ROCKINGHAM — In action for the third straight afternoon, the Raider tennis team dropped its second match of the week Thursday to visiting Pinecrest High School.
A day after edging Purnell Swett High School, the Raiders fell to the Sandhills Athletic Conference second-place Patriots 8-1. Earlier this month, Pinecrest blaned the Raiders 9-0.
Getting the lone win for the Raiders was the No. 3 doubles team of Karym Ojeda and Adam Morrison. Defeating Rashon Hyslop and Omar Morrison 8-3, it marked their second-straight match of winning in that slot.
Despite losing his singles match, No. 1 senior Kevin Campos put on an impressive performance against Charles Hodges. Campos played the top-seeded match to a tiebreaker after splitting the first two sets 7-6, 1-6. Hodges came back to win 10-3 in the extra set.
“Kevin had a very intense match with Hodges,” head coach Patrick Hope said. “Being able to take the first set, and with conference coming up, it helped him realize that he can play with anyone in the conference.
“Karym and Adam were able to win their second match in a row this week to get us our only point,” he added.
In the No. 2 singles match, sophomore Bradford Pittman fell to Will Bode 0-6, 1-6, while senior Caleb Brewer dropped his No. 3 contest with Will Blackwood 0-6, 1-6.
No. 4 senior Mason Bailey battled against Pinecrest’s Ethan Spain, and ended the day with set losses of 1-6, 1-6. Ojeda and Morrison competed in the No. 5 and No. 6 matches, losing to Willie Larose and and James Ellman 2-6, 3-6 and 0-6, 0-6, respectively.
Campos and Pittman squared off against Hodges and Bode in the No. 1 doubles match, but weren’t able to get their second straight win, falling 2-8. In Wednesday’s match, the top duo’s win clinched the victory over the Rams.
Brewer and Mason faced new opponents in the No. 2 doubles match, challenging Garret Kane and Ryan Grafenberg. The Patriot tandem also won 8-2.
The Raiders (3-7, 3-5 SAC) will be back in action next week with three more conference matches. They’ll start on Tuesday at SAC-leader Jack Britt High School at 4 p.m.
