Cailyn Hewlett rifles the ball back over the net.
Daron Barefoot|Sampson Independent
The Midway Lady Raiders were back on their home court Tuesday, hosting conference foe West Bladen in Southeastern Athletic Conference play. For the home team, it was just another day at the office in conference play, as the Lady Raiders cruised to a convincing 3-0 victory.
Midway got out to a rocky start in the first set, falling behind by a 4-1 score. They quickly recovered after that to take a 5-4 lead before the game was tied at 5-5. The scoring went back-and-forth for a little while before the Lady Raiders opened a small gap at 9-7. They then expanded that lead to prompt a timeout from the Lady Knights, but they relaxed a bit, and let the visitors to make a run and get things close again at 14-12. After that, Midway caught fire and pulled away for good, getting the tally to 19-12 before closing things out at 25-15 for the first set win.
In the next set, it was the Lady Raiders that got a 4-1 lead from the outset as they sought to keep things rolling. West Bladen chipped away and kept things close after that, but Midway began to pull away yet again. After timeout briefly stopped play, the Lady Raiders ran their lead to 16-6 and were in firm control. Indeed, Midway finished the set off, winning 25-13.
Much like the other two before it, the third set was another one that saw the Lady Raiders quickly build a lead and never really look back. It got all the way up to 18-10 before the Lady Knights stopped for a timeout, but the game was long decided by then. They cruised away for the 25-12 victory to win 3-0.
Filling the stat sheet for Midway was Kaedyn Moran with 12 kills and Gracyn Hall and Cailyn Hewlett each having 10. Ella Clark had 17 assists, Georgia Register had 12, and Summer Watson had 11 digs.
With the win, Midway is now 16-3 overall and 8-0 in conference play. Just two games remain for the Lady Raiders, first up was a trip to Red Springs before they wrap up the regular season at home on Tuesday.