Orange Volleyball

The Orange volleyball team has won seven consecutive matches after sweeping Person on Thursday night in Hillsborough. The Lady Panthers prevailed on scored 25-8, 27-25 and 25-21. Sophomore outside hitter Aubrey Jordan finished with 17 kills while Ella Wimsatt added 12 kills and 15 digs. It was only the second home match for Orange this season. Since August 16, Orange played nine consecutive matches on the road, ranging from Chapel Hill to Creedmoor. Despite that, Orange is the only undefeated team in the Central Carolina Conference at 3-0. Sophomore setter Katie Silcott finished with 31 assists, ten digs and one kill. Senior libero Sadye Porter had 23 digs and five assists. It has been a triumphant week for Orange, who defeated crosstown rival Cedar Ridge 3-0 on Tuesday to end the Red Wolves 42-game conference winning streak, as well as their 31-game homeport winning streak. Silcott was a regular performer as a freshman last season for Orange. With a year under her belt, Silcott has been a steady presence at the net for Orange. So what’s next for Orange after returning home? Naturally, two more road games. Orange will travel to Roxboro tonight (Friday) to face Roxboro Community School. On Tuesday, the Lady Panthers travel to Graham to face Southern Alamance.

Orange volleyball’s Katie Silcott & Sadye Porter discuss win over Person

The Orange volleyball team has won seven consecutive matches after sweeping Person on Thursday night in Hillsborough. The Lady Panthers prevailed on scored 25-8, 27-25 and 25-21. Sophomore outside hitter Aubrey Jordan finished with 17 kills while Ella Wimsatt added 12 kills and 15 digs.

Another week goes by and the Orange volleyball team remains in first place in the Central Carolina Conference.

Not only that, but the three top contenders to stop Orange from its first conference championship in over 15 years have been turned back by the Lady Panthers in the opening three matches of league play.

On Thursday night, Orange made its long-awaited return home with a 3-0 sweep of Person. The Lady Panthers, who had played its past nine matches on the road, remain the only undefeated teaming the CCC at 3-0.

It was the Lady Panthers first home match since August 15.

Sophomore Aubrey Jordan finished with a career-high 17 kills while sophomore setter Katie Silcott had 31 assists. Senior Ella Wimsatt registered 12 kills and 15 digs as Orange won its seventh straight match. Sophomore Ava Wilkerson added nine kills, two aces and two blocks.

Person (4-5, 1-2) dropped its third straight match to Orange.

Orange dominated the opening set 25-8, reeling off an 8-2 run behind three kills from Wimsatt. Jordan had a block and a kill for the final points of the set.

It appeared the second stanza would follow a similar path. Orange jumped out to an 11-3 lead behind an ace from Wilkerson and consecutive kills from Wimsatt. Person roared back with a 9-1 run to seven the match at 12-12, the tying point coming from sophomore Abby Sharlow off a pass from Miriam Clayton. The Rockets increased its lead to 21-18 following a block from Clayton, but Orange rallied to even the set 23-23 after the Rockets were called for a net violation. Person had a set point after a return from Orange went wide, but the subsequent serve went into the net. Even 25-25, Jordan notched a kill. On set point, Jordan’s attack was returned wide by the Rockets, giving Orange a 2-sets-to-nothing lead.

Orange got off to another strong start in the third set, leading 7-3 following a point by Wilkerson. Once again, Person rallied off strong plays by Kaylie Parker and Clayton, narrowing Orange’s lead to 13-12 until Wilkerson scored off a block. That spawned a 5-1 Panther run which included an ace by Abby Silinski and two kills by Wimsatt. Jordan racked up kills on the final two points of the match, which sent the Orange student section into jubilation, many of them adorned in neon yellow safety vets who traded taunts with Person students at the other end of the gym throughout the night.

On Friday night (tonight), Orange will travel up Highway 57 to face Roxboro Community School. Last week, Person defeated their crosstown rival in five sets.

Men’s cross country: Orange 19, Williams 43, Person 62, Eastern Alamance n/a: Two months from the 3A State Cross Country state championships and Orange’s Gabriel Schmid appears in midseason form.

Schmid, the 2022 3A State Cross County Champion, earned his second victory of the season during Orange’s meet at Walter Williams high School in Burlington on Wednesday. Schmid finished at 18:34.0, beating Williams Easton Freeman by five seconds.

