Orange High School

For a lofty goal that has been denied to the Orange volleyball team the past eight years, reaching the third round of the 3A State Playoffs came easy enough.

The Lady Panthers endured some early hiccups to roll past Northern Nash 3-0 on Tuesday night in Hillsborough. The Lady Panthers (24-4) have now won more game than any Orange team in the 17 years. Records on MaxPreps that date back to 2007 show the winningest team in the last 16 years was the 2008 team, which finished 19-5.

It’s the first time that Orange has reached the 3rd round of the 3A State Playoffs since 2015.

Orange will face Union Pines in Hillsborough on Thursday night at 6PM. The Vikings defeated won a five-set thriller against Western Alamance in Cameron on Tuesday.

Senior Ella Wimsatt finished with 12 kills and seven digs. Sophomore middle blocker Ava Wilkerson finished with eleven kills. Sophomore Aubrey Jordan had seven kills.

While the best may still be ahead for the Orange volleyball team, getting past the second round is no small feat for a senior class that had spent the past two years bumping its head on a glass ceiling. Last year, Cedar Ridge defeated Orange in the second round. In 2021, Hunt edged the Lady Panthers in five sets.

“Starting this season, the seniors had set the goal of getting past the second round,” said Orange coach Hope Heverly. “Coach (Mary Alice) Pike and I quickly told them that wasn’t an OK goal, that we were going to make it more than just  past the second round. But I know that was something important to them was to make it past tonight.”

Northern Nash, coming off its first playoff win in nine years, ends the season 15-6. The Knights found themselves ahead 7-4 in the opening set after Orange had three early serves go long.

“I could tell the girls were just a little bit nervous,” Heverly said. “You could tell it was a mixture of adrenaline and nerves early. I knew they would settle down. Once we settled down, we really showed them who we were.”

Jordan started a 7-2 run with a kill set up by White. Wilkerson followed with an unassisted spike on a low-hanging ball off a serve from junior Abby Silinski. Wilkerson put Orange ahead for good, both for the opening set and the rest of the match, with another kill assisted by White. Orange ended the set on a 9-1 run, ending with a spike by Jordan.

Sophomore Katie Silcott and freshman Sawyer White alternated between setter and right outside hitter. Silcott, who surpassed 1,000 career assists in the regular season finale against Walter Williams, came away with 27 assists, five kills and three digs. White had five kills, 16 assists and seven digs.

“We’re making more of a dynamic front,” Heverly said. “Having Sawyer coming on now and stepping up to run a 6-2 has been really beneficial for us. Sawyer has been training with Katie a lot this season and you can see it’s really coming up big now in the postseason.”

Silinski caused the Knights fits in the second set. She had four aces during a 10-1 Orange run that culminated the second set. After a kill by White set up by Wimsatt, Orange completed the frame after a serve by the Knights went into the nylon, ending at 25-10.

Orange opened the third set with four straight points, including a kill by Wilkerson. The Knights came back to even things at 5-5 after a block by Brooke Rose, but the Lady Panthers came back with six in a row. White and Wimsatt each had blocks to put Orange ahead 11-5. Orange went on an 8-2 run to go ahead 22-9, ending with a kill from sophomore Mariah Poole. Wilkerson had a kill on match point.

The small earthquake felt around Hillsborough on Thursday wasn’t directly related to a local volleyball practice. It happened just before noon, hours before volleyball practice started at Orange or Cedar Ridge.

While Ava Wilkerson opening spike in the opening set against Swansboro didn’t put a hole in the brand new floor at Orange High, it could have easily led to more seismic activity.

An Orange team seeded #2 in the 3A East Region roared past Sawnsboro 3-0 on scores of 25-10, 25-1 and 25-13 in the opening round of the 3A State Playoffs on Saturday afternoon. The Lady Panthers, the regular season champions of the Central Carolina Conference, advanced to host Northern Nash on Tuesday night in Hillsborough.

There were plenty of near-statistical milestones for Orange against the Pirates (9-13), the #31 overall seed from the Coastal Conference. Sophomore setter Katie Silcott was on pace for a rare triple-double, but never saw the floor in the third set. In the opening two sets, Silcott had 14 assists, six digs and eight aces.

Swansboro simply had no answer for Wilkerson, the 6-foot-3 middle blocker, who wasn’t far from a triple-down of her own. Wilkerson came away with 12 kills, six blocks and two aces. Sophomore Aubrey Jordan had nine kills. On defense, senior libero Sadye Porter had 26 digs.

