ROCKINGHAM – With just a few games left in the season, the Richmond High School Lady Raider Volleyball Team hope to build momentum when they head on the road to face Union Pines.

The Lady Raiders look to avenge a sweep at the hand of the Lady Vikings earlier this season and pump themselves up for the last two games of the season against Lee County and Scotland.

“We just have to get better. We still have a young squad and they’re learning. They’re adjusting. We just need to to a little bit better being consistent in the conference,” Richmond coach Ashleigh Larsen said.

Despite opening the week on the wrong end of a sweep Pinecrest, Larsen does not believe her team has anything to hang their heads about. Pinecrest dominated the first and second set, but the Lady Raiders found their footing in the third but ultimately fell in 25-20. Riley McDonald had a team-leading 7 kills. Libero Kenley Smith had a team-leading 9 diggs, followed by setter Ava Edmondson with 5.

“I don’t think they left with their heads hanging. Collectively, I think they know they played [Pinecrest] better than they did the last time. It was a different score than when we played there, especially in the first set. They came out on fire,” Larsen said.

While the Lady Raiders hope to add a few more SAC wins before the conference tournament, the Pinecrest Lady Patriots hope to keep their momentum going in the final stretch of the regular season. Despite ending the night with a sweep, he credited the Lady Raiders for their scrappiness in spite of a lopsided scoreboard.

“I thought we struggled early on with consistency. We came out a little flat … It took them a little while to get going,” said Pinecrest coach Brandon Blackburn, whose team seems to have a target on its back as it sit atop the SAC standings. “We talked about it. We’re halfway through conference. We’re where we want to be, and we know we’re going to get everybody’s best shot. We know they want to beat us. That the pressure we talk about that we earned. A lot of people talk about pressure as a negative thing, but we talk about we’ve earned this pressure. We’ve earned this right.”

The Lady Raiders hoped for a rebound against Hoke County Wednesday, but fell short again in a 3-0 loss. After Union Pines, they will host senior night October 3, then wrap up the regular season on the road against arch rival Scotland.