Orange had five of the top six runners. Alden Cathey finished third (18:50.1), while Myles Jermyn came in fourth (19:02.0), followed by Lucas Van Mater (19:17.6), and Peter Musser in sixth place (19:28.6).

Cyrus Neal (8th), Nolan Hufner (9th) and Aidan Viola (10th) had top ten finishes for Orange. It was Orange’s second win in a conference meet in as many weeks. Last week, the Orange men finished first at Person.

Women’s cross country: Williams 18, Orange 31, Person 70, Eastern Alamance n/a: Caroline Cathey was the top finisher for the Orange women’s cross country meet at the Williams meet. Cathey finished fifth at 28:00.2, a split second behind Williams Sofia Anaya, who came in a 28:00.0. Grace Pell came in sixth for the Lady Panthers (28:43.2), while Kassi Scarantino came in seventh, one-tenth of a second behind Pell. Orange’s Channing Mahaney finished in ninth place. Orange’s Mia Blake finished 11th, while Harper Trust finished 14th (32.56.9).

Williams won the meet with the top four finishers. Lucy Lowe was at the head of the pack at 26:50.9, while Avery LaPlante was runner-up at 26:58.8.

While they’re only two games into their conference slate, the Orange volleyball team has established itself as the team to beat in the Central Carolina Conference. The Lady Panthers defeated crosstown rival Cedar Ridge 3-0 on scores of 25-18, 25-21 and 25-14. Orange ended Cedar Ridge’s 44-game conference winning streak, as well as the Red Wolves’ 31-game home court winning streak. Senior Ella Wimsatt made her final game inside Red Wolves Gymnasium a memorable one. She had 19 kills, tying her second-highest total of the year. She also had 12 digs. Sophomore Aubrey Jordan had 15 kills, her second-highest total of the year. Orange ended an eight-game losing streak to the Red Wolves. While conference play just started, Orange is already the only undefeated team in CCC play and stand alone in first place with a 2-0 league mark. On Thursday, Orange will start a string of two games in two days, both against teams from Roxboro. The Panthers will face Person on Thursday night in Hillsborough. It will be their first home game since August 15. On Friday night, the Lady Panthers will travel to Roxboro Community School, currently the #5 team in the 1A East RPI rankings. Orange is 8-3 overall.

Orange volleyball’s Ella Wimsatt and Aubrey Jordan discuss win at Cedar Ridge

While they’re only two games into their conference slate, the Orange volleyball team has established itself as the team to beat in the Central Carolina Conference. The Lady Panthers defeated crosstown rival Cedar Ridge 3-0 on scores of 25-18, 25-21 and 25-14.

If you couldn’t feel a sense of urgency from the Orange volleyball team on Tuesday night, you were numb.

Ella Wimsatt mixed her attacks between soft changeups that fell harmlessly between three players with overhead strikes that tried to put a hole into the new floor at Cedar Ridge. Senior setter Sadye Porter stepped in front of kill attempts by Cedar Ridge players that looked like speeding bullets, just to keep them off the ground and give Orange another chance at a point. Even setter Katie Silcott, a sophomore, came up with clutch blocks when her main role is setting up Wimsatt and Aubrey Jordan for kills.

Why the sense of urgency? For obvious reasons, it was the seniors last chance to beat Cedar Ridge at Red Wolves Gymnasium, something they’ve never done. Most of all, the past four years, the Orange volleyball team has been a formidable team in Hillsborough. But they’ve never been THE team in Hillsborough.

Until now.

On Tuesday night, Orange put a resounding end to four years of frustration with a 3-0 sweep of Cedar Ridge at Red Wolves Gymnasium. The Lady Panthers (8-3, 2-0 in the Central Carolina Conference) captured the match 25-18. 25-21 and 25-14. The win ended Cedar Ridge’s streak of 42 consecutive conference wins and their 31-match home court winning streak.

Plus, Orange broke Cedar Ridge’s eight-game winning streak in the series. The last time the Panthers beat the Red Wolves, it was October 8, 2019, also at Red Wolves Gymnasium.

Cedar Ridge’s last conference loss came against East Chapel Hill on October 15, 2019. Their last home loss was on September 20, 2022, when they fell to D.H. Conley, the defending 3A State Champions. The Red Wolves would win the 3A State Championship six weeks later.

While Orange coach Hope Heverly realized how important the match and the rivalry are, she had no idea the magnitude of the win.

