FAYETTEVILLE — Unable to complete the season sweep on Wednesday, the Lady Raider volleyball team lost to non-conference Pine Forest High School.
The results the second time around didn’t go the way Richmond and head coach Ashleigh Larsen wanted them to.
Defeating the Lady Trojan in straight sets during the first week of the season, the Lady Raiders lost 3-1 on the road.
Richmond trailed 2-0 early before winning the third set. Scores from the match were 23-25, 10-25, 25-22 and 20-25.
With the team playing its third match in as many nights, Larsen said, “We made too many offensive mistakes tonight. And Pine Forest did a good job making adjustments on their part.”
The opening moments of the first set featured some long rallies and went back and forth. It started with six ties and four lead changes before a Pine Forest 4-0 run put the Lady Trojans ahead 15-11.
Richmond ate away at its deficit, knotting it at 17-all. From there, Pine Forest went on another 4-0 run and never looked back en route to the win.
Set two was all Pine Forest. It seemed like it was going to be close again with the teams trading points to a 6-6 score. From there, Pine Forest outscored the Lady Raiders 19-4 to take a 2-0 overall lead.
In the third stanza, Pine Forest started on a 5-0 run but that was ended by a kill by freshman middle hitter Riley McDonald. Pine Forest (8-5) scored the next two points to take a 7-1 lead.
A carry by the Lady Trojans, followed by an ace from senior defensive specialist Allie Rodgers, started a 4-0 run for Richmond, which forced Pine Forest to take a time out.
With Pine Forest leading 9-3, back-to-back kills from senior outside hitter MaKailah Jackson, a pair of McDonald kills, a kill by senior Jenna Gardner and a trio of net violations contributed to a 10-2 run to put Richmond ahead 13-11.
Following another Pine Forest timeout, senior middle hitter Katie Way recorded two aces, extending Richmond’s lead to 15-11. A four-point stretch tied it up, this time seeing the Lady Raiders take a break.
After the timeout, Pine Forest sored two straight to reclaim the lead, but answering the deficit were kills from seniors Keyoni Nichols and Addyson Hollingsworth to tie it up at 17 points.
Richmond moved ahead 20-18 and held on to win the third set and force a fourth.
Both teams traded points in the fourth, starting things out to a 7-7 tie. Aided by a pair of Rodgers aces and a kill by Way, Richmond moved ahead to 11-8, forcing Pine Forest to take a time out.
Out of the break, Pine Forest scored five straight points. After Richmond scored back-to-back points to tie the game at 13-13, Pine Forest went on a 6-0 run forcing the Raiders, which was too big of a deficit for Richmond to overcome.
The Lady Raiders (6-6, 3-2 SAC) will close out the first round of Sandhills Athletic Conference play on Tuesday at Scotland High School (5-4, 2-1 SAC).
That will be followed by matches against Uwharrie Charter Academy (home) and Southern Lee (away) next Wednesday and Thursday. All varsity matches will start at 6 p.m.
JV Lady Raiders sweep Pine Forest
Taking advantage on the road on Wednesday, the Lady Raider junior varsity volleyball team earned a win.
Notching their second sweep in two nights, the JV Lady Raiders defeated Pine Forest 2-0. Set scores were 25-13 and 25-22, which also redeemed a loss to the JV Lady Trojans from earlier in the season.
“They really came out with a lot of energy,” head coach Melissa Dennis said of the JV Lady Raiders. “We were able to make some smart plays and were able to find the floor when it counted.”
The JV Lady Raiders (7-5, 2-3 SAC) travel to Scotland on Tuesday. First serve is set for 5 p.m.
Sports editor’s note: Ashleigh Larsen, Melissa Dennis and Deon Cranford contributed to this article.
