ROCKINGHAM — The Richmond Senior High School boys’ tennis and girls’ soccer teams opened their respective seasons on Tuesday, but both suffered a loss.
Raider tennis comes up short against Cavaliers
Hosting Sandhills Athletic Conference opponent Southern Lee High School, the Richmond boys’ tennis team fell to the Cavaliers 6-3.
The Raiders collected two wins in singles competition, before adding another in doubles.
Head coach Jessica Covington said, “the guys played really well, but their nerves got the better of them” in the first match of the season.
Junior Ethan McDonald and freshman Jordan Jacobs accounted for the two singles victories.
No. 3 McDonald erased a 2-7 deficit to defeat Dalton Shields in a tiebreaker. After roaring back to tie the match at eight points, McDonald took care of business with a 7-2 win in the tiebreaker set.
Jacobs made his high school debut in the No. 4 singles contest and held off Nico Ruiz 8-6.
McDonald and Jacobs teamed up to also earn the Raiders’ lone doubles win, defeating Shields and Ruiz by a final score of 8-6 in the No. 2 match.
Juniors Matthew Burns and Ty Murray almost won their No. 1 doubles match, but lost 5-7 in a tiebreaker.
The Raiders (0-1) will continue SAC play with a home match against Pinecrest High School on Thursday. Singles action will get underway at 4 p.m.
Freshman Jordan Jacobs prepares to return a shot in his singles win on Tuesday. (Kyle Pillar/The Richmond Observer)
Lady Raider soccer shut out by Pine Forest
The only team to play on the road Tuesday, the Richmond girls’ soccer team fell to non-conference foe Pine Forest High School 3-0.
Richmond tallied five shots in the loss, while allowing eight shots by the Lady Trojans. Pine Forest scored one goal in the opening 40 minutes, before adding two goals in the second half.
“We didn’t play too badly, and we had some chances,” head coach Chris Larsen said. “Allie Rodgers hit the outside of the post in the first half, and we had a bouncing ball in the box off a corner that we just could put in the back of the net.
“For our first game of the season, a lot of girls got to play a lot of minutes. I think it went well and we saw some things we can work on to get ready for our other two matches this week.”
Freshman goalkeeper Quanna Bostic played 60 minutes and allowed two goals, and junior net minder Chloe Nunn played the final 20 minutes and gave up one score.
Scoring for Pine Forest were Holly Harwick, Aavry Gutierrez and Arriana Pizarro-Gonzalez.
The Lady Raiders (0-1) will continue their three-match week on Thursday with an away match at non-conference Purnell Swett High School. Varsity play will start at 6 p.m.
The Richmond Observer will provide more extensive coverage of spring sports in the coming weeks.
