ROCKINGHAM — Facing its toughest competition yet this season, the Richmond Senior High School boys’ tennis team dropped its first decision Thursday, hours after the NCHSAA announced a statewide suspension of high school athletics.
The experience and level of play by the Pinecrest Patriots were too much for the Raiders to handle, as Richmond was swept 9-0.
The loss snapped the Raiders’ and head coach Patrick Hope’s two-match winning streak to start the season.
“We saw a different level of tennis play from the Patriots than our first two opponents,” Hope said of the Sandhills Athletic Conference match. “This is a learning experience that will make us a better team if the season were to continue.”
As reported earlier by ROSports, all interscholastic sports have been put on hold until April 6 at the earliest, per the state’s governing body. The threat of COVID-19 spreading has shut down several major universities and institutions in North Carolina and across the country.
Dropping all six of their singles matches, the Raiders’ best effort came from freshman Ty Murray. Playing against Aidan Lyons in the No. 5 match, Murray would be the only Richmond player to earn a set point, falling 8-1.
All five of Murray’s teammates would fall in straight sets, 8-0.
Junior Bradford Pittman lost to Marshall Landry in the No. 1 match, No. 2 junior Karym Ojeda dropped his contest to Charlie Hodges, Ethan Spain defeated Alex Yates in the No. 3 pairing, No. 4 Lee Hayden fell to Will Blackwood and Douglas McDonald was blanked by Ryan Grafenburg in the No. 6 match.
Richmond managed to collect a few more set points in the three doubles matches, with Ojeda and Yates picking up two points in an 8-2 loss against James Ellman and Noah Lyons.
Also picking up a point in an 8-1 decision were Pittman and Hayden against Landry and Will Bode in the No. 1 contest.
Participating in the No. 3 doubles for the Raiders were Murray and fellow freshman Matthew Burns, who came up short 8-0 against Garrett Kane and Matthew Goodman.
Following the current suspension, the next time the Raiders (2-1, 2-1 SAC) would be eligible to play on April 7 at home against Hoke County High School. ROSports will update any scheduling changes if they were to happen.
