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The tenure of Steve Mayhew as Cedar Ridge men’s and women’s tennis coach has brought unprecedented success to the programs.

His son, Josh, graduated in June as the most accomplished men’s player in the history of Hillsborough. Josh became the first player in Cedar Ridge or Orange history to reach the 3A State singles final four times. He also played for the 3A Mideast Regional championship four times. Mayhew was the captain of the 2022 Cedar Ridge men’s team that won the Central Carolina Conference championship, the first such title in school history.

While Josh has moved on to Belmont-Abbey, his sister, Cameron, has goals of her own for her senior year. On Tuesday night, amid a sticky and sweltering evening at Red Wolves Tennis Court, Cameron Mayhew, Raven Mowles-Airing, Catherine Ballenger, Annabeth Lundberg and Dupree Sorenson commemorated Senior Night with its first win over Orange since 2019.

The Red Wolves won four singles matches to defeat the Lady Panthers 6-3. All four singles wins came from Cedar Ridge seniors.

Mayhew and Ballinger each captured two victories as the Red Wolves (4-2, 2-0 in the Central Carolina Conference) remained undefeated in league play.

Mayhew defeated Erinn Sollars at #1 singles 10-2. Later, Mayhew and Adeline Cummings became the first team to defeat Orange’s top doubles team of Erinn and Shannon Sollars this season. in a match that captured the attention of everyone on hand since it was the last of the night, Mayhew and Cummings won 8-5.

Mayhew and Cummings are now 4-1 as a team in 2023.

“That’s the best I’ve seen Adeline play,” said Steve Mayhew, a former tennis player at Orange. “She was solid. She and Cameron complimented each other. It was a great, great match. It was close. The Sollars are a great team. There were a lot of close matches.”

While Mayhew and Cummings’ victory was icing on the cake, it was Ella Caltabiano and Ballenger who ensured the Red Wolves’ victory. Caltabiano and Ballenger defeated Molly Kruse and Ellie Wilson 8-0 for Cedar Ridge’s fifth win of the night.

Earlier in the night, Ballenger defeated Kruse 10-7 at #5 singles.

Mowles-Airing defeated Ellie Wilson 10-2 at #4 singles. Lundberg knocked off Orange sophomore Kyla Mehl 10-5.

In the tightest match of the night, Orange’s Makayla Davis and Kyla Mehl defeated Mowles-Airing and Lundberg 9-8 in a contest that came down to a 7-point tiebreaker. Davis and Mehl won 7-5.

This fall marks a farewell tour for Steve and Cameron Mayhew. It’s Cameron’s senior year. Steve will step down as Cedar Ridge tennis coach at the conclusion of the women’s tennis, partly because he wants to follow Josh’s at Belmont-Abbey.

“We feel fortunate to get the win,” Mayhew said. “We didn’t have many unforced errors. They had to beat us and we forced errors. That’s what you have to do in doubles.”

On Wednesday night, Cedar Ridge continued a span of three matches over three sweltering days by beating Eno River Academy 7-2 at Red Wolves Tennis Courts. Mayhew, Cummings, Caltabiano and Ballenger each won two matches.

Mayhew defeated Abby Winslow 8-0 at #1 singles. Cummings knocked off Betts Roney at #3 singles 8-1. At #1 doubles, Mayhew and Cummings teamed to beat Winslow and Roney 8-1.

Caltabiano won at #2 singles over Rebecca Kirby 8-2. Ballenger defeated Quinn Parker 8-0 at #5 singles. Caltabiano and Ballenger won at #2 doubles against Kirby and Chiara Menolascino 8-1.

At #3 doubles, Mowles-Airing and Lundberg defeated Parker and Lily Kate Philipps 8-3.

For Eno River, Eleanor Finkle defeated Mowles-Airing 8-5. The Bobcats’ Menolascino defeated Lundberg 8-1.

The Red Wolves will resume CCC play on Thursday when they travel to Mebane to face Eastern Alamance.

“It’s very nice,” Mayhew said. “Our players have stepped up and played outstanding. I couldn’t be more proud of them.”

It speaks to the higher standards of Cedar Ridge men’s soccer than they tied their win total from all of last season on Wednesday night, but still came away disappointed in their performance. The Red Wolves defeated Person 5-0 at Red Wolves Stadium, Cedar Ridge’s first home game since the season-opener against Eno River Academy on August 14. Yet Cedar Ridge missed out on several scoring opportunities that could have increased the scoring total. Junior Alejandro Macero-Ramos notched his first two goals at the varsity level. Senior Abazar Babiker, junior Salomon Hernandez and sophomore Edber Lopez also had goals for the Red Wolves. Cedar Ridge senior co—Captain Iliah Babchenko, this academic year’s first winner of the Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week, had two assists. Cedar Ridge won its Central Carolina Conference opener and improves to 5-0-1, improving on the best start for the team in over 13 years. Gael Antunez-Nunez also had two assists. Cedar Ridge will turn around and travel to Dave Thaden Stadium on Thursday night for a non conference game against East Chapel Hill. Then the Red Wolves will travel to Graham to face Southern Alamance on Monday night. Next Wednesday, the Red Wolves will host Orange in the first leg of the Hillsborough Derby at Red Wolves Stadium.