Swansboro did open with the first three points, but it was all Orange after that. With Porter serving, Orange ran off 16 straight points, kick started by three straight blocks from Wilkerson. Jordan had three kills and a block during the spree. Mariah Poole spiked home set point off an assist from Wilcott.

Freshman Sawyer White took over setter duties in the second set while Silcott moved to outside hitter. Orange scored the first eight points of the second set, which started with back-to-back blocks by Wilkerson. In the second, Wilkerson was responsible for six points. Silcott served eight aces in the second set alone, including set point at 25-1.

Wilkerson, Jordan and senior Ella Wimsatt each had four kills in the third set. White racked up 12 assists in Silcott’s absence. Wilkerson also had two aces. Josie Crawford had a point that led to match point, which Orange won after a Pirate committed a net violation.

Orange will look to clear an elusive hurdle on Tuesday night against Northern Nash, from The Big East Conference. The Lady Panthers have been eliminated in the second round of the 3A State Playoffs each of the last two years.

Cedar Ridge 3, Scotland County 0: Just days after winning the CCC Tournament championship over its archrival, Cedar Ridge played its fourth match in six days with a victory over Scotland County on Saturday.

It may have well been the final home game for nine Cedar Ridge seniors, many of whom won a state championship together two years ago. Over the past four years, Cedar Ridge has a 43-4 record inside of Cedar Ridge Gymnasium.

Cedar Ridge, the #11 seed in the East Region, prevailed on scores of 25-13, 25-13 and 25-11. Sophomore Claire Hargett finished with 19 kills and eight digs. Senior Graylinn Serge had six kills and 21 digs. Setter Rachel Alverson had 34 assists and three digs. Senior libero Natasha Buchler-Fosado had eight digs.

Scotland County, from the 4A/3A Sandhills Conference, ends the season 15-9 overall after finishing 3rd in its league.

The Red Wolves have won a state playoff game for the fourth straight year. On Tuesday night, Cedar Ridge will travel to face Franklinton, the champions of The Big East Conference. The Rams, with an overall record of 19-5, finished 13-0 in conference play this year, winning both The Big East regular season and conference tournament championships. The Rams swept Fayetteville 71st in the opening round on Saturday.

The winner of Cedar Ridge/Franklinton will face either J.H. Rose or Jacksonville in the third round on Thursday.

Walter Williams 1, Cedar Ridge 0: The hopes of Cedar Ridge to win its first conference championship in men’s soccer suffered a major blow on Wednesday night at Red Wolves Stadium. Anderson Aguilera fired in a shot from 17 yards off an assist from Bryan Isley with 6:47 remaining in regulation as Williams defeated the Red Wolves.

Cedar Ridge’s loss put Western Alamance in sole possession of first place in the Central Carolina Conference. On Wednesday, the Warriors rolled past Person 9-0.

The loss came two nights after Cedar Ridge played to a scoreless tie against Western Alamance in Elon. The Red Wolves simply needed to defeat Williams and Eastern Alamance in order to gain a share of the Central Carolina Conference championship.

Cedar Ridge can still claim a share of the championship with a win over Eastern Alamance on Tuesday night in Hillsborough, along with a loss by Western Alamance to Southern Alamance.

Cedar Ridge defeated Williams 2-1 in Burlington on September 25.

Orange 2, Eno River Academy 1: In the first-ever meeting between the two Hillsborough-based schools, the Panthers got the game-winning goal from Daniel Romero to defeat the Bobcats at soccer.com field in Efland. Traver Bruhns assisted on the game-winning goal as Orange won its third game in five days.

The Panthers defeated Walter Williams and Cedar Ridge leading up to the victory over the Bobcats.

Orange senior goalkeeper Finn Kelly, who plays at the North Carolina FC Academy, earned the victory in net, making seven saves.

Southern Alamance 3, Orange 0: On its senior night on Monday night, the Panthers fell behind early and suffered a loss to the Patriots. Evan Benthe scored the game-winning goal off an assist from Heinzen Amaya. Billy Clark and Nicola Sansovivi also had goals for the Patriots.

Orange, who defeated Southern Alamance 3-2 on September 20 in Graham, got seven saves from Kelly.

Orange 1, Eastern Alamance 1: Emmanuel Mil Cruz notched the equalizing goal for Orange in its final home game of the season on Thursday night. Mil Cruz’s goal was his fifth of the year.

Eastern Alamance opened the scoring in the first half. The Panthers are 7-7-3 overall, 5-4-2 in the CCC. The Panthers will wrap up the regular season with another game against Eastern Alamance on Monday night in Mebane.

