SANFORD — Returning to the court for the first time in a week, the Richmond Raider tennis team collected another win to start the season.
Playing its second full match of the spring on the road at Lee County High School, Richmond earned a convincing 8-1 win over the Yellow Jackets.
The Raiders won five of the six singles matches to ice the victory heading into doubles play, and added three more wins for good measure.
“The guys did great today, especially after such a long time between matches,” head coach Jessica Covington said. “We are at the point where we want to be playing consistently to help our game get better.
“I’m proud of the boys and the way they came out aggressive today,” she added. “There have been improvements made already, especially with attacking the net and being quicker on their feet.”
Earning singles victories were the Raiders’ No. 2 through No. 6 players. No. 3 junior Ethan McDonald and No. 4 sophomore Jordan Jacobs each earned an 8-0 shutout, defeating Connor Bush and Nathan Jones, respectively.
The three other singles wins were 8-1 victories for No. 2 senior Matthew Burns, No. 5 junior Brent Humann and No. 6 junior Will Whitley.
Burns cruised past Jack Stamford, Humann defeated Joshua Cha and Whitley capped the singles domination with a win over Ayden Rhoney.
No. 1 senior Ty Murray battled against Jacob Womble, but came up short 3-8 in the top-seed match.
Covington went with her same doubles pairings from last week’s win over Hoke County — No. 1 Murray and Burns, No. 2 McDonald and Jacobs and No. 3 Humann and Whitley.
McDonald and Jacobs made the quickest work against their opponents, Bush and Rhoney, in 8-1 fashion. Humann and Whitley earned an efficient 8-2 victory over Cha and Jones.
In the No. 1 match, Murray and Burns edged Womble and Stamford for an 8-6 win.
The Raiders (3-0, 3-0 SAC) will return home on Wednesday and make up last week’s postponement with Union Pines High School. Singles action will begin at 4 p.m.
Lady Raider soccer earns forfeit win
The Richmond Senior High School girls’ soccer team was supposed to open Sandhills Athletic Conference play on Tuesday against Southern Lee High School.
Head coach Chris Larsen confirmed Tuesday afternoon that the game had been forfeited by the Lady Cavaliers due to an insufficient number of players available.
With the forfeit, Richmond improved to 6-0-1 overall and 1-0 in the SAC standings.
The Lady Raiders will travel to non-conference Whiteville High School (1-3-1) on Thursday and start play at 6:30 p.m.