“I didn’t know Cedar Ridge had gone that long without losing a conference match,” Heverly said. “I knew that was a lot at stake and I knew the girls had a long of drive coming in. But I didn’t know they had all those streaks. That makes this win a little sweeter.”

Orange will host Person on Thursday in Hillsborough. Tuesday’s match against Cedar Ridge was its ninth straight tilt on the road.

“The girls knew how important this game was,” Heverly said. “They were laser focused in practice on Monday. They made the adjustments they needed for today’s game. Every timeout, when we switched up something, they came out and switched it up. They came out with heart and desire to win together.”

Despite the two schools being evenly matched, Orange pulled away in the opening two sets. The third was a blowout. In the opening frame, Cedar Ridge led 10-6 after consecutive kills by Graylinn Serge assisted by Rachel Alverson, which led to an Orange timeout. Ella Wimsatt ended the run with a kill, then slammed the subsequent point home unassisted after it went off the fist of Cedar Ridge middle blocker Addie Reid.

Serge notched another kill to increase the Red Wolf lead to 12-8, but Wimsatt struck a thunderous attack to give Orange a side out. Aubrey Jordan registered two straight kills, while Wimsatt delivered a changeup to tie the set 12-12. The Red Wolves couldn’t chain together consecutive points after Porter notched an ace to put the Lady Panthers ahead 14-13 in the set, and Orange wouldn’t trail again in the frame and for most of the match. Jordan scored off an attack despite Silcott and Porter nearly colliding going for a loose ball. Ava Wilkerson rejected an attack from Serge to put Orange ahead 16-13.

Reid delivered a thunderous kill to cut the Red Wolf deficit to 18-16, but Wilkerson notched a kill when Reid’s block attempt went wide. Wimsatt notched four consecutive kills to increase the Orange lead to 23-17. Porter made a deep dig off a serve by Caroline Park that bounced over the net into the Cedar Ridge backcourt. Jordan ended the set with a swing from the near post.

Though Cedar Ridge extended the second set, they never led in the frame. Orange junior Abby Silinski had an ace during an 6-1 run to put the Lady Panthers ahead 7-3. Cedar Ridge responded with five straight points, including kills by Claire Hargett and Addie Reid. Orange came back with a 6-3 run with finishes from Jordan and Silinski.

After Cedar Ridge’s Rachel Alverson delivered an ace to cut Orange’s lead to 19-18, Jordan came back with another kill. and later got another to set up set point. Silcott scored off a block to put Orange ahead by two sets.

There was no drama at all in the third set. Orange jumped out to a 12-3 lead, which included Silinski delivering two aces and consecutive finishes from Wimsatt. Orange led by as much as 18-8. Silcott again got match point off a block to end a string of dominance by Cedar Ridge and put Orange into sole possession of first place in the Central Carolina Conference.

This week’s Orange Panther of the Week is senior volleyball outside hitter Ella Wimsatt. Through the first nine matches of the season, Wimsatt leads Orange with 152 kills. That includes a career-high 24 kills in a win at Falls Lake. She also had 19 kills against Southwest Randolph on August 19 at East Chapel Hill High School. Wimsatt has been a member of the varsity for the past four years. Wimsatt has had double-digit kills in nine of Orange’s ten matches this year. She started the season with 12 kills in Orange’s 3-1 win over Jordan in Hillsborough on August 15, which is the only time this year that Orange has played at home. As a sophomore, she registered 104 kills. Since her sophomore year, Wimsatt has helped Orange reach the state playoffs and has won at least one match each time. As a sophomore, Wimsatt was also an integral part of the Orange women’s soccer team making its deepest run in the state playoffs in school history. Wimsatt scored six goals last season to help Orange make the state playoffs. In volleyball, Orange hasn’t won a conference championship in 17 years. Wimsatt is aiming to help the Lady Panthers end that drought. Orange is 7-3, 1-0 in the Central Carolina Conference with a showdown against Cedar Ridge set for Tuesday at Red Wolves Gymnasium.

Orange Panther of the Week: Ella Wimsatt

This week’s Orange Panther of the Week is senior volleyball outside hitter Ella Wimsatt. Through the first nine matches of the season, Wimsatt leads Orange with 152 kills. That includes a career-high 24 kills in a win at Falls Lake. She also had 19 kills against Southwest Randolph on August 19 at East Chapel Hill High School.

Volleyball: Orange 3, Jordan 0: It’s been two weeks since the Orange volleyball team has had a home game, but they’ve adjusted just fine.

