ROCKINGHAM — The Lady Raiders took care of business in the first of three matches scheduled this week.
They hosted Hoke County on Tuesday evening and grabbed a victory in three sets (25-14, 25-20, 25-16) for the 13th time this season, finishing with a total of 47 digs, 21 kills and six aces. Senior setter Mackenzie Webb tallied 18 assists.
“Since they (Hoke) are so scrappy, and they get everything up, we had to stay on our toes,” head coach Shellie Wimpey said. “Which is really good because we can’t really mirror that as much in practice. So it’s good to get that in a game to help us later on when we play other teams.”
The Richmond volleyball team (18-0, 11-0 SAC) controlled the opening set but ran into a little bit of trouble when the teams switched sides for the second set, as Hoke County (10-10, 6-5 SAC) fought its way to a lead in the early going.
The Lady Bucks tied things at 3-3, and then again at 6-6, before going ahead 8-6 thanks to a couple mistakes from the home team. Their momentum would last a few more minutes, but the Lady Raiders eventually took over and jumped ahead 19-14 — forcing the visitors to call a timeout.
Richmond would score seven more points, while giving up six, in order to put an end to the second set.
“We started off a little sluggish, which I think is something good to experience. It makes up play harder and keeps us sharp,” Wimpey added.
Two kills each from senior middle hitter Brianna Baysek, senior outside hitter Altman Griffin and junior outside hitter Savannah Lampley highlighted the team’s 25-16 win in the third set. Sophomore Layne Maultsby picked up four of her team-high 13 digs in the final set.
Both Griffin and Lampley finished the match with 10 digs, Baysek had five kills and senior middle hitter Owen Bowers recorded three aces — all in the first set. Griffin also led the way with 10 kills.
Next up for the Lady Raiders are a home non-conference match versus West Montgomery on Wedneday (5:30 p.m.) and a conference clash at Lumberton on Thursday (6 p.m.).
“It’s been a while, but I think they play better when they have more games,” Wimpey said of the team playing three matches in three days. “You can practice all you want, but I think playing just makes them better. It’s nice to go against different players from different teams so they can work on their fundamentals.”
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Richmond’s Brianna Baysek (11) goes up for one of her five kills during Tuesday’s 3-0 victory over Hoke County. Baysek was second on the team in kills behind senior outside hitter Altman Griffin, who registered 10 kills on the night.