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This week’s Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week is junior men’s soccer defender Salomon Hernandez. On September 20, Hernandez scored the game-winning goal as the Red Wolves defeated Western Alamance 1-0 at Red Wolves Stadium. It’s the only conference loss the Warriors have suffered this season and put Cedar Ridge in first place in the Central Carolina Conference. Against Southern Alamance, Hernandez scored his first career hat trick as the Red Wolves defeated the Patriots 7-2 at Red Wolves Stadium on October 4. Hernandez trains with Wake FC in Holly Springs and has also spent time with the North Carolina FC Academy in Cary. This season, he has been one of the sparkplugs for the most successful season for the Red Wolves in recent history. He has scored six goals, with additional tallies against Eastern Alamance and Person. Next week, Cedar Ridge will officially make the 3A State Playoffs for the first time since 2016, which was the goal of the team from the very beginning of the year when they defeated Eno River Academy on August 14. Hernandez has been a member of the varsity since he was a freshman. Cedar Ridge will wrap up the regular season against Eastern Alamance at Red Wolves Stadium on Tuesday night.

Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week: Solomon Hernandez

This week’s Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week is junior men’s soccer defender Salomon Hernandez. On September 20, Hernandez scored the game-winning goal as the Red Wolves defeated Western Alamance 1-0 at Red Wolves Stadium. It’s the only conference loss the Warriors have suffered this season and put Cedar Ridge in first place in the Central Carolina Conference.

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.

In a volleyball season that has been predictable locally, Cedar Ridge went into this week searching for something that previous teams had found.

A special senior moment.

In 2021, Phoenix Smith, Justice Wilborn, and Ava Lowry were members of a state championship squad that defeated North Iredell at Reynolds Coliseum. They were members of the first female team in school history to win a state championship.

Last year, Cameron Lloyd, Cameron Lanier, Julie Altieri, Grace Young, Anaya Carter and Melissa Benkowitz won 62 consecutive sets en route to a Central Carolina Conference regular season and tournament championship.

This year’s group of seniors had not found its senior moment.

Until Wednesday night.

In a stunning upset, Cedar Ridge shocked crosstown rival Orange 3-1 to win the CCC Tournament championship. Sophomore Claire Hargett finished with 23 kills and 14 digs, while senior setter Rachel Alverson had 46 assists and 15 digs as Cedar Ridge ended Orange’s 20-match winning streak.

Orange (22-4) suffered its first loss since August 19 and its first at home this season. The Lady Panthers won both matches in the regular season against Cedar Ridge, never allowing the Red Wolves to take more than 21 points in any of the previous six sets.

Just three weeks ago, Orange defeated the Red Wolves 25-19, 25-19 and 25-11 to sew up the CCC regular season title.

“I knew this has been possible all year,” said Cedar Ridge coach Latacha De Oliveira. “They just had to believe it. Today they believed it and today they showed it. Claire set the tone for us. Claire found holes, no matter how many people tried to block her. She found the holes, she put the ball down and came up with some big swings. I think Addie (Reid) did the same thing. That’s what we needed.”

Orange senior Ella Wimsatt had 15 kills and 20 digs for Orange.

The Lady Panthers won 35 of 36 sets during an undefeated run through the CCC regular season championship, but struggled to find a rhythm offensively on Wednesday night.

“I think that each team has evolved throughout the season,” said Orange coach Hope Heverly. “Cedar Ridge really came out with a lot of drive and desire to win tonight. They came out and had a really good match. We came out and played hard as well. Some of our X’s and O’s weren’t really following through today.”

It’s the third straight year that Cedar Ridge (15-8) has won the CCC Tournament. The Red Wolves have won either a conference regular season or tournament championship each of the past four years.

Less than two weeks ago, Cedar Ridge lost to Western Alamance and Cary Crowns. It was the first time since 2019 that the Red Wolves dropped consecutive matches.

“I think since then they’ve just brought into their game,” De Oliveria said. “They were tired of losing and started believing in themselves. We’ve had a good week. It started with a solid performance on Monday. It continued yesterday and they came in today believing it was our turn.”

Nothing about the environment inside Panther Gymnasium hinted the biggest upset in local volleyball this year was brewing. Orange’s student section didn’t start filling up until late in the first set. Even the once daunting Cedar Ridge student group, which traveled in mass regardless of location as a constant source of amusement or irritation depending on your perspective, had a pedestrian turnout.

They sure missed a stellar presentation from their team.

From the moment Wimsatt knocked over two chairs along the Orange bench trying to chase down an attack by Kayla Stoll on the first point, it was clear that this would be no easy night at the office for anyone. There were six ties in the opening set, but Orange maintained the lead until Hargett served up an ace to trigger a 6-1 Red Wolf run. Hargett, who had five kills and three digs in the opening set, delivered another ace following an Orange timeout to increase Cedar Ridge’s lead to 17-13. The Red Wolves finished the set with the final four points, closing with a thunderous strike by Addie Reid.

