CAMERON — Richmond varsity volleyball coach Ashleigh Larsen entered Thursday’s match at Union Pines High School with a couple of different lineups to try and return to the win column.
Unfortunately for the Lady Raiders, they fell in straight sets, 0-3, to the Lady Vikings. Set scores were 20-25, 8-25 and 14-25.
Still dealing with personnel changes and not getting the necessary practice time this week, Larsen said Richmond didn’t play with enough aggressiveness against Union Pines.
“I thought we played really well in the first set, and we hung in there early and capitalized on their mistakes,” Larsen said. “But we weren’t as aggressive as we could have been.”
Richmond and Union Pines played out to a 13-13 tie in the opening stanza, but the Lady Vikings went on a 12-7 run to take the set.
An early tie in the second frame was knotted at 4-4, but a long serve-receive battle saw the Lady Raiders outscored 21-4 the rest of the way.
“It was the same song and dance in the second set,” Larsen explained. “We got in a little hole and shut down from there. We couldn’t get out of one serve-receive and that hurt us.
“I tried to make some adjustments with different personnel, but we couldn't get on a roll.”
The third set mirrored the first, with the Lady Raiders remaining competitive early, but Union Pines (9-2, 2-1 SAC) sealed the deal for the sweep.
Larsen used the same lineup to start the match as she did on Tuesday, and rotated sophomores Emma Altman and Christi Jacobs, along with junior Quston Leviner, in at different positions in the second and third sets.
The Lady Raiders (3-6, 2-2 SAC) will take a break from conference play and visit Sun Valley High School (3-2) on Monday. Varsity will begin at 6 p.m.
“We have Friday to practice and then we play three days in a row next week,” Larsen closed. “There’s not a lot of time to break down and prepare, so we’ll just continue to try and get better.”
Larsen added the team will honor its three senior players on Senior Night during Tuesday’s home match against Lee County.
JV Lady Raiders sweep Union Pines
Also playing Union Pines on Thursday, the Richmond junior varsity volleyball team rolled to a win in two sets. Scores were 25-23 and 25-14.
Head coach Melissa Dennis and the JV team improved to 4-5 on the season and will play at Sun Valley on Monday at 5 p.m.
