SANFORD, N.C. – Richmond Senior High School head volleyball coach Ashleigh Larsen knew that this week would provide her team with some challenges on the court.
And despite a tough back-and-forth battle on the road at Lee County High School Wednesday, the Lady Raiders fell in four sets to the Lady Yellow Jackets. Richmond kept things close, losing two of the sets by just three points, and the final set was a six-point deficit.
Set scores against Lee County were: 22-25, 25-22, 22-25 and 19-25. With the loss, the Lady Raiders (5-4) dropped their third match in the last four contests after starting the season 4-1. It also comes just a night after sweeping Hoke County High School in straight sets.
“I thought the girls played really well in the first and second sets,” Larsen said following the match. “But then in the third and fourth sets, we had the same issues we’ve battled in the past — the girls got complacent. And they couldn’t get themselves out of the hole.
“We just didn’t have the fire tonight,” she continued. “We’d get a point and the lead, and then lose it again. It’s kind of a repeating scenario for us — we really shut down in the fourth set, and that’s become the same song and dance.”
After falling in the first set by three points, Richmond bounced back to win its lone set of the night. In the second frame, the Lady Raiders tallied 14 kills on 35 attempts, the most during the entire match. Senior outside hitter Savannah Lampley, who has been Richmond’s biggest offensive threat this fall, racked up a team-high six kills during the second set.
Joining the mix in the 25-22 win were sophomore middle hitter Georgia Grace Anderson (four kills), senior middle hitter Savannah Chappell (two kills) and juniors Jadyn Johnson and Allexis Swiney (each with one kill). Richmond also tallied three aces in the set win, the most of the four, with Johnson serving two and Swiney adding one.
“Lee County is a quality team,” Larsen noted of her opponent. “They have a couple of big hitters, and our girls hung tough and competed with them. Our defense was really good tonight, and there were a lot of girls who stepped up on passing.
“But when we were good on defense, we couldn’t convert on offense, and vice versa,” she added. “We struggled just enough to where we couldn’t put everything together at once.”
Aside from the final set, Larsen was pleased to see her team be competitive and battle to the very end.
“Even though we lost, I did see a lot of good things tonight,” Larsen said. “There were quite a few things we improved on, and got some good looks at different hits. Lee County’s coach complimented us on our skill.”
Offensively on the night, Richmond had two players reach double-digit kills — Lampley had a team-high 14, while Anderson added 12 more. Johnson had a solid night at the net with seven kills and two aces, while Swiney racked up five kills and an ace.
The Lady Raider defense held its own on a tough Lee County attack led by Elyria Hackney, as three players collected at least 10 digs. Junior libero Layne Maultsby, who has played a good stretch lately in the back row, made a team-high 22 digs. Johnson capped off her performance with 14 digs, and Swiney made 10 of her own.
Larsen noted that “the usual players” played well throughout the four sets.
“We need to get our motivation back,” she concluded. “The girls need to be aggressive from start to finish — and as the coach, I need to find something that works, which may mean some personnel changes.”
Richmond wraps up its three-match week in three days Thursday on the road at Sandhills Athletic Conference opponent Lumberton High School (6-2, 2-2 SAC). Larsen called them a “quality team that we can’t take lightly” and noted “it would be huge” to get the win.
The match is set to start at 6 p.m.
Note: The Richmond junior varsity team defeated Lee County in two sets Wednesday with set scores of 25-22 and 25-13. Sophomore Jakerra Covington had seven kills, four digs and two blocks, while freshman Kaitlyn Huff had six digs and two aces.
