The Landrum volleyball team hosted the No. 1 team in the state at the 1A level, St. Joseph’s, on Tuesday night, Oct. 11. The Cardinals fought hard but lost 3-0 (25-18, 25-12, 25-20).
The Lady Knights of St. Joseph’s hadn’t lost a set this year in region play and the win kept their undefeated record within region intact. The Lady Cardinals (8-7, 6-4), however, weren’t intimidated.
In the first game, the Cardinals battled back and forth with St. Joseph’s. Landrum fell behind early, but tied it up at 10 apiece on Holly Rickett’s serve. A Johnson kill led the Lady Knights to three straight points to get the lead back. Johnson then served up three more points on the next possession to take a 20-13 lead for St. Joseph’s. The Lady Cardinals roared back four out of the next five points, but St. Joseph’s finally pulled away for a 25-18 win.
In the second game, an early run by the Lady Knights put Landrum in a deeper hole than they could dig out of. On Nicholle Stein’s serve, St. Joseph’s jumped out to a 9-2 lead and didn’t look back en route to a 25-12 win.
In the third game, however, Landrum pushed the Lady Knights to the limit. The Lady Cardinals stood toe-to-toe, took punches and gave punches. Landrum pulled the score to 18-20, but couldn’t hold serve and St. Joseph’s used that to pull away for an eventual 25-20 victory.
“I’m proud of the girls tonight,” Landrum coach Denise Riske said. “They played hard. They played together. To see them play from first set to the last set was good to see.”
Landrum was led by Becca Burress with 14 digs. Gabby Griggs added 11 digs and two kills. Carla Bruce had two kills and ten digs. Rebecca Hardin had two kills and two aces.