PHOTOS: Lady Raider volleyball senior night

ROCKINGHAM — The third and final senior night celebration of the week at Richmond Senior high school featured a trio of players.

The Lady Raider volleyball team took time ahead of its Sandhills Athletic Conference match against Lee County High School to recognize its three soon-to-be graduates.

This year’s seniors were setter Ava Edmondson, hitter Sharonda Henderson and defensive specialist Abby Wellman.

Edmondson has been Richmond’s starting setter since her freshman year, while Wellman has been a two-year varsity player. Henderson returned to the sport this season and has been a three-year member of the program.

Introduced by public address announcer Keith Parsons, the seniors were escorted by family members and friends out to center court, where they were greeted by head coach Ashleigh Larsen and assistant coach Melissa Dennis.

While the seniors made their way out to their coaches, Parsons read out player profiles and shared memories and future plans for Edmondson, Henderson and Wellman.

This year’s senior class was not as large as 2023-24’s eight-player group, which Larsen said doesn’t make the event any easier.

“Each year we take time to recognize our seniors and everything they’ve done to better our program, but it doesn’t get any easier,” Larsen said. “Just because our senior group is smaller this year, it doesn’t mean Ava, Sharonda and Abby haven’t worked as hard or given everything they could to help the team.

“Ava has been our setter since she was called up early in her freshman season and she’s been a leader for us,” she continued. “Not many players can say they have four years of varsity experience and Ava helped us get back to the playoffs the last couple years.

“Abby and Sharonda have also been great teammates and have risen to task when called upon,” Larsen closed. “I know this season hasn’t gone the way we wanted it to, but I hope each of the girls had fun and made memories. We’ll certainly miss them after the season.”

The Richmond Observer will publish results from Thursday’s match soon.

Below are photos from Thursday’s volleyball senior night, taken by sports editor Kyle Pillar.