ROCKINGHAM — The Richmond Senior High School junior varsity volleyball team wasn’t able to start the season with a win Tuesday.
Becoming the school’s first fall sports program to officially open the 2025 regular season, the JV Lady Raiders lost 2-0 to Lee County High School.
Set scores in the non-conference match were 12-25 and 19-25.
“We had to shake off some nerves that first game,” head coach Melissa Dennis said. “The second game went smoother, but we still have some things to work on.
“This team only has two returners from last season, so the girls are learning a lot in a short time. We will only get better from here.”
Richmond took an early 3-0 lead in the first set, but saw it wiped away by eight straight points by the JV Lady Yellow Jackets. That led to a timeout called by Dennis.
Trailing 17-8, the JV Lady Raiders put together a four-point run to pull within five points. Two of those points were courtesy of hitting errors by Lee County.
But an 8-0 run by the JV Lady Yellow Jackets ended the first set.
The second stanza opened with a 13-5 lead for Lee County. Following a timeout call, Richmond rallied to go on a 6-0 run.
Freshman Grace Hill had a kill during that stretch of points, and freshman Sophia Legrand added an ace from the service line. The other points were scored due to mistakes by Lee County.
Another Hill kill, along with a kill by freshman Claire Clark and an ace from freshman Jasey Braddock kept Richmond within striking distance 19-14 in the second.
Later in the set, Hill rattled off back-to-back aces to make it a 20-17 deficit.
A final timeout called with the team down 23-18 saw Lee County take two of the next three points to win the match.
Up next, the JV Lady Raiders (0-1) will play at non-conference Purnell Swett High School Thursday at 5 p.m.
The Richmond Observer will publish a photo gallery of Tuesday’s JV volleyball match soon.
