ROCKINGHAM — The Richmond Senior volleyball team will open the state 4A playoffs in Raleigh after the North Carolina High School Athletic Associated revealed the brackets Thursday morning.
The Raiders, which earned the No. 4 seed out of the Southeastern Conference, will battle Wakefield at noon Saturday. The Wolverines (16-4) finished second in the CAP-8 Conference.
According to Richmond athletic director Kevin Mabe, tickets for the Richmond-Wakefield contest are $5 apiece.
“We have to be positive and not give up,” Richmond coach Shellie Wimpey said. “If we go and play hard every point, we should be fine. We have practiced hard and it’s up to the girls to bring a winning attitude.”
The winner of Saturday’s match will take on either Holly Springs (15-5) or Person (18-4) in the second round. The Golden Hawks are the No. 3 seed from the Tri-Nine Conference, while the Rockets finished fourth in the PAC-6.
The berth marks the first time Richmond (11-11) has advanced to the postseason in two seasons. The Raiders were selected as a wild-card in 2010 before losing to Greenville Rose in three games. The year before that, Richmond was an automatic qualifier when it earned the second seed out of the SEC. The Raiders were eliminated by Rose in the third round in straight sets.
Scotland, the SEC’s regular season and tournament champions, will face off with Southeast Raleigh in the first round 7 p.m. Saturday in Laurinburg. The Fighting Scots are undefeated in 21 games, while the Bulldogs, the No. 5 team out of the Greater Neuse River Conference, enter the postseason with a 5-14 mark.
Pinecrest — the league’s second seed — will open its playoff run against E.E. Smith 7 p.m. Saturday at home. The Patriots are 18-3 on the season, while the Golden Bulls wrapped up their regular season with a 10-8 mark to earn the third seed from the Mid-South Conference.
The final conference school to make it into the playoffs is Purnell Swett. The Rams finisehd third and will take on Sanderson, the No. 3 seed from the CAP-8, at 7 p.m. Saturday in Pembroke. Purnell Swett is 12-8 on the year, while the Spartans are 13-6.
Raiders roll to JV football win
SOUTHERN PINES — The Richmond Senior junior varsity football team cruised past Pinecrest 40-14 Thursday night.
The 14 points surrendered by the Raider defense was the most it has allowed since West Forsyth scored 26 on Sept. 13.
“They scored early on us because we missed an assignment,” Richmond JV coach Jason Norton said. “They scored a late touchdown because we were trying to play everyone tonight.”
The Raiders led 19-7 at halftime before scoring 21 straight points to pull away for the victory. Richmond improves to 9-0 on the season and 4-0 in Southeastern Conference play.
Norton thought part of his team’s struggles in the first half came from shuffling quarterbacks in and out of the lineup.
“We played a ninth-grade quarterback some to get his feet wet,” Norton said. “Our starter, Montek Johnson, did a good job in there, so things worked out in the end. I thought in the second half we did a lot better job fundamentally.”
Richmond will close out its regular season 7 p.m. Thursday at Scotland with a chance to finish first in the conference.
Rockingham stops Hamlet in 4
The Rockingham Middle School volleyball team stopped Hamlet 25-13, 25-18, 22-25, 25-16 Thursday afternoon.
The top servers for Hamlet were: Zanadi Hammond with 12 points; Tatyana Gould with 11 points and Trinity Stanley with seven points and an ace.
Hamlet will return to action Monday at Sycamore Lane.
— Sports editor Shawn Stinson can be reached at 910-997-3111, ext. 14, or by email at sstinson@heartlandpublications.com.
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