The third time wasn’t the charm for Orange against its archrival, but it was much, much closer.

In the end, the Cedar Ridge women’s tennis team came away with its first win in the state team tournament since 2016.

In a dual match that came down to the final doubles match, Raven Mowles-Airing and Annabeth Lundberg captured the #3 doubles battle against Violet Shaw and Ellie Wilson 7-6, winning the tiebreaker 7-3. Cedar Ridge won the overall match 5-4 against the Lady Panthers at Red Wolves Tennis Courts in the opening round of the 3A State Dual Team Playoffs.

Cedar Ridge, the #14 seed, advances to face Rocky Mount in the round of 32 on Monday.

Orange ends the season 13-6, the fifth time in six years that Orange has won at least ten dual matches in a season.

It is Cedar Ridge’s first win in the State Tournament since November 1, 2016, when they defeated Walter Williams 5-3 in Hillsborough.

Cedar Ridge swept the regular season series against Orange, winning on September 5 and September 27, each time by a score of 6-3. The final match, at Panthers Tennis Courts, was an intense affair where points were replayed because of various objections by coaches and players. It led to Orange coach Justin Webb and Cedar Ridge coach Steve Mayhew taking the unusual step of acting as judges, standing on opposite sides of the net, to preside over a doubles match. Afterwards, vibes from the Cedar Ridge victory spilled over onto social media, namely on Instagram.

With that experience likely in the back of their minds, Orange played with a purpose. Of the three doubles matches, two of them went to tiebreakers. Four of the nine matches overall had tiebreakers. The doubles team of Erinn and Shannon Sollars won at #1 doubles match over Cedar Ridge’s Cameron Mayhew and Adeline Cummings 7-6, winning the tiebreaker 7-5.

Mayhew and Cummings handed the Sollars sisters its only two losses of the regular season. On September 5, Mayhew & Cummings won 8-5. At Orange, Mayhew & Cummings prevailed 8-4.

Cedar Ridge won the other two doubles matches to advance to the second round. Junior Ella Caltabiano and Catherine Ballenger defeated Molly Kruse and Makayla Davis 8-6 at #2 doubles to even the dual match 4-4. The victory by Mowles-Airing and Lundberg set Cedar Ridge to the second round.

Cedar Ridge’s Cameron Mayhew won at #1 singles over Erinn Sollars 6-4, 6-1. Mayhew improved to 14-2 on the season.

Orange’s Shannon Sollars evened the match with a victory over Caltabiano 6-3, 6-0. Sollars, a junior who is now 15-1 on the season in singles play, will likely be the Lady Panthers #1 singles player in 2024.

Cummings gave the Red Wolves the advantage again when she defeated Davis 7-6 (7-2), 7-5, which proved to be a huge victory. It was the third matchup between Cummings and Davis this year. They had split their previous matchups, with Davis winning 10-7 on September 5. On September 27, Cummings won 6-0, 4-6, 11-9 (the third set was a 10-point tiebreaker).

Wilson, an Orange freshman, squared the match at #4 singles with a victory over Mowles-Airing 6-3, 7-6 (7-4). Orange sophomore Molly Kruse defeated Ballenger 6-0, 6-1. Cedar Ridge’s Lundberg defeated Violet Shaw 6-4, 6-2 to gain a split in the singles matches.

The Red Wolves 14 dual match victories are the most they’ve had since the 2016 squad went 19-2, winning the Big 8 Conference Championship over teams like Chapel Hill and Northwood.

On Friday, the Mideast Regionals were held at the Burlington Tennis Center. Annie Lieberman of Terry Sanford, the #2 overall seed, defeated Mayhew 6-0, 6-3 in the opening round.

For Orange, Erin and Shannon Sollars narrowly missed qualifying for the 3A State Championships for the second straight year. In the opening round, the Sollars defeated Andrea Romero and Sophie McLean of Harnett Central 6-0, 6-1 in the opening round. In the quarterfinals, the Sollars faced a Central Carolina Conference rival. Lindley Oler and Lauren Turner of Walter Williams won a tight match, beating the Sollars 6-4, 7-6 (11-9).

The Sollars sisters reached the 3A State Tournament quarterfinals in 2022.

Makayla Davis and Molly Kruse also qualified for regionals, falling to Shea Bieniek and Anna Piland of Cape Fear in the opening round. Bieniek and Piland would go on to qualify for the state championships.

