The Randolph-Henry High School junior varsity girls volleyball team has started the 2017 season with an 0-2 record, but it has given its coach plenty of reason for optimism with some solid play.

The Lady Statesmen fell 2-1 to visiting Prince Edward on Tuesday, and they lost their season opener 2-0 at Bluestone on Aug. 29.

In their match against the Lady Barons, Randolph-Henry grabbed an early lead and hung on to it until late in the first set when Bluestone clawed its way back to tie the game and pull ahead by a couple of points. The Lady Statesmen rallied back to send the set into extra points, but in the end the Lady Barons took the first game 27-25. Bluestone claimed the match after winning the second game by a much more decisive score.

“It is hard to win games with the amount of errors we had,” R-H Head Coach Sandy Mayhew said. “In the first game the team committed eight serve errors, and in a two-point ballgame, that is huge. We have to keep our errors to a minimum and get our serve percentage up.”

In the second set, the Lady Statesmen had a serve percentage of 86 percent, a substantial improvement over 68 percent in the first set.

“These ladies have the capability to go far this season…” Mayhew said. “Even though the score in the second game was not close, the girls played a much better game. These ladies continue to work hard every day and (are) showing improvement.”

Against Bluestone, Sydney Williams led Randolph-Henry in kills with four, while Abby Clements led the team in serve aces with five. Clements along with Vicie Southall, Cassidy Russell, India Spencer and Morgan Lawson each got a kill. Tori Noe along with Lawson led the team in digs with three apiece.

The Lady Statesmen hit the road to face the Lady Raiders junior varsity team at Amelia County High School on Thursday at 5:30 p.m., and R-H hosts Central Lunenburg’s junior varsity squad on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.