Even what J.H. Rose volleyball coach Norm Cabacar called a “flat” performance was enough to easily get the Rampants into the fourth round of the 4-A playoffs.

Rose chalked up its third straight sweep of the postseason with a convincing 25-12, 25-9, 25-15 victory over Richmond Senior.

“I was a little disappointed because we were flat,” Cabacar said. “We were going through the motions but we didn’t have any energy.

“But we’ll work on that in ractice and get them where they need to be. We need to be playing at a high level as we progress through the playoffs.”

Rose, which stayed perfect at 22-0, still had more than enough to dispose of the Lady Raiders.

“We got beat by a very good team,” Richmond coach Wendy Wallace said. “They hit, serve, block and play good defense.”

Richmond scored the first point of the opening set on an odd play when the ball was heading out of bounds but brushed against a Rampant player who was trying to get out of the way.

But rest of the set belonged to Rose, which built up a 19-12 advantage before reeling off six straight points to end it.

After finding themselves trailing 2-1 early in the second game, the Rampants scored eight unanswered to surge ahead. Rose led by as many as 15 points before finishing off the 25-9 win.

Even with most of its starters sitting on the bench in the final game, Rose managed to win by 10 points.

Rose led by seven points early before a Raider run cut the margin to 11-9.

Strong net play by Caroline Douglas and Emily Neideffer quickly returned the momentum to the Rampants.

Douglas hammered down three thunderous kills down the stretch, while Neidffer’s second block of the set sealed Richmond’s fate.

Rose will remain at home for its fourth-round match Saturday against either Wilmington Hoggard or Scotland County. Game time has not been determined.

Despite the relative easy start to the postseason, Cabacar has warned his team about its intensity as it makes a run for a second straight state title.

“I just try to remind the girls heading into these matches that on any given night you can be beat if you don’t execute and play your game,” Cabacar said. “We have to focus on our game, on our side of the next and hope that’s enough to get us the win.”

Natalie Brown had seven kills to lead Richmond (16-7), while LaShey Brown and Rebecca Kinsey each had five kills and one block.