The Lady Raiders volleyball team capped off their impressive 2021 regular season run with three consecutive straight set wins last Thursday night in the final three games before the region playoffs. The wins bring their record to 23-13, with a 4-2 record in region play.
“I thought we played really great defense, and our frontrow blockers read the ball really well and they were able to get good touches on balls,” Lady Raiders coach Lindsay Herrin said. “We blocked a bunch of balls last night and also I believe we only had four missed serves as a team for the entire night, so we definitely have to keep that up going into next week as far as our serving consistency goes.”
They began the night strong by crushing Pinecrest Academy in the first set, only allowing four points to their 25 points scored. The opposing team had a bit more luck in the second, but not near enough to make the match competitive. The Lady Raiders won 25-13 there to lock in the match win.
The second team on the schedule didn’t fare much better than the first, as Habersham Central steamrolled the Lakeview Academy Lions by a 25-11 score in the first set and a 25-8 score in the second.
The neighboring Stephens County Indians were the last team up, and they fared as well as the first two did. The Lady Raiders won in straight sets by scores of 25-11 in set one and 25-9 in set two.
In the midst of their dominant night, Habersham Central took a moment to honor the team’s four seniors: Molly Butler, Abby Dini, Ansley McAllister and Maredith Anderson.
“They mean a lot to our program. Not only are they all four starters for us, they have consistently been vocal leaders and girls that we can depend on in more areas than volleyball,” Herrin said. “They have set a great example of what senior leadership should look like to the younger girls on the team. I hope that those younger girls have been paying attention to that so they can model those same behaviors as they stay with the program and grow. I’m just excited to see how they will perform next week and I hope they’re leadership takes over when we head into the region tournament.”
In their last night of games before Tuesday night’s region playoffs round one matchup against Central Gwinnett, Habersham outscored their opposing teams 150-56.
“I think last night was a great indication of where we stand as far as how well we’re playing,” Herrin said. “Also a lot of the teams we played last night are similar to what we can expect from Central Gwinnett, so that’s going to be good preparation for us. It’s good that we already kind of know what to expect out of Central Gwinnett, so that’s going to help us best prepare for what we’re going to see.”
In the opening round of the region playoffs, the Habersham Central Lady Raiders volleyball team crushed the rival Central Gwinnett Black Knights in straight sets, not even allowing the opposing team to reach double-digit points in any of the three sets.
The Lady Raiders most dominant set of the night came in the opener with a 25-4 win. The Black Knights doubled their score in the second, but were still no match for the home team’s 25 points. HCHS won the third set 25-6 to move on to the second round and secure their spot in the state playoffs.
Their next game is today, Oct. 13, against the 42-7 Dacula Falcons at 5 p.m.