ROCKINGHAM — Things are starting to look up for the Richmond Senior High School girls’ tennis team, as the Lady Raiders picked up another Sandhills Athletic Conference win on Tuesday.
Hosting Hoke County High School, head coach Neely Herdon’s team used a season-high four wins in singles matches and a doubles win to knock off the Lady Bucks 5-4. Two of the singles matches saw two Lady Raiders, No. 1 junior Keartson Bruce and No. 3 junior Kaylee Parker, collect their first respective singles victory of the season.
The victory over Hoke County was Richmond’s second win this season, having also defeated SAC opponent Purnell Swett High School by the same score on Sept. 17.
“The girls played well today and earned a good win,” Herndon said following play. “Hopefully we can carry the momentum with two more matches this week against (a winless) Lumberton team.”
In her top-seeded match, Bruce’s win was never much in doubt. She jumped out to a 6-1 lead over Autumn Moore, before closing the door on her Lady Buck opponent with an 8-1 win. All matches were played using eight-game pro sets.
No. 3 Parker’s contest against Molly Bartch was a little more contested, but the junior pulled away late to earn an 8-4 win.
Also winning singles matches were No. 5 sophomore Elizabeth Henry and No. 6 sophomore Ellie Buck. Each Lady Raider had already won one singles match prior to Tuesday’s match, as Henry and Buck each collected her team-leading second singles match victory of the fall.
Henry downed Karissa Locklear 8-1, and Buck outlasted Mary Bartch 8-6. Falling in their singles matches were No. 2 sophomore O’cean Bennett (5-8 to Nakia Stone) and No. 4 sophomore Paris Almon (5-8 against Shelby Reynolds).
Leading 4-2 after the six singles matches, the Lady Raiders only needed to win one of the three doubles matches to secure the win. And that’s exactly what the No. 3 pairing of Almon and Henry did, defeating Locklear and Mary Bartch 8-3. It was the duo’s third doubles win this season, a program best.
Bruce and Bennett fell to Moore and Stone 5-8 in the No. 1 battle, while No. 2 Buck and Parker dropped a 6-8 decision to Molly Bartch and Reynolds.
The Lady Raiders (2-7, 2-6 SAC) will look to double their win total when they finish the week with a home-and-home series against Lumberton High School (0-6, 0-5 SAC). Richmond will be at home Wednesday before traveling to the Lady Pirates on Thursday. Both matches will begin at 4 p.m.
