It was Senior Night at Midway High School Tuesday night when the Lady Raiders hosted Swine Valley 2A/3A Conference opponent Goldsboro to wrap up regular season conference play. Behind a dominant effort, Midway bested the visitors and locked up a share of first place atop the standings, winning 3-0.
They secured their second win of the week on Wednesday, defeating Lumberton.
Senior Night
Midway came out looking strong in the first set Tuesday, quickly running out to a 3-0 lead. After an out-of-bounds ball took away their first point, the Lady Raiders regrouped and ran their lead up to 10-2. McKenna Brooks got a couple of blocks at the net and the lead reached 12-4 as the first set seemed to be on cruise control. Outside of a rare ace against them, the only points Midway gave up were self-inflicted bloopers. After hitting a 14-5 lead, some more unforced errors bit the Lady Raiders and the set looked a little closer at 15-9.
Goldsboro was starting to get even more fortune bouncing their way as the Lady Cougars closed the deficit to 15-11. After that, though, momentum shifted entirely back to Midway and the Lady Raiders closed the set out with a 25-13 victory to go up 1-0.
There was no big Midway run at the start of the second set. Instead, things were much closer and the teams were tied at 6-6 in the early going. After that, the Lady Raiders hit a little surge and opened up a 10-6 advantage, forcing a timeout from the Lady Cougars. They maintained a 4-to-5 point lead out of the break and led 15-10 before Goldsboro made another run, pulling back to 17-14. After that, the Midway lead grew again, reaching 22-16 to produce Goldsboro’s final timeout of the set. This timeout bore no fruit, though, and when play resumed, the Lady Raiders went on to win set number two, 25-18.
In the third set, both teams seemed to coast. While close, there never seemed to be a question who would come out victorious. A few times Midway opened up gaps in the score that Goldsboro gradually closed again but, overall, the Lady Cougars were never really a threat. As the set shifted into the latter stages, the Lady Raiders finally found their footing again and pulled away late for the 25-17 victory. With that, Midway was able to celebrate the Senior Night festivities with a win.
But waiting in the wings Wednesday was a rematch with Lumberton, a team Midway had lost to just a week ago in straight sets.
Revenge against Lumberton
Back in the friendly confines of their own gym, the Lady Raiders got their revenge in thrilling fashion Wednesday night, storming back from a first-set loss to defeat the Lady Pirates 3-1 in a hard-fought rematch.
The first set was a tight battle right down to the wire. Lumberton won the opening set 25-23, giving the impression that things were going to unfold in similar fashion to last week. In the second set, though, Midway turned the tide and got a big 25-15 win. Again, the third set was a close duel but it was the Lady Raiders who edged out the win this time, going up 2-1 after winning the third set 25-22. Then, the Lady Raiders really closed things out convincingly in the fourth frame as they blitzed the Lady Pirates 25-13 to win the match.
With back-to-back wins, Midway is now 13-6 overall and 11-1 in conference play. They’ll take part in the Swine Valley 2A/3A Conference Tournament next week when they host Rosewood Tuesday. A victory will put them in the championship game, slated for Thursday.