LUMBERTON — Concluding its best week of the 2019 season, the Lady Raider tennis team quadrupled its total number of wins with its third-straight victory on Thursday.
Playing its third Sandhills Athletic Conference match in as many days, and its second-straight contest against Lumberton High School, Richmond and head coach Neely Herndon rolled past the Lady Pirates in 6-3 fashion.
The three wins this week made it the first time since Oct. 2 through Oct. 8, 2018, the Lady Raiders had put together that many wins in a row. Richmond defeated SAC opponent Hoke County High School 5-4 on Tuesday, before sweeping the Lady Pirates in back-to-back days.
Thursday’s score was one individual match score closer than Wednesday’s win, seeing four Lady Raiders win a singles match. In the first meeting between the two teams, Richmond swept the singles competition 6-0.
Two Lady Raiders’ doubles teams earned the final two wins of the day, icing the victory to send Richmond into its final week of regular season play with a closer overall record.
Winning their respective singles matches were No. 2 sophomore O’cean Bennett, No. 3 junior Kaylee Parker, No. 5 sophomore Elizabeth Henry and No. 6 sophomore Ellie Buck. It was Parker, Henry and Buck’s third-straight singles win, a career high for all three.
Bennett faced Jessica Sessoms, a different opponent than on Wednesday, and defeated the Lady Pirate 8-3. Parker followed with a win over another fresh face, Paige Leggett, earning an 8-1 win.
Henry and Buck would also face a different opponent Thursday, competing against Gracie Britt and Grace Stone, respectively. Henry held on to defeat Britt 8-5, and Buck notched an 8-3 win over Stone. The pair of Lady Raiders each won her team-leading fourth singles match of the year.
Dropping their singles matches were No. 1 junior Kearston Bruce (7-9 loss to Brittney Collins) and No. 4 sophomore Paris Almon (5-8 loss to Elizabeth McDonald).
The top six Lady Raiders would all compete in the doubles contest, seeing Bruce and Bennett come up short, 3-8, against Collins and Sessoms in the No. 1 match.
Parker and Buck teamed up to take down McDonald and Britt 8-4 in the No. 2 pairing, and No. 3 Almon and Henry closed with an 8-2 victory over Stone and Nellie Jackson.
Richmond (4-7, 4-6 SAC) will close regular-season play next week with two matches. The Lady Raiders will head to Hoke County (3-5, 3-5 SAC) on Monday before hosting Scotland High School (4-7, 4-6 SAC) on Thursday. Singles matches will begin at 4 p.m. both days.
