ROCKINGHAM — The brooms have been at the ready for the Richmond Senior High School volleyball team of late.
Helping keep Rivalry Week dominated by Richmond’s athletics programs, the Lady Raiders handed Scotland High School a 3-0 loss Tuesday.
One of three wins over Scotland on campus Tuesday, including the JV Lady Raiders’ sweep, Richmond notched its fifth straight win. Set scores were 25-19, 25-18 and 25-15.
The sweep of Scotland also made it the third straight match the Lady Raiders have won in straight sets. During the current winning streak, Richmond has won 15 of 17 sets played.
Another milestone achieved Tuesday was the Lady Raiders’ first 3-0 win over the Lady Scots since Oct. 22, 2019.
Richmond trailed by as many as three points to begin the first set and fell behind 11-8. Junior Kaylan Parsons recorded a kill from the right side that began a momentum shift that started a 5-2 run to give Richmond its first lead.
Junior Riley McDonald blocked a shot along the net and senior J’Nasia Neal served two consecutive aces to make it a 13-12 lead. After Scotland tied it back up, a service error gave the Lady Raiders possession again.
With McDonald at the service line, she paced the Lady Raiders on a set-changing 8-0 run that put Richmond up for good. Thanks to five errors by Scotland during that stretch, senior Ka’mora Watkins had a kill, McDonald served an ace and junior Madison Jackson notched a kill from the middle.
With the help of Richmond’s back row, led by junior libero Kenley Smith, senior Carleigh Gibson and junior Kalynn McCormick, the points continued to rack up. Junior setter Lillian Hill was crucial in getting second passes to Richmond’s aggressive attack.
Leading 21-13 after the run, Richmond allowed a four-point run by Scotland. Jackson made a smart play at the net to tip the ball into open space to pull within three points of the set win.
A hitting error by Scotland, followed by a Watkins kill and another service error, one of five in the set by Scotland, gave Richmond a 1-0 lead.
Smith started the second set on a 3-0 run that featured kills by Parsons and McDonald. Later tied at four points, a Neal kill just inside the end line initiated a 5-0 scoring stretch to put the Lady Raiders ahead for good. McDonald added a pair of kills to make it 9-4.
Scotland (2-2) stayed close and pulled within two points, 14-12. Neal dialed up another strong attack from the outside, igniting an 8-2 push by Richmond. Mostly capitalizing on Scotland errors, McDonald had another kill and Hill won a contest at the net that fell into open space.
Thanks to 10 hitting errors and three service errors by the Lady Scots in the second, Richmond used a final kill from McDonald to take a two-set advantage.
Similar to the second set, Smith gave Richmond an early lead in the third stanza, including a pair of aces. Playing with the lead the entire time, the Lady Raiders jumped out to an 8-4 lead after Neal served up two aces of her own.
Later in the set, Watkins had a kill that was added to with an ace from McCormick to make it 13-10. Taking five of the next seven points, Richmond maintained the lead thanks to two Neal kills, one each from McDonald and Hill, and an ace by Gibson.
Leading 20-15, Richmond’s final five points came courtesy of two Scotland errors, a push by Jackson to the back corner and two McDonald aces.
Richmond (5-1) will look to make it six straight wins Wednesday when it travels to non-conference Uwharrie Charter Academy (6-3). First serve is set for 6:30 p.m.
The Richmond Observer will publish a photo gallery of Tuesday’s win soon.
