FAYETTEVILLE — A slower start to the volleyball season than what the Lady Raiders wanted has taught them many things. Among them is grit, which Richmond showed a lot of during Thursday’s Sandhills Athletic Conference match.
Two nights after suffering a sweep at Lumberton, the Lady Raiders rallied on the road to earn a much-needed win against Seventy-First High School. Winning the first, third and fifth sets, Richmond dug its heels in to even its record back to the .500 mark.
The Lady Raiders edged the Lady Falcons 3-2, the first time in six matches they’ve gone to five frames. Set scores were 25-16, 15-25, 25-12, 27-29 and 15-11.
Head coach Ashleigh Larsen told her team to prepare for an aggressive Lady Falcons squad, and Richmond responded with what Larsen called the team’s fiercest performance this fall. Part of that was a strong start in the first set.
“The girls came out really strong in the first set and I could tell they were excited,” Larsen said. “We knew Seventy-First wasn’t going to give up, so we made the right adjustments to earn the win.
“The girls did a great job of moving their blocks around and we made some other defensive adjustments. A lot of them were more eager to hit the floor and play aggressive. Those little things came together tonight.”
Several players put up impressive defensive numbers, starting with senior libero Emy Cooley’s season-high 34 digs.
The Lady Raiders recorded 95 total digs and five players hit double digits. They were Cooley, Allyiah Swiney (18), Shelly Hoffman (13), Taylor Chappell (11) and Kelly Hoffman (10). Georgia Grace Anderson added seven digs and Shelly Hoffman dished out 23 assists.
Anderson led the offensive attack with 12 kills, followed by Kelly Hoffman’s 11. Swiney and Jakerra Covington each notched five kills at the net and the Lady Raiders ended the match with 38.
Covington and Anderson also played good defense, each collecting three blocks. Kelly Hoffman recorded a team-high five aces, with Anderson and Cooley tallying three each.
“Kelly, Allyiah and Taylor all had their best game of the season on offense and defense,” Larsen said. “They rallied together to get some of their hesitations out of the way. Kelly was aggressive and she was swinging the hardest I’ve ever seen her swing.
“Allyiah did the same, consistently swinging hard, and Taylor did a lot tonight to find the floor.”
Richmond opened the first set on a 9-1 run, starting with a Covington kill and ending with an ace from Kelly Hoffman. An ace from Shelly Hoffman extended the lead to 10 points, 16-6.
A five-point burst toward the end of the set put Richmond up 21-12, and a series of errors by Seventy-First allowed Anderson to drill home a kill to take the set win.
The Lady Falcons made a fast start in the second and Richmond couldn’t recover despite a late rally.
“The girls know we don’t want to fall into a second game slump but we did that tonight,” Larsen said. “We couldn’t stop making little mistakes, but it was good to see us turn right back around to get the win in the third.”
The third stanza started with an 8-2 Richmond run, seeing a Covington block, a Swiney kill and aces from Cooley and Kelly Hoffman. Two kills from Anderson extended the lead to 13-4, and consecutive aces from the William Peace University commit gave Richmond an 18-6 cushion.
Still rolling, Swiney made a smart tip to set up the frame’s final point, and Cooley made a diving dig that resulted in a digging error to go up 2-1.
Emy Cooley makes one of her team-high 34 digs during the second set Thursday.
“I feel like we did a good job moving our feet, communicating and overall reading the plays,” Cooley said of the back row’s efforts. “We were aggressive and didn’t let much hit the floor.”
“We always start off really strong, then when other teams start cutting close, we get lost on the mental side of things,” Swiney commented. “But we did a really good job of keeping our heads up and putting up a fight.”
Seventy-First put up a fight in the fourth set, pushing the frame to extra points. Richmond had four chances to end the match, but the Lady Falcons rallied to win 29-27.
The fourth featured 27 digs, nine of which came from Cooley. Anderson smashed home a set-high four kills and Kelly Hoffman tallied three more.
The decisive fifth set saw both teams battle out to a 9-9 tie. That changed when Anderson picked up another kill, which started a string of four straight points for Richmond. Covington made a block, Kelly Hoffman lasered a kill down the line and a digging error by Seventy-First made it a 13-9 game.
Another Covington kill and an errant play by the Lady Falcons sealed the road win for Richmond.
“This win was super important because this puts a little boost in our confidence and gets us back on the positive side,” Swiney explained. “It made us realize the potential we have when we play as a team.”
Now alone in fifth place, the Lady Raiders (3-3, 3-3 SAC) will look to keep the momentum alive when they welcome in rival Scotland High School (5-1, 5-1 SAC) next Tuesday.
“The girls are always pumped up from start to finish when we play Scotland,” Larsen said. “The last two times we played them we had big wins on senior night and in the conference playoffs. We remember that and the girls will need to be aggressive and be prepared mentally.”
“I want to use this momentum to take on Scotland,” Cooley closed. “And I feel excited rolling into that big game with a win.”
