Cedar Ridge High School

If there were Madden ratings in volleyball, chances are almost of Cedar Ridge’s players would have been near 100 on Wednesday night.

And what better time to be operating at peak proficiency?

In possibly its finest performance of the season, the Red Wolves rolled past Orange 3-0 on scores of 25-11, 25-6 and 25-10 to win the Central Carolina Conference regular season championship at Red Wolves Gymnasium.

The Red Wolves finished the regular season 19-1, 12-0 in the CCC. It is the third straight regular season championship for the six Red Wolves seniors, and their sixth championship overall to go along with the 2021 3A State Championship, the 2021 Eastern Regional Championship and the 2021 Central Carolina Conference Tournament championship. Cedar Ridge will be the top-seed in the CCC Tournament, which begins on Monday. The Red Wolves will receive a bye into the semifinals and start play on Tuesday. Orange (15-9, 9-2) will be the #2 seed and will host Northwood on Monday night at Panther Gymnasium.

The Lady Panthers were held to a season-low 27 points. Their previous low was 60 in its first game against Cedar Ridge, a match where the Panthers had four set points to win the opening frame, but eventually lost 30-28.

The Red Wolves started the season with a loss to J.H. Rose. Following that, Cedar Ridge didn’t drop a set the rest of the regular season. They won 57 consecutive sets on its current 19-game winning streak. They also extended its home court winning streak to 22 in a row.

Cedar Ridge has now won 37 consecutive matches against conference opponents. Its last loss in a league match came against Orange on October 8, 2019.

“I think this game and Green Level were really good games for us,” said Cedar Ridge coach Fiona Cunningham. “We know we’ve been starting to hit our stride a little big more, which is nice. We’ve been trying to tell the girls to stay focused, keep ourselves in the system as much as possible. We started to see that come through today.”

Cedar Ridge outside hitter Cameron Lloyd, who is nearing 1,000 kills for her career, led the Red Wolves with eleven kills. Melissa Benkowitz had seven kills and two aces. Setter Julie Altieri, the all-time school leader in assists and aces, finished with 24 assists and four aces.

The Red Wolves’ defense was so dominant, Orange’s Ella Wimsatt was the only Lady Panther with multiple points. She finished with two kills.

In all three sets, Cedar Ridge pulled away with lengthy runs to override early Orange leads. The Red Wolves went on a 9-2 run, which included two aces from Benkowitz. Ahead 10-6, Cedar Ridge reeled off eight consecutive points off the serve of senior Anaya Carter. In the spree, Lanier had back-to-back kills, followed by a block that led to an Orange timeout. Carter’s block of an Orange attack ended the first set 25-11, which was as competitive as it would get all night.

After Orange got an opening ace from Caitlin Carden to start the second set with a 2-0 lead, the Red Wolves scored 12 straight points off the serve of Altieri, who had four aces in the set. During the run, Addie Reid notched two blocks while Lloyd racked up three more kills. Altieri’s quick kill off a dig by Benkowitz ended the second set 25-6.

Orange jumped out to a 6-3 lead in the third set following an early spike from Wimsatt. With Carter serving, this time the Red Wolves went on a 8-0 run. Lanier, Lloyd, Carter and Benkowitz all had kills, along with an ace from Carter to put the Red Wolves ahead 11-6.

Regardless of whether they win the conference tournament, Cedar Ridge has earned the CCC’s top-seed for the 3A State Playoffs, where they will defend their 2021 3A State Championship. Currently, the Red Wolves are ranked #2 in the 3A East Region behind only J.H. Rose, naturally. Most likely, they will be the #2 overall seed for the State Tournament.

“I think we have a lot of season left, hopefully,” Cunningham said. “So we want our girls to stay focused on that rather than the end of a chapter for a lot of them. But I look at them from a coach’s perspective and I look at it from a person who’s been with them for three years of their high school careers and is going to miss them dearly because of that. They will be a loss for this program both as people and as players.”

This week’s Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week is senior volleyball outside hitter Anaya Carter. The daughter of Brian and Tenesha Carter, Anaya has been a member of the Cedar Ridge volleyball team for the past four years. She grew up childhood friends with many of her Red Wolf teammates. Together, they have captured three conference championships, an Eastern Regional championship and the 2021 3A State Championship. This season, Carter has 52 kills and a career-high 67 digs. Recently, Cater announced her intentions to play volleyball at UNC Pembroke. In addition to volleyball, Carter has played softball for coach Allen Byrd. Last season, Carter hit .333 in 22 games. She had 24 hits. Carter’s older sister, Tionna, was a member of a conference championship team with Cedar Ridge volleyball. Carter will continue her senior season on Tuesday night when the Red Wolves travel to Burlington to face Walter Williams. 

Last Thursday night, Cedar Ridge High School celebrated the most successful senior class, in any sport, in the school’s 20-year history. The six seniors that make up the Cedar Ridge volleyball class were honored during a pregame ceremony before its match against Western Alamance. Among those honored were Isabelle Sheppard and Lauren Cecil. Together, Cecil and Sheppard have been a part of two regular season championships, a Central Carolina Conference tournament championship, an 3A Eastern Regional championship and the 3A State Championship in 2021. Cecil and Sheppard got to walk under the spotlight at Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh before the state championship match against North Iredell. Against Western Alamance last week, both Sheppard and Cecil played extensively. The Red Wolves will go for its third straight conference championship when they face crosstown rival Orange on Wednesday night at Red Wolves Gymnasium. 

