LAURINBURG — Tuesday’s Sandhills Athletic Conference girls’ tennis match came down to doubles play between Richmond Senior and rival Scotland High School.
The two teams split singles play by winning three matches each, but Richmond surrendered two of the three doubles contests to lose the match 4-5.
Head coach Jessica Covington said she was “really proud of the way the girls played” and that “they competed really well” in the closely-contested match.
Richmond and Scotland played matches following the best-of -three sets format, requiring players to win two of the three games to earn the win.
Sophomore No. 2 Neely Turner was awarded a singles win following a forfeit.
Richmond’s other two singles wins came from No. 5 junior Maren Carter and No. 6 freshman Hanna Smith.
Carter cruised in two sets, taking the match by scores of 6-0 and 6-2. Smith’s efforts were similar against her opponent, winning 6-1 and 6-3.
Freshman Hanna Smith returns a shot during her singles win at Scotland. (Kyle Pillar/The Richmond Observer)
No. 1 senior Paris Almon and No. 4 senior Kirsten McDonald both went all three sets, but came up short. Almon lost 1-6, 6-3 and 6-10, while McDonald’s scores were 6-3, 1-6 and 9-11. No. 3 junior Addison Massey lost in two sets, both by scores of 1-6.
Needing to take two of the three doubles matches to win, Richmond could only collect one. Smith and senior Mariah Waddell won the No. 3 doubles match 8-0.
Scotland edged the No. 1 pairing of Almon and Turner 9-7 and the No. 2 duo of Massey and McDonald 8-6.
Richmond (2-4 SAC) now prepares for its second round of conference play, beginning with a road trip to Southern Lee High School on Thursday. The Lady Raiders will look to avenge a season-opening loss to the Lady Cavaliers.
Singles matches will start at 4 p.m., followed by doubles matches.
