LAURINBURG - Tuesday’s Sandhills Athletic Conference volleyball match at Scotland High School didn’t hold much weight for the Richmond varsity team in terms of moving up in the conference standings ahead of the SAC tournament. But it did hold significance for the Lady Raiders’ seeding in the NCHSAA 4A state playoffs.
Richmond helped its cause, as it entered the night in 40th place of 48 possible teams in the current NCHSAA playoff bracket. The Lady Raiders finished the regular season series sweep against the Lady Fighting Scots, winning its sixth-straight match, and spoiling Scotland’s senior night in straight sets.
With the win, Richmond capped off the regular season and locked up the third-place spot in the SAC standings, behind No. 1 Jack Britt and No. 2 Pinecrest high schools. Set scores were 25-19, 25-16 and 25-14, and Scotland (7-11, 6-8 SAC) honored seniors Beatrice Eddy, Sarah Eury, Nakiya Locklear and Jahkayla Walker before the match.
The three-set win was Richmond’s seventh time accomplishing that feat this season, and head coach Ashleigh Larsen noted that her team’s all-around effort is what made the difference in the season finale.
“The girls stayed aggressive all night,” Larsen said. “They found the holes and the weaker passers, and abused them, which is what they need to do. We were able to capitalize on (Scotland’s) mistakes tonight, and the whole team played a great game together. We weren’t down a lot, but the girls picked each other up when they needed to.”
In the first set, Richmond used a 7-0 run to jump out to an early 7-2 lead with senior outside hitter Savannah Lampley at the serving line. However, much of the opening frame was a back-and-forth affair, with Richmond maintaining a small lead throughout. Lampley led the Lady Raiders with three kills in the set, with sophomore middle hitter Georgia Grace Anderson drilling two of her own.
With Richmond leading 20-18 following a 4-2 Scotland run, a errant ball sailed up and hit the low hanging lights in SHS’ auxiliary gym, knocking a light fixture loose. The hanging fixture led to a 20-minute delay while school officials fastened the fixture back in place.
Larsen noted that she “was a little bit worried” how her team may play coming out of the unexpected break, but Richmond closed on a 5-1 run that saw an Anderson kill and three straight Scotland errors end it in favor of the visiting team.
Another fast start in the second set, this one a 4-0 charge that included a Lampley kill and a Carley Lambeth ace, set the tone early for Richmond. The Lady Fighting Scots would rally back to pull within one, 8-7, following two aces by Carleigh Carter and two kills by Asjah Swindell, capping off a 5-0 run.
Mallarie Snow called her first of two timeouts in the set to try and rally her Scotland players, but neither one worked, as another Lampley kill sparked a 8-4 Lady Raider run that saw Richmond go up by eight points, 21-13. During that span, Richmond’s defense played well, including the back row, digging the ball seven times to set up attacks at the net.
Again it would be the duo of Anderson and Lampley that helped end the set offensively, as they smashed home back-to-back kills before a Carter hitting error finalized the 25-16 win for Richmond.
The third set saw the Lady Raiders net their largest lead of the match, nine points, 20-11. To get there, Anderson and Lampley combined for five kills, while junior libero Laybe Maultsby added her lone kill of the night, a strong right-handed strike deep from the back row that landed near the end line. Maultsby also talled seven of her team-leading 17 digs in the final set, getting three more from junior teammate Allexis Swiney.
In the final five points to notch the victory, Anderson tallied her final of seven kills on the night, while junior Madison Jordan joined the action with a kill of her own. Two Scotland hitting errors, one of which was committed by Kate Carter, gave Anderson the chance for match point, which she took advantage of by knocking her only ace of the night.
On the stat sheet, Richmond complied nine aces (Lampley had a team-high three), 21 kills (Lampley, 10; Anderson, seven; Jadyn Johnson, two; and Jordan and Maultsby, one each), and 19 assists by Lambeth, who is the team’s setter. Defensively, the Lady Raiders had 45 team digs, with Maultsby leading the way. Lampley added 12 digs, Swiney had six, and both Johnson and Lambeth notched five.
Richmond will turn right back around and be on the road at Pinecrest on Wednesday in the opening round of the SAC tournament. Because of the two hurricanes this fall, the SAC coaches decided to cut the bracket in half, allowing just the top four teams to compete. The Lady Raiders earned the No. 3 seed, and will look to avenge two regular season five-set losses to the No. 2 Lady Patriots.
The Lady Raiders finished the regular season with a 13-7 overall record, and a 10-4 posting in SAC play. Though Richmond didn’t win its third-consecutive conference title in Larsen’s debut season, the head coach still feels that her team has something to prove heading into the SAC tournament.
“It’s definitely in our advantage that we won in three tonight so the girls can rest up a little bit for Pinecrest,” Larsen concluded. “We’ve got some momentum (winning six straight), and the girls are really pumped up. I told them after the game they need to do whatever they need to do to get their mind right because we’re going in there and beating Pinecrest.”
If Richmond were to pull off the upset, it would face the winner of No. 1 Jack Britt and No. 4 Lumberton High School. If the Lady Buccaneers win, Richmond will travel to Jack Britt, but would host Lumberton in the event of the lower-seeded team winning.
First serve is set for 6 p.m. Wednesday against Pinecrest in Southern Pines.
Note: The Lady Raider junior varsity team finished its season Tuesday, falling to Scotland in three sets, 23-25, 27-25 and 21-23. Richmond finished the year 16-4 overall. ROSports will publish a season recap of the junior varsity team’s success in the near future.
