FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. – With the looming threat of Hurricane Florence bearing down on the North and South Carolina coastlines, the Richmond Senior High School Lady Raider volleyball team overcame an early scare on the road Tuesday night at Seventy-First High School.
The Lady Raiders were one of four regularly scheduled teams to play Tuesday, but the threat of the Category 4 storm halted the Richmond tennis and cross country teams from playing. Also, the Lady Raider golf team, playing just down the road from Seventy-First at Gates Four Golf and Country Club, saw its round cut in half due to the anticipated weather.
So that just left head coach Ashleigh Larsen and the Lady Raiders as the only team to complete a full game or match Tuesday, and they recovered after losing the first set to defeat the Lady Falcons 3-1 in four sets.
In a match that Larsen admitted “wasn’t pretty,” Richmond fell in the first set 26-28, before storming back in the next three with winning scores of 25-18, 25-10 and 25-21.
“The girls beat themselves up tonight in the first set,” Larsen said after her team picked up its third-straight Sandhills Athletic Conference win. “Seventy-First had a decent setter and some girls who could hit. And they were determined to beat us — and they gave their best effort.
“I know the idea of not having school (on Thursday and Friday) and the hurricane had a factor in how we played tonight,” she added. “But it’s no excuse to not play our game.”
After losing the first set to the Lady Falcons, the first set dropped to them in the four career matches played between the teams, Larsen played musical chairs and shifted her lineup. She put junior outside hitter Madison Jordan on the court, and moved fellow junior Allexis Swiney from middle hitter to right side. Also coming off the bench was senior middle hitter Savannah Chappell.
“I needed to switch some things up, so I changed my personnel in second set,” Larsen explained. “And then we won out. Madison played really well, and was really aggressive on defense. I want to congratulate her on that.”
Larsen’s switching around of her lineup proved to be effective, as the Lady Raiders swept the Lady Falcons the rest of the way.
The third set of the night was the best for Richmond, as junior libero Layne Maultsby, who was named the Official Richmond County Female Athlete of the Week on Tuesday, went on a tear at the serving line. She tallied five of her total team-high 10 aces on the night in the third frame, and added five of her team-high 16 digs in the same set.
Richmond had more team aces (23) than team kills (20) in the win, as it was senior outside hitter Savannah Lampley who collected the most kills with seven. She had two in the first, four in the second, and finished with one kill in the third.
Jordan, who hasn’t seen much time on the deck this fall, impressed with six aces (three in each of the second and fourth sets), and added two kills and five digs on the night.
“Our serving was our strong point tonight,” Larsen said. “Layne and Madison had some really aggressive serves that kept us in the game in the final couple of sets that ended up getting Seventy-First off its game.”
Other stats from the win over the Lady Falcons include 19 assists by SAC-leading setter junior Carley Lambeth. Sophomore middle hitter Georgia Grace Anderson chipped in with five kills at the tape, and recorded the team’s only three blocks on the night in the fourth set. Adding to the ace total was junior Jadyn Johnson (three), Lambeth (two) and Swiney and sophomore Emy Cooley each had one.
“It was one of those games where we’d get up on a good run, then when we got in a hole, the girls had that face of defeat,” Larsen noted. “While I’m glad we got the win, I think they could have played a lot better.
With Richmond calling off all athletic events the rest of the week due to the anticipation of Hurricane Florence’s arrival on Thursday and Friday, the Lady Raiders will wait out the storm before returning to the court. The next scheduled match is Wednesday, Sept. 19, on the road at Anson High School, but could be delayed depending on the outcome of the storm.
Exactly halfway through their 2018 regular season campaign, the Lady Raiders have a 7-4 overall record and sit in third place in the SAC standings with a 4-2 tally. They trail Jack Britt (6-0) and Pinecrest (5-1) high schools, while Seventy-First is sits in sixth place (3-5, 2-4 SAC).
