Serve-receive errors hinder Lady Raiders against Hoke County

ROCKINGHAM — It seemed like everything the Lady Raider volleyball team threw at its opponent Tuesday found its way back across the net.

Continuing Sandhills Athletic Conference play on their home court, the Lady Raiders dropped their second conference match in as many tries.

Despite rallying and holding a lead toward the end of the match, Richmond fell 3-1 to Hoke County High School. Set scores were 17-25, 29-27, 13-25 and 22-25.

Richmond got stuck in a pair of crippling serve-receives in the final two sets that thwarted a chance at a comeback.

“Hoke is a very scrappy team, they’ve always been that way,” head coach Ashleigh Larsen said. “I don’t know if it’s a testament to practicing in their gym with low ceilings, but tonight they hustled to everything.

“They made an effort to make sure nothing hit the floor,” she continued. “I told the girls that unless we gave them something aggressive to deal with, they were going to get a hand on it. Unfortunately, some things didn’t go our way.”

Richmond used a different lineup to start the match, which moved sophomore Madisen Jackson into the middle hitter role. Also making her varsity debut at middle hitter was sophomore Addison Butler, who was pulled up from the junior varsity team.

Jackson delivered a pair of kills early in the first set to keep Richmond within a few points. Junior outside hitter J’Nasia Neal added an attack that made it a two-point deficit.

Following another drive by Jackson that found the floor six volleys later, Hoke went on a 6-0 run to distance itself 21-13. Larsen called a timeout to try and reset.

A kill from the back row by sophomore libero Kenley Smith was added to by two Butler kills, including one she blocked and swatted straight down. But the Lady Bucks (7-1, 2-1 SAC) closed on a 4-3 run.

The momentum carried over into the second set for Hoke County, which jumped out to a 14-6 lead. Richmond used several Lady Bucks’ errors to chip away at the score and back-to-back kills by sophomore middle hitter Riley McDonald made it an 18-14 deficit.

Neal forced a timeout call by the Lady Bucks later in the set when she tacked on kills on consecutive rallies. That was part of a 4-0 run with senior Sharonda Henderson serving that made it 22-19.

Out of the break, the Lady Raiders continued a 9-2 run that saw McDonald lightly redirect the ball to the floor to tie the match at 24 points.

Three more ties would follow before an error by Hoke County and a McDonald block gave the Lady Raiders the overtime win.

An early 5-5 tie in the third set quickly unraveled for Richmond. Using a 13-1 run, the Lady Bucks took an 18-6 lead.

Unable to recover, Richmond’s final seven points in the third set all came courtesy of Hoke County errors. The two teams split the final 14 points, which gave the Lady Bucks a 2-1 match lead.

Down five points midway through the fourth set, Smith got a rally going at the service line. Several points from McDonald at the net were added to by Smith (backrow kill) and Henderson (push) to ignite an 11-1 rally.

Senior setter Ava Edmondson contributed to the stretch of scoring from the service line, as a block by McDonald gave the Lady Raiders a 19-14 lead.

But the momentum wouldn’t last for Richmond, as another inability to escape Hoke County’s serving resulted in an 11-3 match-ending run by the Lady Bucks.

“There were two serve-receives we couldn’t get out of in the third and fourth sets,” Larsen explained. “I don’t know if it’s the personnel or the different lineups we’re using. There’s a lot going on.

“We have to focus on that at practice,” she closed. “We are going to continue to be aggressive and need to work on believing in ourselves a little bit more.”

The Lady Raiders (5-4, 1-2 SAC) will return to their home court Thursday. Visiting will be Union Pines High School (5-2, 0-1 SAC) at 6 p.m.

JV Lady Raiders fall to Hoke County

Ahead of the varsity match, the Richmond junior varsity volleyball team suffered its second straight SAC defeat as well.

Facing Hoke County, the JV Lady Raiders lost 2-0. Set scores were 18-25 and 14-25.

“Hoke was everywhere defensively,” head coach Melissa Dennis said. “We had a hard time finding the floor.

“We had some high points with our serves and our passes during the second set, but we were not able to get rolling tonight.”

The JV Lady Raiders (4-4, 1-2 SAC) host Union Pines for another conference match Thursday. First serve is at 5 p.m.