This week’s Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week is sophomore tennis player Adeline Cummings. Cummings has played either #1 or #2 singles for the Red Wolves this season. As a #1 singles player, she has won five times, including a match on August 31 against Northwood where she won 2-6, 6-4, 15-13. That helped the Red Wolves defeat the Chargers 6-3. In her first match of the season, Cummings defeated Southern Alamance 6-1, 6-0. Two days later, she won her singles match against Durham School of the Arts Adeline is in her third year playing tennis. Her father was an All-State player in Florida. This season, Cummings has helped the Red Wolves secure a 3rd place finish in the Central Carolina Conference. Despite having just one senior on the team, the Red Wolves have won three more matches than they did in 2021. Cummings will continue her sophomore season next week at the Central Carolina Conference Championships at the Burlington Tennis Center. Cummings is expected to be in the singles tournament. 

The Cedar Ridge women’s tennis team may only have one senior on its roster, but they made sure that Senior Night was one worth remembering.

The Red Wolves improved to 7-4 in the Central Carolina Conference with a win over Western Alamance on Wednesday night. With the victory, Cedar Ridge, 9-7 overall, also clinched third place in the CCC, which gives them a fighting chance at a wildcard birth for the upcoming 3A State Dual Team Playoffs.

The only senior on the Cedar Ridge roster is Natalie Lyons, who had a commemorative banner complete with photos hanging up beside the entrance of Cedar Ridge Tennis Courts during its match on Wednesday. Cedar Ridge junior Cameron Mayhew won her match at #2 singles to clinch the dual match for the Red Wolves. Mayhew was extended to a second set tiebreaker, which she captured 7-5 to take her eleventh singles win this season.

Orange 7, Northwood 2: The Orange women’s team is now one win away from the team’s first-ever 3A conference championship. It would also, quite possibly, be the first conference championship won in women’s tennis in school history, regardless of classification.

On Wednesday, the Lady Panthers defeated Northwood in Pittsboro. #1 singles player Erin Sollars, a junior, won two matches on the night. Sollars won her singles match 6-2, 6-3. Once again, Sollars teamed with her younger sister, Shannon Sollars, to win at #1 doubles 8-4 and clinch the team match for the Lady Panthers.

Erin Sollars now has 23 overall wins this year. The team of Erin and Shannon Sollars is 12-3 this season.

Junior Makayla Davis and senior Sydney Rogers also won two matches on the night. Davis captured her singles match 6-2, 6-2. Rogers won at #5 singles 6-0, 6-2.

Davis and Rogers teamed together at #2 doubles to prevail 9-8 Davis and Rogers won off a tiebreaker that ended 7-2.

Senior Madelyn Horn, who now has 25 overall wins on the season, won the marathon match of the night. Horn captured her match at #6 singles 5-7, 6-2, 10-5 (10-point tiebreaker).

The senior team of Isabel Jones and Katelyn Van Mater won at #3 doubles 8-3. Orange is 10-1 in the Central Carolina Conference, currently tied in the loss column with Walter Williams. Orange and Williams split their season series. The Lady Panthers only remaining conference match will be against Eastern Alamance on Thursday night. It will also be Senior Night at Orange High Tennis Courts. Horn, Rogers, Van Mater, and Jones will all be honored during a pregame ceremony.

Cedar Ridge 7, Eastern Alamance 0: On Monday in Mebane, Cedar Ridge rolled to its fourth shut out win of the season against the Eagles. Mayhew won at #1 singles 6-3, 6-2. Sophomore Ella Caltabiano won at #2 singles 6-0, 6-0. The Red Wolves only lost six games in the five singles matches. Caltabiano improved to 11-4 in singles matches in 2022.

Sophomore Adeline Cummings won at #3 singles, while junior Catherine Ballenger won at #4 singles. Ballenger now has 12 overall wins in 2022. Annabeth Lundberg won 6-1, 6-0 at #5 singles.

Cedar Ridge’s doubles team of Raven Mowles-Aring and Molly Alvesson won the only doubles match 8-0.

Orange 9, Person 0: Orange climbed closer to a share of the Central Carolina Conference regular season championship with a win over Person on Monday at Panther Tennis Courts. Of the nine matches, Orange didn’t lose a game in four of them.

Erin Sollars won 6-0, 6-1 at #1 singles. Shannon Sollars won at #2 for her 24th overall win of the season. Senior Katelyn Van Mater earned two victories on the day. Van Mater won at #5 singles 6-0, 6-0. She teamed with Jones to take home a win at #2 doubles 8-0.

Jones won at #3 singles 6-1, 6-1. Horn captured a victory at #4 6-2, 6-0. Grace Allred won at #6 singles 6-0, 6-0.

Erin and Shannon Sollars rolled to an 8-0 victory at #1 doubles. Horn and Allred teamed to win 8-3 at #3 doubles, the most competitive match of the day.