Since the abrupt ending to the 2020 season, Audrey has graduated and now plays at St. Benedict's. This opened the door for Macey to fill the role her sister previously held. She’s the third Spolidoro to play for East Ridge. The oldest Spolidoro is Lindsey, who graduated in 2018.

Before Friday’s match, Audrey and Macey spoke to each other about getting ready for the youngest Spolidoro’s first match.

“[Audrey] has been there to give me tips,” Macey said. “We talked about staying calm, working through the nerves and focusing on my team.”

Spolidoro’s first match was a big one as East Ridge, ranked No. 3 in the preseason Class 4A coaches’ poll, took on No. 10-4A Prior Lake on the road. Things started well for the Raptors as they jumped ahead 16-10 in the inaugural set of the season.

However, things started trending in the wrong direction as the Lakers (0-1, 0-0) pulled ahead thanks to their leading hitter, senior Julia Hanson. The Minnesota commit finished with a match-high 20 kills and is coming off a 2020 season where she was first team All-State in Class 3A.

“[Hanson] jumps so well,” said East Ridge coach Steve Anderson. “She hits hard, smart. She can hit any shot. We knew they were going to set her. Even though we knew that, she still did a really good job out there.”

The lead eventually grew to 24-20 for Prior Lake. With the Lakers one point away from handing East Ridge its first set loss since 2019. But the Raptors started clawing back. They eventually tied the match up at 24. The momentum continued to trend toward East Ridge and the team eventually captured the set, 27-25.

“I told the girls I was really proud of them for winning that set,” Anderson said. “We kept clawing back. We served really tough and defended well and came back.”

From there, the Raptors kept on rolling. Spolidoro kept her hitters happy and finished the match with 30 assists in three sets. Her top passing target was senior outside hitter Britt Carlson. She finished with a team-high 17 kills. Fellow senior Camryn Greenwald also contributed along the way with 11 kills.

“[Spolidoro] stabilizes things for us,” Anderson said. “She makes the right decisions. I was very impressed with her tonight.” 

Friday’s match was a resumption of a nonconference rivalry that was put on hold during the COVID-19 pandemic as East Ridge only played matches inside the Suburban East Conference. The Raptors will get their shot at other nonconference opportunities in 2021 with Spolidoro expected to be a leader in the middle.

“We’re excited to have two more years with her,” Anderson said.