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Tennis: The tennis Raiders are off to a fast start, winning their first two matches of the season last week. The Raiders rolled past John Paul II, 7 – 1 with the last match getting cancelled due to darkness. Kaitlyn Williamson, Reese Blackman and Reagan Spruill all won their singles matches in straight sets while Melanie Rutledge and Juliette Pence needed a third set to defeat their opponent. The doubles tandem of Williamson/Katie Baxter and Rutledge/Blackman were able to defeat their opponents with ease to seal the Raiders first win.

 PCA kept the momentum going as they defeated Christ Covenant School 5 – 4 on Thursday. The Raiders won five of six singles matches, before losing all three doubles matches. PCA will travel to Kerr Vance Academy and Riverside Martin this week.

Football: The Raiders are 2-0 with a pair of shutouts to start the season after a 48 – 0 victory at Mattamuskeet Friday. PCA poured it on in the first, scoring 26 points in the quarter. Each team was scoreless in the second before PCA scored on their next three drives to end the game, with Austin Gibbs 84 touchdown scamper sealing the victory. Gibbs finished with 153 yard on 10 carries with three touchdowns. Tailback Quay Artis made the most of his six carries, rushing for 145 yards and four touchdowns. McKinney Waters and Luke Ross each picked off passes on the defense. Josiah Murray led the Raiders defense with 8.5 tackles. Parker Byrd, Wells Eagles, Braden Armstrong and Jackson Walker all had over 5 tackles in the game.

PCA has a bye this week before hitting the road again next week at Community Christian.

Soccer: The Raiders started 0 – 1 – 1 to kick off the new season. The loss came against state 1A favorite Crossroads Christian at home, 3 – 0. The Colts scored all three goals in the final 20 minutes of each half. Bo Spencer saved 12 of the Colts 15 shots on goal. Brandon Tooley had three of his four shots on target, but the Crossroads keeper was able to keep the Raiders off the board.

PCA traveled to Christ Covenant School for a match that finished in a 2 – 2 tie. The Raiders trailed 1 – 0 with under 10 minutes to play in regulation when Maddox Lee tied it from just outside the goalie box. The Spartans regained the lead with just five minutes to play. It appeared that PCA would suffer their second loss with time dwindling down. PCA had one final chance with under 30 seconds to play as Bruce Taylor lined up a corner kick. Taylors kick sailed in and found the foot of freshman center back Carter Ballance, who put the ball in the back of the net for his first career goal to tie the game.

The Raiders look for their first win this week as they host Mattamuskeet and travel to Cape Hatteras, weather permitting.

Volleyball: Pungo was able to halt a two game losing skid with back to back victories over Mattamuskeet and Greenfield School this past week.

Against Mattamuskeet the Raiders rolled to victory in consecutive sets, winning the last two by a combing 32 points. Anna Stoop had 8 aces and 14 assists while Autumn Gibbs had 9 aces and 10 kills.

The match against Greenfield had a little more drama to it. The Raiders faced a 24 – 21 deficit in the first set before rallying to win 26 – 24. PCA won the second comfortably before losing the next two sets to force a fifth and final set. The Raiders were able to regain momentum and put the Knights away with ease to earn their second consecutive victory. Allison Sawyer and Alden Taylor had career highs in kills, with 15 and 14 a piece. Autumn Gibbs had 16 digs and 12 kills of her own. Anna Stoop had a season high in assists with 30 on the night.

The Raiders dropped three straight sets to Arendell Parrott Academy Thursday. Stoop had 13 assists while Gibbs had 13 digs and 8 kills.

The Lady Raiders travel to Epiphany School of New Bern and Cape Hatteras HS to finish the week.