SOUTHERN PINES — Facing arguably its toughest Sandhills Athletic Conference competition of the spring, the Lady Raider tennis team dropped a pair of matches against Pinecrest High School on Monday.
Hitting the road for the first time this season, Richmond lost both ends of the doubleheader by matching scores of 0-9.
The Lady Raiders did put up a fight in several singles and doubles matches, but the two losses evened their conference record to 2-2.
In No. 1 singles, senior Kearston Bruce fell to Brooke Lafrenz 1-8 in the opening match, before ending the afternoon with a 0-8 loss.
Freshman Katie Way impressed in the No. 2 singles, rallying several points to keep her matches close with Cathrine Watford. In the first match, Way fell 3-8.
The two players were the only ones left on the court in the second round of singles play, as Way held on but came up short 4-8.
Bruce and Way teamed up as Richmond’s No. 1 doubles pairing, playing Pinecrest’s Annecy Pratt and Claire Gulley. The two Lady Raiders nearly earned a wn in the first match, getting edged 6-8, before falling 2-6 in the second bout.
No. 3 Lady Raider Kaylee Parker dropped her first singles match to Pratt 0-8, but put up a tougher fight in the next go-around, losing 4-8. In the No. 4 singles contests, freshman Neely Turner lost to Gulley 0-8 and then to Marjorie Estelle Kilpatrick by the same score.
Parker and Turner competed together in the first No. 2 doubles match, falling to Watford and Alysaa Furie 0-8. In the second No. 2 doubles contest, Parker and junior Kirsten McDonald, who made her season debut, dropped an 0-6 match to Furie and Kilpatrick.
Junior Paris Almon played in the first No. 5 singles match, losing to Sophia Pandich 2-8. McDonald played the second No. 5 match, coming up short 0-8 against Anna Henry.
McDonald and Pandich met in the opening No. 6 singles contest, resulting in an 8-0 win for the Lady Patriot freshman. Richmond’s Natalie Pattan also made her first appearance of the spring in the later match, losing 1-8 to Molly Walker.
Closing things out in the first No. 3 doubles pairing were Almon and sophomore Addison Massey, who fell to Henry and Kilpatrick 0-8. Almon and Pattan played the final match of the afternoon, which resulted in a 1-6 defeat to Henry and Walker.
Richmond (2-2 SAC) will return home on Wednesday for a doubleheader against rival Scotland High School. Action against the Lady Scots is set to get underway at 4 p.m.