CRHS soccer’s Iliah Babchenko, Alejandro Macero-Ramos,Abazar Babiker & Salomon Hernandez talk win

It speaks to the higher standards of Cedar Ridge men’s soccer than they tied their win total from all of last season on Wednesday night, but still came away disappointed in their performance. The Red Wolves defeated Person 5-0 at Red Wolves Stadium, Cedar Ridge’s first home game since the season-opener against Eno River Academy on August 14.

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.

There was plenty to celebrate for the Cedar Ridge women’s tennis team on Tuesday night. It was senior night for players Cameron Mayhew, Catherine Ballinger, Annabeth Lundberg, Raven Mowles-Airing and Dupree Sorenson. On top of that, Cedar Ridge defeated crosstown rival Orange 6-3. It was their first win over Orange since August 28, 2019. Mayhew won her match at #1 singles. Later, on a hot, sticky night, she teamed with junior Adeline Cummings to defeat Erin and Shannon Sollars 8-5. It was the first time anyone this year defeated the Sollars sisters, who qualified for the 3A State Doubles Tennis Tournament last year. Ballinger teamed with junior Ella Caltabiano to wrap up the dual match win for the Red Wolves with a victory at #2 doubles. Ballinger also won her singles match. Cedar Ridge is undefeated in the Central Carolina Conference after beating the defending co-conference champions. It was also the final senior night for head coach Steve Mayhew, who is in his fourth season. Mayhew, a former player at Orange High, will step down at the end of this fall. The Red Wolves are now 3-2, 2-0 in the CCC. They will host Eno River Academy on Wednesday at Red Wolves Tennis Courts. On Thursday, they are slated to travel to Eastern Alamance. The Red Wolves would love to qualify for the state dual team tournament for the first time since 2016, when they won the Big 8 Championship.

Cedar Ridge women’s tennis seniors discuss Senior Night win over Orange

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.

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.

GRAHAM–There’s a classic throwback feel once you enter Southern Alamance’s gymnasium.

There’s no air conditioning. The fans from the ventilation system above the bleachers squeak. The only thing keeping the floor from getting soaked with players’s sweat, even on a mild day like last Thursday, are fans placed on opposite ends of the end zones. Long rallies are tougher because of a low roof, where no less than four balls clanked off the rafters for Cedar Ridge’s volleyball match against the Patriots on Thursday.

“The Battleground,” as is it described on Southern Alamance’s scoreboard, makes visiting teams earn victories, regardless of the opposition’s quality. Despite early setbacks, Cedar Ridge emerged victorious in its first conference matchup against the Patriots.

Sophomore Claire Hargett finished with 13 kills and 19 digs as the Red Wolves swept Southern Alamance 3-0 on scores of 27-25, 25-14 and 25-10. Senior Addie Reid added nine kills and two blocks, while Graylinn Serge had eight kills and 16 digs.

It was Cedar Ridge’s 42nd consecutive conference win. The Red Wolves (4-3, 2-0 in the Central Carolina Conference) will host Orange on Tuesday in a showdown for first place in the CCC at Red Wolves Gymnasium.

“It took us a while to settle in tonight,” said Cedar Ridge volleyball coach Latcha De Oliveira. “We were a little antsy tonight. The defense was better in the second set. I think we settled in at that point. We were a little frazzled the first set.”

There were six lead changes in the opening set, which saw Cedar Ridge spring out to a 10-6 lead. Southern Alamance (2-4, 0-1) come back with a 7-2 run to take a 16-13 lead. Cedar Ridge responded with seven of the next eight points, included three consecutive kills by Reid. The Patriots were on the verge of taking the set after an ace by Autumn Jones, which put them ahead 25-24. On set point, an attack by junior Ava Duggins was dug by Serge and went off the net. Hargett went to her knees to keep the ball alive and passed it over to Kayla Still, who wound up with the kill to send it to overtime.

Reid factored in on the final two points, assisting on a kill by Hargett. On match point, Reid got the kill off a feed from Hargett.

Reid scored seven points in the second set, tallying five kills and two blocks. Cedar Ridge jumped out to an 8-2 lead and were never challenged. The Red Wolves closed the third set on an 8-1 run, ending with a kill by Ellamarie Perel. Rachel Alverson finished with 31 assists, while sophomore Mia Marty added seven assists.

Cedar Ridge will go into the crosstown matchup against Orange having beaten the Panthers eight straight times.

“It’s gonna be down to the wire every game in this conference,” De Oliveira said. “We have a big game coming up against Orange. I think everybody is gunning for that top spot this year.”

Orange 3, Western Alamance 0:

Things were considerably less dramatic for Orange in its latest trip to Elon. Last year, Western Alamance extended the Lady Panthers to five sets. This year, Orange swept the Warriors to open their CCC slate.

Senior Ella Wimsatt, sophomores Ava Wilkerson and Aubrey Jordan each had double-digit kills for Orange, who won 25-16, 25-22 and 25-21. Wimsatt finished with 13 kills, while Wilkerson had eleven and Jordan ten. Sophomore Katie Silcott finished with 33 aces and seven digs. Senior libero Sadye Porter had 13 digs as Orange won in its ninth straight road game.

In the nine road games, Orange has gone 6-3. The Panthers trailed only twice in the entire match and never in the third set. Wimsatt had seven kills in the opening set, while Wilkerson added six.

After its contest against Cedar Ridge, Orange (7-3, 1-0) will finally have a home game against Person on Thursday.