On Monday night, the Lady Panthers claimed its fourth straight road win with a sweep of Jordan in Durham. The Panthers never trailed in any of the sets, winning 25-18, 25-15 and 25-8. It marks the Panthers second win over the Falcons this year.

Sophomore Aubrey Jordan finished with ten kills and four digs. Senior Ella Wimsatt had 14 kills and 13 digs for Orange, who improved to 6-3 with its fourth straight win.

Sophomore setter Katie Silcott finished with 29 assists, three aces and a kill. It’s Orange’s third win over a 4A team.

Orange scored eight of the first nine points to begin the game, the first of several lengthy runs. Jordan started the game with a kill off a ball supplied by Silcott, followed by an ace from senior libero Sadye Porter. Jordan rolled off four out of five points to narrow Orange’s lead to 16-9, but the Panthers pulled out the frame when the Falcons hit the ball four times on set point. ‘Wimsatt and Ava Wilkerson each had three kills in the first set.

Jordan’s Taylor Shumate had a kill to even the second set at 4-4, one of only two times in the entire game there was a deadlock. Wimsatt followed with another point off a pass from Silcott, which triggered a 9-4 run that killed any possible drama in the second set. Wimatt had kills on the final two points of the set to put Orange ahead 2-0.

Wilkerson, a 6-4 sophomore, opened the third set with three kills as Orange built a 5-0 lead. The Lady Panthers followed with seven consecutive points, which included two aces by Silcott and two kills by Jordan. Wilkerson ended the match with a block off an attack attempt by Shumate, then notched a kill on match point.

Tonight (Tuesday), Orange will start its Central Carolina Conference slate with a road trip to Western Alamance. Last year, the Warriors extended Orange to five sets before the Lady Panthers won 15-13.

Tuesday’s trip to Elon will be Orange’s ninth straight game away from Hillsborough.

Women’s Tennis: Orange 8, Western Alamance 1: The Orange women’s tennis team opened defense of its 2022 CCC regular season championship with a convincing road win at Western Alamance on Monday night.

Shannon Sollars maintained her undefeated record with a victory at #2 singles, 6-1, 6-4. Sollars also teamed up with her sister, Erin, for a victory at #1 doubles 8-3.

Shannon Sollars is 4-0 in singles action and 4-0 in doubles play this year. All of Sollars doubles wins have been with her sister, Erin.

Erin Sollars also won two matches on the night. In addition to her doubles win, Erin won at #1 singles 7-5, 6-0.

Senior Makayla Davis earned her eighth overall wins on the season. Davis won her singles match at #3 over Hensley Gasaway 6-0, 6-3. Davis teamed with sophomore Molly Kruse to win at #2 doubles 8-6 over Gasaway and Sarah McLaughlin.

Kruse won her singles match at #5, beating Abigail Simpson 6-1, 6-1. At #6 singles, Orange senior Molly Shaw defeated Mia Sodano 6-2, 6-0.

Molly Kruse, in her first year as a full-time starter for Orange, is 4-1 so far in singles. She and Davis have teamed to win all four of their doubles matches.

McLaughlin won at #4 singles for Western Alamance, beating Ellie Wilson 6-1, 6-0.

Wilson and Shaw completed an Orange sweep at doubles, beating Abigail Stimpson and Sodano 6-3.

Orange is now 4-1 overall, 1-0 in the CCC. On Wednesday night, Orange will face Williams in Hillsborough at Orange Tennis Courts. Last year, Orange upset the Bulldogs in the second dual match between the two teams, which paved the way for the Lady Panthers to tie for first place. It led to Orange winning its first tennis conference championship, men’s or women’s, in school history.

Is this Orange volleyball’s time?

In the past ten years, Cedar Ridge, Chapel Hill, East Chapel Hill and Carrboro have all won conference championships in volleyball. Orange has been the odd team out.

The Lady Panthers have teetered on the edge of a championship before. For four straight years in the mid-2000s, Orange finished in second place as a 2A team. The problem was Cardinal Gibbons was a 2A team, too, and they finished ahead of the Lady Panthers each time.

Kelly Young was a player on those Orange teams. When she became Orange head coach in 2018, she took aim at Chapel Hill, the top dogs of the Big 8 Conference, where the Lady Panthers resided at the time.

