RAEFORD — Getting back in the win column on Thursday, the Richmond Raider tennis team completed the regular-season sweep of Hoke County High School.
Facing the Bucks for the second time this spring, the Raiders rolled to a 8-1 victory. In the teams’ first meeting on March 7, Richmond picked up a shutout win.
Taking five of the six matches in singles play in the Sandhills Athletic Conference match, the Raiders played the best-of-three sets.
With the win secured entering doubles action, Richmond swept the three matches for good measure.
“It was great to get back in the win column today after losing our last two matches,” head coach Jessica Covington said. “The boys were aggressive at the net and used their experience from the first match to play really well.”
No. 4 sophomore Jordan Jacobs was the lone Raider to shut out his opponent, cruising to a 6-0, 6-0 win over Iber De La Cruz.
No. 1 senior Ty Murray and No. 6 junior Will Whitley both won their singles matches by big scores.
Murray went 6-3, 6-1 over John Tolentino-Perez, while Whitley defeated Abbi Khantivong 6-2, 6-2.
In the No. 3 singles match, senior Ethan McDonald notched a 6-2, 7-5 win over Armando Zuniga. Capping the singles wins was No. 2 senior Matthew Burns, who outlasted Juan Pena in a tiebreaker 5-7, 6-0 and 10-6.
Hoke County’s victory was courtesy of No. 5 Angel Guzman, who defeated junior Brent Humann 6-4, 4-6 and 10-4 in the tiebreaker.
Using the same doubles pairings they have all season, the Raiders made quick work of the Bucks on Thursday.
No. 1 Murray and Burns won 8-3 over Tolentino-Perez and Zuniga, No. 2 McDonald and Jacobs defeated Pena and De La Cruz 8-5 and Humann and Whitley added an 8-6 win over Guzman and Khantivong in the No. 3 match.
Richmond (5-2, 5-2 SAC) will travel to Union Pines High School on Tuesday and try to sweep the Vikings. Singles matches will start at 4 p.m.