The seniors on the Orange volleyball team have accomplished something that no team in 18 years has done–win a conference championship. Last week, Orange celebrated senior night with a sweep of Walter Williams. The Lady Panthers have set a school record by winning 20 consecutive matches. Senior Ella Wimsatt has been instrumental in Orange’s most successful season in a generation She leads the team with 340 kills going into the Central Carolina Conference Tournament. She is second on the squad with 279 digs. Libero Sadye Porter returned to the team in August and has been an invaluable defensive presence. She leads the team with 364 digs and also has 38 aces, third on the team. Josie Crawford has been a regular rotation player for new head coach Hope Heverly. Crawford has 128 digs and is another valuable defensive presence. Blessiny Deronette has also played regularly in her first year on the varsity squad. Orange is looking at being a #1 seed for the 3A State Tournament that begins on Saturday. If the Lady Panthers take the top seed, it will be for the first time in school history. Coming up tonight, Orange will face Cedar Ridge for the CCC Tournament championship at Panther Gymnasium.

Orange’s Ella Wimsatt, Sadye Porter, Josie Crawford & Blessiny Derronette discuss Senior night

The seniors on the Orange volleyball team have accomplished something that no team in 18 years has done–win a conference championship. Last week, Orange celebrated senior night with a sweep of Walter Williams. The Lady Panthers have set a school record by winning 20 consecutive matches.

If it wasn’t clear that Hillsborough is the Volleyball Capital of the Central Carolina Conference, it is now.

For the second straight year, Orange and Cedar Ridge will face off in the CCC Tournament championship game tonight at Orange High.

Orange and Cedar Ridge competed in opposite ends of town on Tuesday night in their respective semifinal matches, both teams sweeping their opposition.

Orange defeated Western Alamance on scores of 25-14, 25-8, 25-15. For the third time this season, Cedar Ridge defeated Person 25-11, 25-22, 25-18.

Orange, the CCC regular season champion, won its 20th consecutive match to improve to 21-3. Senior Ella Wimsatt finished with 12 kills and 31 digs. Sophomore Aubrey Jordan registered 14 kills while middle blocker Ava Wilkerson had 13 kills. Sophomore setter Katie Silcott, who surpassed 1,000 career assists last week in a match against Walter Williams, finished with a double-double of 31 assists and 14 digs.

Orange used a 6-0 run to pull away in the opening set. After Wilkerson scored off an assist from Silcott to even the set 4-4, junior Abby Silinski served up two aces while Wilkerson scored on a block, leading to a Warrior timeout after Orange increased its lead to 9-4. The Lady Panthers scored nine of the last ten points to close out the frame, ending with Wimsatt’s kill off a set by Silcott on set point.

In the third set, Western Alamance (12-8) jumped out to a 12-5 lead following consecutive kills from Haley Clayton and another from Avery Wilson. After an Orange timeout, the Lady Panthers reeled off eight of the next nine points. Trailing 12-6, Wilmsatt earned a huge point on a kill to conclude a long rally where senior Josie Crawford made three crucial digs. Back-to-back points by Jordan and Wimsatt evened the set at 13-13. Orange finished the match on a 13-2 run, which included three kills each from Wilkerson and Jordan.

It was Orange’s third win over the Warriors this season.

At Red Wolves Gymnasium, Cedar Ridge sophomore Claire Hargett finished with 14 kills and ten digs against the Rockets. Senior Graylinn Serge had 12 kills and 19 digs. Senior Rachel Alverson, who also surpassed 1,000 career assists against Williams on Monday, finished with 35 assists and ten digs.

Leading 10-5 in the opening set, Cedar Ridge pulled away with a 9-0 run. Serge had three straight kills in the spree, while Alverson had a rare kill assisted by Natasha Buchler-Fosado. Hargett scored set point off a feed from Alverson.

The most competitive set was the second, where Person led 11-9 at one point. Cedar Ridge responded with six straight points to take a 15-11 lead, which included an ace from Alverson and two kills each from Serge and sophomore Kayla Stoll. Person (12-9) responded with consecutive kills from senior Summer Moore to trim the Red Wolf lead to 19-16. A return by Cedar Ridge that went wide reduced their lead to 21-20, but Serge scored a big kill followed by an ace from Alverson to increase the lead to 23-20. Hargett scored set point on a strong swing near the far post.

Cedar Ridge started the third set with a 9-3 spurt, starting with a kill from Ellie Woolson. Buchler-Fosado had an ace while Hargett spiked down back-to-back points, leading to a Person timeout. The Rockets got their deficit down to 15-7 after a point by Moore, but never seriously challenged in the final set.

