The veteran leadership of the Orange Park Lady Raiders (2-1) was seen early on in their match against the First Coast Lady Bucs (2-3) swinging…hard. Lead by a team of all upperclassmen, the Lady Raiders were able to beat up on the Lady Bucs in straight sets.
First Coast served first to start the game and looked to score until the brilliant play of senior Libero Macie Faucett after a great dig that set up her teammate for the kill and the first score of the evening. The saavy play of the Lady Raiders kept the lead through all of the first set, great swings and proper placement set them apart from the Lady Bucs early. Faucett kept the ball alive for the Lady Raiders rattling off three straight aces (6 in total for the 1st set).
The Lady Bucs started to pick things up as the game continued on, but allowed for points to stack up against them as balled dropped in front of them from lack of communication. First Coast libero Jaylee St. John stopped a Lady Raiders run with her sideline to sideline hustle, stopping the score at 10-3 before a First Coast timeout. St. John kept up the defense and the Lady Bucs won two straight points, one point off of a wonderfully placed ball by First Coast hitter Lindsay Cook. First Coast kept making mistake after mistake albeit service errors, communication errors or double hits. Orange Park won the first set 25-14.
First Coast looked to shake off the first set loss early on with two straight service aces, the fans in the stands started to get excited about the possible comeback for the home team. The back and forth chants from First Coasts Football team versus the junior varsity volleyball team amped up going back and forth with each point. Senior captain Sidney Breu found her swing in the second set, knocking down back to back kills for the Lady Raiders.
The Lady Bucs, no matter what they tried couldn’t overpower the Lady Raiders, Lady Buc Melanie Serrano even tried to catch the Raiders slipping on defense and threw them off with a dump pass but was called for a double hit. The Lady Bucs started to catch a break after a couple of mistakes by the Raiders now had the score tied at 9.
The game was neck and neck for the next couple of points until the Lady Raiders were able to pull away and make it 19-12 and First Coast burn a timeout. They would not score again the rest of that set.
The third set began and it appeared as though the Lady Bucs had given up as the Lady Raiders scored nine straight points with no answer. First Coast began to make a little comeback but never could quite climb completely out of the hole to Raiders dug for them. Led by great serves by Ellis and Palii. First Coast middle hitter Jayda Mikell had a jaw dropping hit at the twenty forth point of the set that halted the Raiders for a moment until a service error ended the game.
The Orange Park Lady Raiders will play at home on the 27th against Palatka (0-7) and the First Coast Lady Bucs will play again on the 3rd against Baldwin (1-1).
