ROCKINGHAM — After snapping their seven-game losing streak with a 3-1 victory over Southern Lee last Thursday, the Richmond Senior High School Lady Raiders hope to carry their momentum into Tuesday’s rematch against Pinecrest.
After falling to arch-rival Scotland just days earlier, the Lady Raiders seemed motivated to snap the slide and climb up the Sandhills Athletic Conference standings by knocking off Pinecrest Tuesday.
“It was good. The girls played together well. We finally found the floor offensively. Defensively, we’ve been pretty strong. We just have to work better on getting our serves in (bounds),” Richmond coach Ashleigh Larsen said.
Last Thursday seemed a case of history repeating with the Richmond picking up its latest SAC victory at the expense of Southern Lee, who also happened to be the recipient of a Lady Raider beat-down in a 3-0 sweep last August. Despite finishing third in team-kills to middle blocker Riley McDonald’s 15 and outside hitter JNasia Neal’s 8, outside hitter Ka’mora Watkin down a slew of spikes to give the lady Raiders the boost they needed in the first set.
“It was more players feeding me the ball, and getting it to the setter so she could set us up with good passes on the back row. It kick starts us, and gets us ready for the us. It gets us going,” Watkins said.
The Lady Raiders took the set 25-15, but Southern Lee would not be so easily dispatched. The Lady Cavaliers rallied in the second set, picking up their first and only win in extra sets 28-26, but it was all Richmond from there.
“Our girls give a great effort. I appreciate that in them. Richmond did a great job countering what we did. Kudos to them . We have some stuff to work on so we can get better. Hopefully we can see them again … I would love to get another crack. We learned some things. We’ll get better. We’ll be ready,” said Southern Lee coach Darrell Brown, who attributed the loss to Richmond simply making more plays than Southern Lee.
Defensively, Richmond libero Kenley Smith had a team-leading 24 digs, followed by Neal with 15 and setter Ava Edmondson with 15. Neal also registered the only block of the evening.
“We played really well tonight. We communicated,” Neal said.
The Lady Raiders went on to take the next two sets 25-16 and 25-12. With the win, Richmond improved its record to 6-9 and 2-5 in conference Raiders fifth in the SAC standings. After Pinecrest, the Lady Raiders remain on the road for another SAC showdown against Hoke County, then remain on the road the following Monday to face Union Pines and return to Rockingham the following Thursday to host Lee County, which will also serve as the penultimate game of the regular season.
“We needed this little confidence booster (Thursday) … This was game one moving into the whole second slate of conference. It was super port ant to come out with a win,” Larsen said.