PEMBROKE — The Richmond Senior High School junior varsity volleyball team came up just short in its first match of the season Tuesday.
On the road at Purnell Swett High School, the JV Lady Raiders couldn’t capitalize on a first-set win and fell to the Lady Rams in three sets.
Second-year head coach Melissa Dennis’ team ended the match with set scores of 25-20, 19-25 and 7-15.
“The first set the girls kept the momentum,” Dennis said. “They weren’t afraid to be aggressive but they still made smart plays. The biggest thing was that they kept each other up. They really came together as a team.
“In the second set we got caught in a serve-receive battle and struggled to get that same momentum back after that,” she added. “We let a lot of balls hit the floor.”
A fast start by the Lady Raiders saw the visitors take an early lead. A 10-4 run at the beginning of the first set was aided by aces from freshmen Joy Styles and Kady Harris. Fellow freshmen Emma Altman and Katie Way each tallied points in the run.
Purnell Swett called a timeout, but Richmond kept the pressure on. Following a long rally, Way tipped the ball over the net past a pair of defenders to give Richmond a 16-8 lead.
The Lady Rams switched the flip and went on a run of their own, tying the set at 18 points. Harris stepped to the serving line with a one-point lead, and with the help of a kill from sophomore Quston Leviner, Richmond took a 22-18 lead.
To close their lone set win, the Lady Raiders used two hitting errors and an ace from Leviner to seal the deal.
Styles opened the second set with a pair of points from the serving line and Richmond took a 3-0 lead. After a rally from Purnell Swett, Leviner delivered another big kill to give the Lady Raiders a 6-4 lead.
Purnell Swett would earn its first lead of the match when it went up 7-6 moments later. That was the start of a 10-0 run by the home team, which put the Lady Rams up 14-6.
Trailing by 10 points later in the set, Way tried to get the Lady Raiders back in the mix with three points of her own from the middle. An Altman ace late in the set pulled Richmond’s deficit to three points, 22-19.
Purnell Swett closed the second set with a 3-0 run to send the match to a decisive third set. Per NCHSAA and Sandhills Athletic Conference rules, the third set is played to 15 points.
A Way ace, followed by a dig from Altman, kept the set tied early on. Leviner brought the hammer a couple volleys later with another kill to keep it a one-point deficit, 6-5.
Richmond struggled to find a rhythm the rest of the match despite calling two timeouts. A 9-2 spurt by the home team ended the match with a win for the Lady Rams.
Way had a team-high four kills and added one assist and once ace. Leviner tallied three kills on the night, while Styles’ four aces were a team-high. Harris tacked on two aces.
“Katie made a lot of smart plays at the net. We didn’t get points off of all of them, but she did her job well,” Dennis shared. “Joy had great serves and did a great job keeping her head in the game the whole time and helping her teammates.
“Emma did great on serve receive while she was on the back row,” Dennis added. “It was like they kept coming for her, but she did her job well. Overall, I’m excited to come together even more this season.”
The JV Lady Raiders (0-1, 0-1 SAC) will return to the court Thursday on the road at Pinecrest High School. First serve is set for 5 p.m.
