ROCKINGHAM — Meeting the same opponent for the second time in as many matches, the Richmond Senior High School volleyball team couldn’t win a set Tuesday.
Capping their two-match non-conference series with Uwharrie Charter Academy, the Lady Raiders suffered their second straight shutout loss.
The two 3-0 defeats come on the heels of Richmond’s five-match winning streak that resulted in the team winning 15-of-17 sets during that span.
Set scores from Tuesday’s match were 13-25, 11-25 and 13-25.
Having to deal with a last second lineup change, along with not being able to get into an offensive groove early, are what cost the team, head coach Ashleigh Larsen said.
“I don’t know what got a hold of us tonight,” Larsen shared. “We had an unfortunate substitution to start the match and we didn’t have Lillian (Hill) out there as our starting setter,” Larsen shared. “It was a rough start but I thought Carleigh (Gibson) did well after getting thrown to the wolves.
“That’s on me. We should practice having different girls play different positions more often in case something like this happens.
“The girls had bursts tonight where they played well,” Larsen added. “But we didn’t play as well as we did at their place last week. We couldn’t get anything rolling in our favor tonight, unfortunately.”
Down three points early in the first set, senior outside hitter J’Nasia Neal got Richmond on the board with a kill. A strong start by the Lady Eagles quickly led to an 11-3 deficit and timeout called by Richmond.
A service error followed by a block in the middle by junior Madisen Jackson out of the break kept Richmond within single digits. A hitting error by Uwharrie Charter a couple volleys later started a set-best 6-2 scoring run for Richmond.
An ace from junior libero Kenley Smith was added to with a kill by junior middle hitter Riley McDonald to start the stretch. Using a couple of errors to their benefit, the Lady Raiders pulled the score to 19-13 thanks to an ace from junior right side Kaylan Parsons and a push by Neal across the length of the net.
Uwharrie Charter, however, closed the set on a 6-0 run to take a one-set advantage.
McDonald gave the Lady Raiders their first lead of the match with a kill for the first point of the second stanza. The teams traded points early and tied at one, three and four points.
The Lady Eagles (9-3) opened their lead to 12-6, which led to a pause in the action called by Larsen. Adding the two points for Richmond were senior outside hitter Ka’mora Watkins with a kill and a hitting error.
Richmond wasn’t able to find its footing against the hard-hitting attack of Uwharrie Charter and quickly fell behind 17-9. Another timeout was called, but the visitors closed the door on an 8-2 run to go up two sets on the scoreboard.
Smith gave Richmond a 1-0 lead with a kill from the middle of the backcourt to start the third, but that was short lived when Uwharrie Charter rallied to take a 13-2 lead. McDonald made a big block at the net to cut the deficit back to 10 points.
Trailing 22-8, Richmond kept the third stanza alive by scoring five points in a seven-volley span. Parsons and McDonald delivered kills for back-to-back points before the Lady Eagles made it match point 24-11.
Holding on with a 3-0 burst, McDonald sandwiched a kill and a tip around a hitting error before Uwharrie Charter scored its final point.
“This is a learn and grow experience,” Larsen said. “It’s like Brad (Denson) said the other night — what are we going to make out of this?
“We’ll go back to the drawing board and get ready to hopefully repeat our performance from last week when we play Scotland.”
Now 5-3 overall on the season, the Lady Raiders will travel to Scotland High School (3-3) Thursday and go for the non-conference season sweep. First serve is set for 6:30 p.m.
