ROCKINGHAM — Starting the second round of Sandhills Athletic Conference play on Thursday, the Lady Raider volleyball team kicked it off the way head coach Ashleigh Larsen wanted to.
Hosting Purnell Swett High School, Richmond bounced back from a loss to Scotland on Tuesday with a sweep of the Lady Rams.
Although the two teams would battle intensely during the second and third sets, Richmond walked out of its home gym with a 3-0 win. Set scores were 25-17, 25-21 and 25-21.
Senior libero Emy Cooley, who led the Lady Raiders with 23 digs, said the team’s focus was set on carrying over its momentum and putting away Purnell Swett in three sets.
“We really wanted to come back with a lot of intensity from the Scotland game,” Cooley explained. “Our goal was to finish in three sets tonight, unlike we did the first time we played them.
“The back row had some better reads when it came to what the setters were going to do,” she added of what worked well. “We worked together on serve-receive to get the ball up to our hitters.”
Richmond got off to a fast start, using kills from Cooley, seniors Jakerra Covington and Taylor Chappell and an ace from Kelly Hoffman to take a 6-1 lead. A 4-0 run a couple of rotations later featured a Chappell ace and a kill from junior Allyiah Swiney to put Richmond up 12-3.
Leading 18-14, the Lady Raiders closed the opening stanza on a 7-3 stretch. Hoffman, Cooley and senior Georgia Grace Anderson each had a kill. A serving error and a digging error by the Lady Rams ended the set.
The second set proved closer for both teams, as Richmond and Purnell Swett played to a tie 12 times. Neither squad found a rhythm in the second, playing out to a 21-21 tie. A 4-0 run by the Lady Raiders helped close it, which featured a Hoffman push, a Covington laser and an ace from Anderson.
In the second stanza, Richmond recorded 13 kills and five aces, both team-highs during the match. Anderson (6) and Hoffman (4) combined for 10 kills, while Anderson and Covington each had two aces. Senior setter Shelly Hoffman had the other.
“Purnell Swett is an aggressive team, and after the first set, their coach adjusted their lineup,” Larsen explained. “They had more power in the second and we were back on our heels a little bit. But our girls fought to finish it because we really wanted to win in three sets.
“Everyone came together tonight, whether it was big kills or big digs, to keep us in the game,” she continued. “It really was a team effort.”
The Lady Raiders started the third on a 7-0 run with Shelly Hoffman serving, but Purnell Swett battled back on a 7-1 run of its own. A smart tip from Swiney at the net, and a similar play by Anderson, were key plays to keep Richmond ahead 14-11.
Covington, who ended the night with six kills, recorded Richmond’s lone block in the middle of the frame. That helped spark the defense, which tallied 32 of its 70 digs in the final stanza.
Kills from Kelly Hoffman, Covington and Chappell proved to keep the Lady Rams (1-7) at bay. Leading 21-20, Richmond used a 4-1 run to earn the win, thanks to two kills from Anderson in the final three plays.
“We knew we had to win in three tonight because we needed a win heading into next week,” Anderson, who had a team-high 10 kills, said. “That should carry us over into two big games next week.
“Purnell Swett had some big blockers tonight, so all of our hitters had to hit around them or tip over them,” she added. “All of us have been playing together for a while and we know how to use that (chemistry) to win.”
Covington had a team-high three aces, Kelly Hoffman added nine kills and 11 digs, and Chappell had another impressive game with seven kills and 12 digs. Swiney helped on defense with 10 digs and recorded two kills and an ace.
Shelly Hoffman had a team-high 25 assists, and Chappell added six assists.
The Lady Raiders (4-4) will practice Friday and Monday and gear up for a rematch with SAC leader Pinecrest High School (8-0) at home on Tuesday.
“We played so aggressive tonight and we need to keep that up,” Larsen closed. “The girls had the will to finish and that leads us into next week with two big games. This is a confidence booster for our match against Pinecrest.”
