Pungo volleyball stays undefeated after sweep of Unity Christian

Published 2:59 pm Tuesday, September 17, 2019

BELHAVEN — It didn’t take long for the Pungo Christian Academy Raiders to show up, take care of business and walk out with a win on Monday evening, sweeping the Unity Christian Warriors in three sets 25-15, 25-8, 25-18.

The Lady Raiders are mostly a junior and senior team, but freshman Reagan Stoop has played extremely well and is deserving a spot on the floor from the velocity of her serves and play around the net. On multiple occasions, Stoop had some important kills that halted Lady Warriors rallies.

“I love playing volleyball, and I love all the girls on my team,” Stoop said after the win. “They all hustle a lot. We just need to call the ball more.”

The Raiders dominated the second set, and they did it with an all around impressive performance, especially from their serves. Ashley Spencer scored seven consecutive points serving for her team in the set and was a big part of the run they went on.

“We are just so close at a team, and we’ve won the (conference) championship for the last three years, our goal is to do that again this year,” Spencer said about her senior season. “Right now we’re undefeated, we just need to communicate and keep wanting to win.”

Spencer is one of four seniors on the Lady Raiders volleyball team this year, along with Brandi Garrish, Parker Williams and Josie Hudnell.

The junior varsity team was also victorious on Monday evening, going three sets with the Lady Warriors and pulling away late in the third set.

Head coach Melanie Eddleman had high praise for her junior varsity and varsity teams after their victories.

“I could not have asked for a better group of girls. They’re perfect, they work good together. We’ve had our a rough patches, but they’ve worked together and gotten over it,” Eddleman said. “The JV team is really good. I wouldn’t say that any of them are any better than one another. Everyone is so equal. I’ve never seen a team like it. I have 10 girls I could put on the floor at any position and it would work. It’s unreal.”

The Lady Raiders had a quick bounce back, as they traveled to Lawrence Academy yesterday evening, and their next home match will be Friday afternoon against Washington Montessori.