ROCKINGHAM — The Raider tennis team rounded out its first cycle of Sandhills Athletic Conference play Tuesday, hosting Scotland High School.
What Richmond faced was an experienced Fighting Scots team that handed the Raiders an 8-1 loss on their home court. It was Richmond’s second-straight SAC loss, and the Raiders’ overall record moved to 2-6 with a 2-4 tally against SAC opponents.
“We ran into a talented and experienced Scotland lineup,” head coach Patrick Hope said. “Caleb (Brewer) and Mason (Bailey) had solid singles matches, then put it together to get us our lone point in No. 2 doubles.”
Brewer and Bailey, Richmond’s No. 3 and No. 4 seeds, teamed up to defeat Drew Monroe and Nick Murphy in the No. 2 doubles match. The Raider duo held on to win 9-7.
The other two doubles matches, as well as the six singles matches, all went in favor of the Fighting Scots. Scotland’s No. 1 Nate Dubbs and No. 2 Hunter Edkins also serve as the No. 1 doubles team, and were the second-place finishers in the conference last season.
In singles play, Dubbs defeated Richmond’s No. 1 senior Kevin Campos 6-3, 6-1. Edkins held on to defeat No. 2 Bradford Pittman 6-3, 6-2.
Brewer fell to Monroe in a tie break, losing the first set 5-7, before battling back to take the second 7-6. He lost the tiebreaker 7-2. Bailey’s match against Murphy ended with the Fight Scot winning 6-3, 7-5.
Rounding out the singles matches were No. 5 sophomore Karym Ojeda and No. 6 senior Adam Morrison. Ojeda lost to Drew Hamilton, and Morrison dropped his match to Nick Eury, with both matches going 6-0, 6-0.
Hope added that “the score doesn’t always show the immeasurables” that his players are improving on during each contest.
Campos and Pittman lost to Dubbs and Edkins 8-2 in the No. 1 doubles match, while Ojeda and Morrison fell to Daniel Caudill and Bryce Cooper 8-4 in No. 3 doubles.
“There’s no time to dwell on it with two more matches this week with Purnell Swett and Pinecrest (high schools),” Hope concluded.
The Raider tennis team will be back in action on Wednesday at home against the Purnell Swett Rams, a team it beat 5-4 earlier in the season. Matches are set to begin at 4 p.m.
