Midway volleyball returned home Tuesday afternoon, picking back up Swine Valley 2A/3A Conference play after an extended road trip. The Lady Raiders, who absorbed a tough non-conference loss to Cape Fear on Monday, were looking to continue their hot streak in conference play as they hosted James Kenan. Indeed, Midway made quick work of the Lady Tigers, getting a 3-0 victory, to remain unbeaten in the conference.
Monday’s battle got off to a close start — one that saw the Lady Tigers take a brief lead in the early stages. As the game progressed, though, the Lady Raiders surpassed James Kenan and gradually pulled away. Their lead grew to double digits as the early deficit turned into a dominant effort. In the end, Midway ran away with a 25-12 victory, going up in sets 1-0.
In the second set, Midway quickly built a lead of 6-2 that prompted James Kenan to call their first timeout of the set. From there, the lead reached 9-2 before back-to-back net violations surrendered a point. Then, an errant hit lost another point. Suddenly, the game was back to 9-6 as the Lady Raiders had gotten a little sloppy. Midway recovered, though, and reeled off the next five points before a serve in the net ended their run. As it stood, the Lady Raiders had doubled up the Lady Tigers, leading 14-7. At 16-7, James Kenan signaled for their final timeout of the set, hoping to slow Midway down. The Lady Raiders, though, were relentless and eventually eclipsed a lead of double digits at 18-8. There was little response from the Lady Tigers down the stretch and Midway went up 2-0 after winning 25-11.
Between the second and third sets, senior Kaedyn Moran was honored with having recorded her 1,000th career kill, crossing that threshold in a previous game on the road.
When play picked back up in the third set, the Lady Raiders returned to the court, looking to close things out in three sets. Instead, they surrendered a 2-0 lead and trailed 7-4 as they had hit another streak of rather sloppy play. They finally recovered and reclaimed the lead at 9-8 but then the teams exchanged scores after that and the Lady Tigers opened another little advantage at 12-10. Midway continued to score the points to tie the game back up but could never take and maintain a lead of their own. The score was tied at 12, 13, 14 and 15 before the Lady Raiders finally grabbed the 16-15 lead to produce a James Kenan timeout. From there, it was all downhill for the visitors as Midway left them behind. A furious rally brought forth the end of the game as the Lady Raiders went on to win 25-16 for the 3-0 victory.
With the win, Midway is now 10-4 overall and 8-0 in conference play. They were slated to hit the road again Thursday, traveling to take on Wallace-Rose Hill with a chance to all but lock up their first conference title as a 3A school.