ROCKINGHAM — The first edition of The Richmond Observer’s weekly feature series of the 2024-25 school year highlights a member of the Richmond Senior High School volleyball team.
Sophomore libero Kenley Smith has been named the Official Richmond County Female Student-Athlete of the Week presented by Rockingham NC Self Storage.
The Lady Raider volleyball team became the first program to start official play last Monday with a trio of matches and started the season with a 2-1 record.
Smith, who enters her second season as a varsity starter along the back row, earned her first career recognition.
Athletic Profile
Year: Sophomore
Fall sport: Volleyball
Position: Libero
Varsity Experience: 2 seasons
“CLASSROOM CREDITS” WITH KENLEY SMITH
Moving to the high school this year, Smith will start her sophomore year when classes begin next week.
During her freshman year, Smith earned straight As in her eight courses at Richmond County Ninth Grade Academy across both semesters. Her current weighted grade point average is 4.50.
This school year, Smith will take a variety of honors and advanced placement courses — AP Environmental Science, AP US History, Honors Biology, Honors English II, Honors Math 3, Honors weight training, Law and Justice I and Public Safety I.
Smith is also involved in the National Beta Club and plays travel volleyball for AC Sandhills.
“DIGGIN’ IT” WITH KENLEY SMITH
Richmond played three matches in three straight nights to begin the new campaign and earned wins on its home court against Forest Hills and Pine Forest high schools.
The Lady Raiders notched a 3-0 sweep over Forest Hills and hung on for a 3-2 win in their meeting with Pine Forest. Smith was pivotal in both wins on defense and the service line, including a run of successful serves to start the decisive fifth set.
Leading the team defensively, Smith had 29 digs between the Forest Hills and Harnett Central matches. Averaging 7.3 digs per set in the opening week, she dug up 26 of them against a hard-hitting Harnett Central team.
In serve-receive, Smith tallied 8.5 returns per set, second on the team only to junior J’Nasia Neal.
Effective from the service line, Smith dealt 10 aces between those two matches, with eight perfect serves coming against Forest Hills. Recording a .921 service percentage, Smith helped the team record 23 points when she was at the line.
Not afraid to take swings from the back row, Smith added three kills against Harnett Central. She also had one assist in the win over Forest Hills.
Sports editor’s note: Official statistics for Richmond’s match against Pine Forest High School were not available at the time of publication.
“RAPID RESPONSE VIDEO” WITH KENLEY SMITH
The Richmond Observer will publish its Official Richmond County Male Student-Athlete of the Week Tuesday.
