Cedar Ridge, Carrboro advance to NCHSAA East volleyball finals, Lee County exits playoffs
Cedar Ridge started slow but picked up steam as play proceeded Saturday and steamrolled Lee County 3-0 in the quarterfinals of the N.C. High School Athletics Association 3A volleyball playoffs.
Seeded No. 1 in the 3A East, Cedar Ridge got behind No. 13-seeded Lee briefly, a 2-1 in the first game, but tied the game on a kill by Asha Barnes and never trailed again. The Red Wolves won 25-17, 25-11, 25-11 for their 16th victory in a row.
“We felt we were under a lot of pressure playing a team that we’d never played before and didn’t know what to expect,” Barnes said. “But we got over that really quickly.”
Cedar Ridge (24-3) is scheduled to host No. 2 Asheboro (24-3) in the 3A East Region championship match on Tuesday. The winner of that match advances to the NCHSAA state championships Saturday in Raleigh.
Lee (20-6), had won nine straight matches before Saturday, including a 3-2 upset of No. 4 West Carteret in the 3A’s second round. The Yellow Jackets had hoped to make their second straight trip to the state semifinals, but they made too many errors at the net, coach Cindy Kelly said.
“We were struggling, hitting-wise,” Kelly said. “We just didn’t play our game tonight. ... Cedar Ridge is a really good team.”
Lily Henry and Courtney Eckmann led Cedar Ridge’s attack with 10 kills apiece, while Meg Anderson had eight kills along with eight digs. Alexis Dumain assisted on 23 points and had seven digs. Cassidy Carvalho led the Red Wolves defensively with 13 digs.
“You want to be playing your best volleyball at this point,” Cedar Ridge coach Charlie Oakley said. “We’re improving every game, which has been our goal since day one of practice, and I think we can still play a little bit better.”
Carrboro downs Eastern Randolph
Orange County contains two No. 1-seeded volleyball teams in the NCHSAA playoffs, and both are in the state semifinals.
Like its 3A sister to its north, No. 1 Carrboro started slowly in its 2A quarterfinal match Saturday against No. 12 Eastern Randolph before prevailing 23-25, 25-22, 25-19, 25-11.
Eastern Randolph (19-8) reached the fourth round by upsetting No. 4 South Columbus 3-0.
Carrboro (27-2) had trouble finding its serve in the first two games, and with handling Wildcat senior Christian Ritter, Carrboro coach Steve Scanga said, noting she had 475 kills heading into Saturday’s match.
“Front row, they’d set her; back row, they’d set her,” Scanga said. “She’s an exceptional hitter, and she made a lot of really nice swings at the ball.”
Carrboro answered with “an amazing afternoon” from sophomore Destiny Cox, Scanga said.
Cox, who committed earlier this year to North Carolina, came up with 23 kills in 36 attempts Saturday, committing just three errors. “And she came up with some really big blocks, too,” Scanga said.
Carrboro’s win sets up a rematch of last year’s 2A East Region final with South Granville, which defeated the Jaguars on their home court in 2014 to reach the state championship final. Carrboro got some measure of revenge earlier this season with a 3-2 win at South Granville.
The Vikings defeated North Lenoir 3-0 in Saturday’s 2A quarterfinals to reach Tuesday’s match at Carrboro.
“We’re expecting a packed house,” Scanga said.
This story was originally published October 31, 2015 at 5:48 PM with the headline "Cedar Ridge, Carrboro advance to NCHSAA East volleyball finals, Lee County exits playoffs."