts. Ward captured her third win in four days, winning a match shortened to one set 8-5.
2. Cameron Lloyd The Cedar Ridge volleyball team won three road matches last week. On Wednesday, they defeated Durham School of the Arts 3-1 at Sykes Gymnasium in Durham. Lloyd, a freshman, finished with 18 kills and 18 digs. The previous week against the Durham School of the Arts in a 3-1 Cedar Ridge win, Lloyd had 15 kills, 18 digs and two aces.
3. Jose Beltran: On Wednesday, the Orange men’s soccer team scored three goals in a 13-minute span during the second half to rally and defeat Eastern Alamance 5-3. Beltran scored the first hat trick of his career, including the game-tying goal in the 62nd minute. Beltran also scored the opener for the Panthers in the 6th minute, and added another tally later in the 1st half as Orange won its home opener. The Panthers are 2-1 going into Tuesday night’s match at Hillside.
4. Kaitlyn Werden: In Orange’s stunning 3-1 volleyball victory over previously unbeaten Person, Werden had ten kills, ten digs two aces, two blocks and 21 assists. On Monday, night, Werden had five kills, two aces, three blocks, and ten digs in a 3-0 win over South Granville in Creedmoor. Orange defeated the Vikings again on Thursday night in Hillsborough.
5. Machai Holt: Though the Orange football team lost to R.J. Reynolds 47-24 in its season opener at Auman Stadium on Friday night, Holt was tremendous in the season-opener. He made an interception on the first play from scrimmage of the season. Holt finished the drive with a five-yard touchdown run. Holt also blocked an extra point, blocked a field goal, and led Orange players with 83 yards from scrimmage.
6. and #7 Anne Morrell and Zoe Wade: The Cedar Ridge women’s cross country team started its season at the Grizzly Grade-Level Growler at the Ivey Redmon Sports Complex on Kernersville on August 24. It was the first of what could be a series of strong performances from the Cedar Ridge women. The event was divided into grade classes for each runner. Morrell won the race featuring exclusively juniors with a time of 13:02.00. She beat her nearest competitor by 27 seconds. Wade won the sophomore race, crossing the finish line at 13:20. Her teammate, Ruby Lapham, finished second in the sophomore race at 13:29. An honorable mention goes to Cedar Ridge freshman Sarah Fenwick, who won the two-mile freshman race at 13:20.

Lou Mannheim, the wise elder statesman portrayed by Hal Holbrook in Oliver Stone’s 1987 classic “Wall Street,” delivered this final piece of advice to Charlie Sheen’s character: “A man looks into the abyss. There’s nothing staring back at him. At that point, a man finds his character. And that is what keeps him out of the abyss.”

Olivia Ward beat the #1 singles player from perennial power Chapel Hill on Monday in a match that ended with a 10-8 tiebreaker. Considering that, only 18 months ago, Ward wasn’t sure if she would ever pick up a racket again, it’s safe to say she found her character long before many grown adults do.

On Wednesday, Ward completed the week by leading Cedar Ridge past Orange 5-4 in the Big 8 Conference opener for both teams at Orange High Tennis Courts in Hillsborough. Cedar Ridge has defeated their crosstown rivals every dual match since they became conference mates in 2014.

Ward won at #1 singles 6-1, 6-4, then joined with classmate Nora Sauers to win at #1 doubles 8-2 to clinch Cedar Ridge’s first dual match of the year. Sauers also won at #2 singles 6-0, 6-0. Brianna Cellini captured another Cedar Ridge singles win 6-3, 6-2. Hannah Shinnick, a sophomore for the Red Wolves, won at #5 singles 6-2, 6-0.

Orange junior Emma Williamson won at #4 singles 6-4, 6-2. Junior Lindsay Jouannet captured the #6 singles match for the Lady Panthers 6-2, 6-4.

Orange’s #2 doubles team of Williamson and Morgan Gwinn won their match 9-7. Jouannet and Sydney Allison won at #3 doubles 8-2.

In May 2018, Ward underwent major thoracic surgery on her right arm at Duke University after suffering shoulder pain.

It all started in February 2018 as she concluded her sophomore year. During a USTA doubles tournament in Greensboro, Ward dropped her racket because her hand wasn’t strong enough to hold it.

Her father Lynn, who was once the women’s tennis coach at Person High School in Roxboro, arranged an appointment at Duke Sports Medicine Clinic for a second look. She underwent an electromyogram test and shock nerve testing. Neither determined any reason why Ward was experiencing pain.

At the end of her visit, a doctor told Ward there was a problem with her top rib.

Ward didn’t have any grip strength in her right hand. She couldn’t even squeeze Doctor Jeffrey Bytomski’s hand. Ward’s nerves had stopped communicating with her muscles, which caused her right arm to atrophy. Another doctor, Tracy Ray, told Ward if she didn’t get surgery immediately, the arm was going to be disabled.

Ward missed the final six weeks of class at Cedar Ridge last academic year. Fortunately, Duke has the top thoracic surgeon in the world. On May 18, Dr. Thomas D’Amico performed Ward’s procedure. D’Amico conducted a similar surgery with former New York Mets pitcher Matt Harvey, who attended UNC.

In her junior season, Ward and her doubles partner Alana Lutz qualified for the 3A State Doubles championships at the Piedmont Indoor Tennis Center in Greensboro.

In her freshman year, Ward helped the Red Wolves win the Big 8 Championship and reached the 3A State Quarterfinals. It remains the most successful tennis season in school history.