Orange would beat Chapel Hill during the pandemic season of 2020. Cedar Ridge, however, had the firepower to become the most successful volleyball team in Hillsborough history, winning three straight conference championships and the 2021 3A State title. Last year, Orange was the only team from the CCC to take a set from the Red Wolves, but it didn’t stop Cedar Ridge from winning another league crown and reaching the Eastern Regional Championship match for the second straight year.

Plenty has changed across the CCC since then, including at Orange. Young stepped down as head coach and is now an assistant at Eno River Academy. Hope Heverly, who served three years as Person head coach from 2012-2014, returned to the high school ranks last week.

After a fifth-place finish at the East Chapel Hill Invitational, the Lady Panthers finished off an undefeated week with a 3-1 victory over Falls Lake in Creedmoor on Thursday night. The Firebirds came into the match ranked as the #1 team in the 1A East RPI rankings, but Orange handed them its first loss of the season.

This week, Orange completed a swing of six matches in six days (all of them away from Hillsborough) with three road wins over Seaforth, East Chapel Hill and Falls Lake. Orange defeated the Wildcats on Wednesday night 3-0 on scores of 25-17, 25-12 and 25-15. Senior Ella Wimsatt finished with 14 kills and 16 digs. Wimsatt emerged from Wednesday night with 101 kills on the young season, a team-high. Sophomore Aubrey Jordan finished with 12 kills and four digs.

Sophomore Katie Silcott, who has taken over setting duties after the graduation of Caitlin Carden, finished with 33 assists and nine digs. Senior libero Sadye Porter, who missed last season, led the Lady Panthers with 19 digs.

“Sadye’s presence is definitely seen out there,” Heverly said. “She covers a lot of court for such a little girl.”

Only the third set was competitive with East springing out to a 7-3 lead. With Panther junior Abby Silinski serving, Orange erased its deficit with a 7-2 run. Wimsatt had three kills in the spurt, while Jordan added two more and Silinki dropped in an ace that landed on the backline. The Lady Panthers ran off seven straight points starting with a Wimsatt kill off an assist from Silcott. Mariah Poole had a block while Wimsatt delivered an ace to put the Panthers ahead 16-10.

“I was a little bit nervous tonight,” Heverly said. “The girls had played all weekend and didn’t get any time to rest. But the girls came out strong and I think they learned a lot from this weekend about coming together as a team. This week, I feel we’ve seen an improvement in team cohesiveness than last week, our first week.”

Overall, five different players had kills in the final set, including five from Wimsatt. Sophomore Ava Wilkerson finished with six for the game. Poole scored match point to earn Orange’s second sweep of the Wildcats this season.

“Our setters are doing a good job in spreading out the sets more to give the outside hitters an option,” Heverly said. “All of the hitters are stepping up, instead of just are outside hitters.”

Next Tuesday, the Lady Panthers will begin the CCC slate with an important road trip to Western Alamance, who is currently ranked higher in the RPI rankings than any other CCC team. The Warriors will be a wildcard in a league turned upside down by graduations and coaching departures.

The looming question as the conference slate begins for Orange is whether this is finally the time they can rise above everyone for their first conference title.

Winning at East Chapel Hill is starting to become a habit for the Orange volleyball team. On Wednesday night, the Lady Panthers played its fourth game in five days inside Wildcats Gymnasium. Orange swept East Chapel Hill 3-0 on scores of 25-17, 25-12 and 25-15. Orange senior Ella Wimsatt had 14 kills and 16 digs as the Lady Panthers improved to 4-3. Sophomore Aubrey Jordan finished with 12 kills and four digs. Senior setter Katie Silcott finished with 33 assists. Senior libero Sadye Porter led Orange with 19 digs. Junior Abby Sillinski finished with seven digs. The Lady Panthers had a 7-1 spurt to take control of the first set, which included three kills by Jordan. Orange took a 23-13 lead with a 6-0 run late in the first set. Wimsatt wrapped up the first set with a kill assisted by Silcott. Sophomore Ava Wilkerson finished with six kills, an ace and a block. The Lady Panthers have two more games before its first conference matchup. On Thursday night, Orange will travel to Creedmoor to plays Falls Lake. Next week, the Lady Panthers travel to Durham to face Jordan. On Tuesday, Orange will play at Western Alamance to start its Central Carolina Conference slate. All told, Orange has played six straight games away from home. By the time they return home next Thursday, that number will be eight.

Orange volleyball’s Sadye Porter and Abby Sillinski discuss win over East Chapel Hill

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