Cedar Ridge and Orange have played in all three CCC Tournaments dating back to 2021. The Red Wolves defeated the Lady Panthers in the semifinals of the 2021 tournament. Last year, Cedar Ridge defeated Orange in the championship match 3-1 on scores of 25-12, 25-10, 17-25 and 25-17. The set that Orange won last year ended Cedar Ridge’s string of 62 consecutive sets won.

Orange has won both matchups against the Red Wolves this season. Orange won its first conference championship in volleyball since 2005.

Following a regular season where they went 13-2, Orange’s most accomplished doubles team in history will try to qualify for the states doubles championship this weekend.

This time, Erinn and Shannon Sollars won’t be the only doubles team from Orange represented in the Mideast Regionals at the Burlington Tennis Center.

Last Wednesday in the Central Carolina Conference Tennis Tournament, Makayla Davis and Molly Kruse qualified for regionals with two victories.

The CCC Tournament, unlike past conference tournaments that Orange has been a part of, doesn’t crown an individual and doubles champion. The event simply takes the four finishers in singles and doubles and places them in the Mideast Regional, which starts this Friday at the Burlington Tennis Center.

Orange’s Erinn and Shannon Sollars qualified for regionals for the second consecutive year. The top seed in the conference tournament, the Sollars sisters received a bye into the second round. In their only match of the day, the Sollars defeated Brianna Dale and Kensley Gasaway of Western Alamance 6-0, 6-0.

Davis and Kruse, who compiled an 11-1 record in the regular season, won two matches at the conference championships to qualify for the Mideast Regionals. In the opening round, Davis and Kruse defeated Paicey Cameron & Faith Moore of Southern Alamance 6-0, 6-1. In the second match,. Davis & Kruse punched their ticket to the regionals with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Reagan Williams and Sarah McLaughlin of Western Alamance.

Davis is a senior who was Orange’s regular #3 singles player this season for a squad that made the 3A State Dual Team Tennis Tournament for the third straight year. Kruse is in her first year as a starter after being a regular contributor for the Orange women’s soccer team last spring.

In 2022, the Sollars sisters reached the 3A State Tournament and defeated Ellie Holtzman and Berkeley Geyer of Hickory in the opening round 6-0, 6-2 and reached the quarterfinals. In 2021, Erinn Sollars and Jera Hargove qualified for the 3A State Championships and defeated Dabney Osborne and Emily Mitchum of J.H. Rose 6-4, 6-2.

Hargrove now plays at Tuskegee University in Alabama.

The 3A State Tournament will be held at the Burlington Tennis Center on October 27 & 28.

Men’s Cross Country: In a possible preview of the 3A State Cross Country Championships next month, Gabriel Schmid finished second overall in the NC Runners Elite Cross Country Invitational at the Ivey Redmon Sports Complex.

Out of 17 teams, Orange finished second in the team standings. Croatan, a 3A squad that will likely be a top challenger for the Panthers in the state championships, finished first with 69 points Orange finished second with 78 points.

Schmid came in with a time of 16:02.18. The individual winner was Dawson Reeves of Christ School, a private school of of Arden, at 16:00.16. Alden Cathey of Orange finished 18th at 17:08.38. Orange’s Myler Jerman came in 22nd (17:14.21) while sophomore Lucas Van Mater was 23rd (17:14.86). Peter Musser came in 25th (17:17.50).

Edgar Ibarra of Cedar Ridge was the top Red Wolves runner, finishing 71st at 18:28.92. Nathan Walters, Henry Alexander, Grayson Wisenfeld, Michael O’Melia, Jacob Olmstead, Elie Ndahiriwe and William Neuman also ran for the Red Wolves.

The Central Carolina Conference men’s cross country championships will be held today (Wednesday) in Burlington.

Women’s Cross Country: Cedar Ridge’s Naomi Dyreng was the top female runner from a Hillsborough school at the NC Runners Elite Cross Country championships last Saturday. Dyreng finished 13th overall at 20:08.36. Cedar Ridge junior Abigail Klaitman was 22nd at 20:56.30. The Red Wolves’ Kate Finnegan, a freshman, finished 53rd at 23:44.29. The Red Wolves Anna Peterson was 65th (25:04.98) Out of ten teams in the field, Cedar Ridge finished sixth with 158 points.

North Lincoln finished with the team championship with 41 points. Allie Zealand of Pacers Homeschool finished first overall in the women’s race with a time of 17:48.47.