It was the first time since September 20 against Falls Lake, a span of eight matches, that Orange dropped the opening set.

Heverly inserted freshman Sawyer White as a setter in the second set, repositioning sophomore Katie Silcott to an outside hitter.

“We wanted to get our right side hitter involved,” Heverly said. “We wanted to broaden our hitting options.”

Orange used superior blocking to take the second set. Neither team could get beyond a two-point lead until White came through with a huge block of an attack by Reid to put Orange ahead 19-16, which greased the wheels for the Panthers best sequence of the night. Wimsatt and Mariah Poole followed with kills, and Silcott evened the match with an ace on set point.

Cedar Ridge responded with a 6-3 run to start the third, which led to Orange playing catch up the whole way. Hargett and Serge each had five kills in the frame, while Cecilia Kenan stroked an ace to put the Red Wolves ahead 11-5. Orange’s patented rally from a bad start never materialized as the Red Wolves’ increased its lead in front of a stunned Panthers student section, which eventually rose as one as the urgency of the situation increased with every Cedar Ridge point. Hargett had a kill to put the Cedar Ridge lead at 20-11. Orange chained together three straight points to trim the gap to 23-16, but it was too late. Alverson delivered a flash kill off a dig by Natasha Buchler-Fosado, and Serge scored set point to a loud road from the Cedar Ridge contingent.

Trailing two-sets-to-one, Heverly used the full three minutes between sets talking to her team in the huddle, but Cedar Ridge roared out of the gate with a 6-1 run to start the fourth, ending with consecutive kills by Stoll. Hargett saved her best for last, racking up seven kills in the fourth set. Orange did rally with three straight points, including an ace by White and a kill by Wimatt, to tie the set 9-9. Cedar Ridge responded with four straight points and never trailed again.

Cedar Ridge reeled off five straight points to increase its lead to 19-11, which included a key block from Reid on an attack by Ava Wilkerson, and two more kills from Hargett.

Orange scored six straight points to make a late charge and cut the Red Wolves lead to 22-18 after a block by Wilkerson. Hargett scored a key strike on a swing that caught the back left corner. On match point, Serge’s strike from the far post rebounded off Aubrey Jordan and went into the stands, setting off a huge celebration as the Red Wolves mobbed each other along the left side of the floor.

Orange, who will still be the #2 overall seed in the East Region for the state playoffs, will look ahead to Saturday and a matchup with Swansboro in the opening round.

“I really do believe that losing a match or losing a set can build character,” Heverly said. “If you’re going to lose, this is the one to lose so that we can rebuild and get ready for a nice run in the state playoffs.”

While the odds are against another deep Cedar Ridge state playoff run, the seniors relished in their championship moment on a memorable night on their archrival’s floor.

“We talked about what we needed to do to beat them and we knew that we needed to change our offense,” De Oliveria said. “In the prior two games against Orange, we haven’t been able to execute as well. We knew we had to keep them out of systems, but in order for us to win we knew we had to be offensively aggressive. Tonight, that’s exactly what happened.”

It may sound strange to some that Cedar RIdge volleyball pulled a major upset considering the Red Wolves won a state championship just two years ago. But the Red Wolves became the first Central Carolina Conference team to beat Orange this season on Wednesday night, and it happened in the Central Carolina Conference tournament championship game. The Red Wolves defeated Orange 3-1 on scores of 25-18, 18-25, 25-16, 25-20. Sophomore Claire Hargett finished with 23 kills and 14 digs. Senior Rachel Alverson had 46 assists and 15 digs as Cedar Ridge ended Orange’s 20-match winning streak. Graylinn Serge registered 12 kills and 25 digs as the Red Wolves won the CCC Tournament for the third year in a row. It’s the fourth straight year where Cedar Ridge has won a regular season or conference tournament championship and its fourth win at Orange in the last five trips. It brings a great measure of satisfaction to seniors like Alverson, Serge, Addie Reid, Natasha Buschler-Fosado, Eliana Miller, Cecilia Kenna, Caroline Park, Ellie Woodson and Alexandra Hood, who had a true Senior moment against its arch rival on Wednesday. Cedar Ridge will open play in the 3A State Playoffs at Red Wolves Gymnasium on Saturday. Opponent and time will be announced on Thursday.

Cedar Ridge’s Graylinn Serge, Rachel Alverson & Claire Hargett discuss volleyball upset over Orange

It may sound strange to some that Cedar RIdge volleyball pulled a major upset considering the Red Wolves won a state championship just two years ago. But the Red Wolves became the first Central Carolina Conference team to beat Orange this season on Wednesday night, and it happened in the Central Carolina Conference tournament championship game.

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.