LAURINBURG — Before Thursday’s regular-season finale, Richmond head coach Ashleigh Larsen told her players to leave everything on the floor.
And the Lady Raiders didn’t let their coach down, despite falling in straight sets to rival Scotland High School. Larsen said she was proud of her team’s effort and energy.
“I’m disappointed we didn’t get the win, but I’m not disappointed in the level of play the girls showed tonight,” Larsen said. “We haven’t had a lot of practice since the Hoke County game, so I thought their energy was really good for not practicing consistently.
“I praised all the girls after the game. They’ve proven to me time and time again, especially against Scotland, that they can hang with a higher-level team in the conference,” she added. “But between 15 and 20 points, we can’t find the edge to win out.”
The Lady Raiders held leads in all three sets, but let Scotland come back each time. Set scores were 19-25, 22-25 and 17-25.
“We came out with great energy,” senior setter Shelly Hoffman said. “Knowing this was possibly our last game, we wanted to leave everything on the court. We did lose it a little bit in the third set, but overall the energy was definitely there tonight.”
The loss dropped Richmond to a 5-7 overall record and Larsen said the team’s chances of making the NCHSAA 4A state playoffs are slim. The Lady Raiders also had two regular-season matches removed from their schedule (Lumberton and Seventy-First) due to coronavirus precautions.
“If we had played the other two games, there was a slight window to make the playoffs,” Larsen explained. “But without those games, there’s no chance for our win percentage to go up, so I don’t see us qualifying for the playoffs. But there’s always a glimmer of hope.”
The match marked the possible end to six Lady Raider careers, including seniors Georgia Grace Anderson, Taylor Chappell, Emy Cooley, Jakerra Covington and Kelly and Shelly Hoffman.
“I think we played well, especially not being able to practice since Monday,” Anderson, a middle hitter, said. “This game tonight was definitely bittersweet because of course I’m sad to see the season end, but I’m extremely thankful that we even got to have a season at all.”
Richmond’s loss was much closer than the 3-0 score indicated, and Larsen said her team rose to the occasion of playing the No. 2 team in the Sandhills Athletic Conference. Anderson finished with a team-high seven kills, while Covington and Kelly Hoffman both added five.
Chappell and junior Allyiah Swiney both notched two kills, and Swiney recorded four of the team’s nine aces. Shelly Hoffman dished out 18 assists and picked up two aces and three digs.
On defense, it was Cooley who led the way with 15 digs, recording seven of them in the final stanza. Kelly Hoffman and Chappell both finished with double-digit digs, collecting 12 and 11, respectively.
“Georgia Grace and Jakerra consistently stepped up and both had a great night,” Larsen said of her middle hitters. “Both played smart at the net, whether it was crushing the ball or getting through the blocks.
“Everyone had a great group effort, I was pleased. The girls hit the floor more tonight and got to balls I haven’t seen them get to before. They came out swinging hard and left everything on the court.”
Kills from Swiney, Anderson and Covington gave Richmond an 11-8 lead in the first set, and the two middle hitters followed with consecutive kills to push the lead to 15-10. Scotland took a timeout and used a 5-0 run to take an 18-17 lead.
Despite a lot of energy and another Anderson kill, one of her five in the first set, Scotland used a 6-0 spurt to take the opening set.
Consecutive aces from Swiney knotted the second frame at 10 points, and a 4-0 run by Richmond gave the Lady Raiders a 15-12 advantage a couple plays later. Anderson tied the set at 18 points, but a 7-4 run by the home team ended the second.
A five-point stretch in the early part of the third helped Richmond chip away at a 14-11 deficit. Chappell made a diving dig, Swiney knocked home back-to-back aces and Hoffman tallied her final kill.
In the closing volleys, Covington recorded a kill and a block, Chappell found the floor and Swiney tacked on another kill. But it wasn’t enough to catch Scotland, which used a 3-0 run to end the match.
“I was able to find the floor because Shelly and I were really connecting well at the beginning of the game,” Anderson said. “The team stayed aggressive throughout the game because we came into the game with so much energy and we knew that we had to play aggressively if we wanted to compete with them.”
Shelly Hoffman said that the loss wasn’t the ideal outcome, but she and her senior teammates cherished their time on the court together.
“We’ve all got to know each other these last four years and have really grown tremendously together,” Shelly Hoffman said. “It was a very tough loss tonight for us because we know we won’t be returning next year, but I am super proud of how each and everyone of us played.
“We left everything on the court and I wouldn’t have wanted to play these last four years with any other girls.”
The NCHSAA will release its 4A playoff projections on Saturday. Richmond sits in fifth place in the SAC standings and ROSports will report any updates as they become available.
