ROCKINGHAM — After successfully playing its first 11 matches, the Richmond Senior High School volleyball team has seen its next two games interrupted.
Richmond athletic director Rob Ransom confirmed via a text message Saturday evening that the Lady Raiders’ upcoming match against Seventy-First High School will not be played.
The home match, scheduled for Monday, is being canceled for COVID-19 reasons. This was also confirmed in a message from Seventy-First AD Qusheba Collins sent to Ransom.
Lady Raider head coach Ashleigh Larsen said that Richmond “does not” have any positive cases.
Per the North Carolina High School Athletic Association’s COVID-19 guidelines, “If a team is unable to compete due to COVID-19 related circumstances, verification of the need to postpone the contest must be submitted by the superintendent or designated head of the LEA to the NCHSAA office.
The live document also says, “The NCHSAA office will notify the competing school(s) upon receipt,” and in the case of this match being so late in the season, “Any verified postponement that cannot be rescheduled will be designated as “no contest.”
Ransom said he will try to find out more information on Monday regarding how the “no contest” ruling impacts Richmond in the Sandhills Athletic Conference standings.
Richmond was supposed to play Lumberton High School this past Wednesday, but the match was postponed for precautionary reasons and the health and safety of both teams involved. No other details were given.
The Lumberton match, however, is in the process of being rescheduled. Larsen said the tentative plan is to play that home match on Wednesday.
These are the first two COVID-19 related incidents for any Richmond athletics program since official fall sports play began in mid November.
Richmond is 5-6 overall and was alone in fifth place prior to the postponement of the Lumberton match. The only other regular-season match left is the finale at Scotland High School on Thursday, Jan. 7.
“We have had an off week already and we’ve been limited with what we could do,” Larsen said. “Basketball started and now we are trying to find the time to share the gym.
“This is impacting the girls because I told them their next couple games were really important to move up the standings. Now we don’t know what a no contest does to us and we’re unsure if we will get to play Lumberton on Wednesday.”
Note: This is a developing story. The Richmond Observer will update it as new details emerge.
