FAYETTEVILLE – After the Richmond Senior High School girls tennis team did what head coach Mike Way called a “slip into the playoffs as a wild card,” the Lady Raiders were able to defeat Pine Forest overall 5-3 to move on to the second round of the North Carolina High School Athletic Assocation State playoffs late last week.
“It’s definitely good to get win, and it’s good experience for the girls, but the competition is going to get tougher from here,” said Way.
Richmond was able to win four out of the six singles matches against the Trojans with junior Jayana Nicholson defeating Shania Lane 2-6, 7-6, 10-8 in the No. 2 match. Senior Kathleen Pittman made quick work of Emily Haze 6-0, 6-2 in the No. 3 contest, and junior Greyson Way beat Kayla Schmidt 6-0, 7-5 in the No. 4 competition and senior No. 5 player Meredith Stogner bested Jazmin Leath 7-6, 2-6, 10-5.
Unfortunately, No. 1 player senior Destiny Buie was unable to beat her opponent, Kelcie Farmer, losing 6-0, 6-1, and junior Emily Parsons was also bested by her Trojan counterpart Annabella Fish 6-2 6-4 in singles competition.
In doubles action, Nicholson and Way were able to defeat Haze and Leath 8-0, which would be enough to move into the second round of the tournament.
“They usually play well together,” Way said of the juniors. “They’ve been in competition like this before so they kinda of know what to expect, but it’s good to get a win in doubles to take some pressure off of the singles matches.”Â
The Lady Raiders will be taking on Sanderson High School on the court in second round Monday. Richmond will move on from the Trojans to the Spartans of Sanderson, after they defeated the Rolesville High School Rams in the first round.
