ROCKINGHAM — The Lady Raiders were stung by the Lee County Yellow Jackets Tuesday night, falling in all three sets during the first home volleyball match of the season.
Richmond got off to a slow start, finishing nine points behind (25-16) in the first set.
During the second set, the Lady Raiders gained an 8-7 lead, which was soon answered by the Yellow Jackets to tie up at 8-8. Richmond would regain the lead, lose it, and tie up again at 20-all.
However, Lee County would go on another run to end the set 25-21.
Richmond was able to get on the board a little quicker in the third set, with an early 2-2 tie. The Lady Raiders dominated much of the final set, leading 22-18 before the Yellow Jackets rallied to a 24-point tie.
Lee County went on to win the final set 26-24.
“We’ve kinda struggled in the first set in every game we’ve played,” head coach Ashleigh Larsen said following the match. “When we went there (to Lee County), it was actually the opposite — we won the first set.”
Richmond lost that Aug. 12 match 1-3 and went on to fall 0-3 to Uwharrie Charter the following night.
Larsen said she came into Tuesday’s match with “a new demeanor” after Monday’s 3-2 win at Anson.
“They played really well … it was back and forth, back and forth — (a) five-set win, kinda tired,” Larsen added. “(There are) just some little things we need to work on and fix ourselves, but we’ll be good moving into next week and getting ready for the conference.”
The varsity team is now 1-3.
The Richmond junior varsity volleyball team improved to 3-1 on the season with a 2-0 victory in its home opener over Lee County. The Lady Raiders won with set scores of 25-18 and 25-21.
The JV team had a comfortable lead early in both matches allowing head coach Melissa Dennis to sub in players regularly to give everyone some valuable playing time.
Richmond will return to action in seven days when it travels to Mount Tabor High School in Winston-Salem next Tuesday, Aug. 25, followed by another away match Aug. 26 at Scotland.
The Lady Raiders will then have three consecutive home matches, hosting South Stanly, Scotland and Pine Forest.
Deon Cranford contributed to this story.
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