PEMBROKE — Two losses in the last week to tough competition paid off for the Richmond Senior High School boys’ tennis team Tuesday.
The Raiders traveled to Purnell Swett High School and opened their 2019 Sandhills Athletic Conference schedule with a 5-4 win over the Rams. The match came down to the final doubles pairing of the afternoon, with No. 3 players Karym Ojeda and Alex Yates securing the win.
Second-year head coach Patrick Hope noted he’s seen improvement from his team through the first three matches, and Richmond’s win put them in the win column after being swept by Union Pines High School twice.
He also added that playing a tough Union Pines team had made his players build consistency heading into Tuesday’s match.
“Our guys played hard despite the dropping temperatures,” Hope said following the match. “We were either able to build and maintain leads or battle back to force tiebreakers in singles.
“The match came down to our No. 3 doubles with Karym and Alex,” he explained. “They got their serves in and played with patience to get the match point for us. I’m happy to start conference play with a win.”
Prior to the doubles competition, three Raiders won their first singles matches of the year. No. 1 player Kevin Campos, a senior, knocked off Jaron Cummings 6-1, 6-2, with No. 2 Bradford Pittman (sophomore) holding off Ben Brooks 6-2, 6-2.
The other Raider to win his singles match was No. 4 Mason Bailey, who defeated Josiah Brooks 7-5, 6-2. It marked Bailey’s first career singles match victory.
Falling to their respective Rams opponents were No. 3 Caleb Brewer, No. 5 Ojeda and No. 6 Yates. Brewer and Yates both lost in tiebreaker sets, first with Brewer falling to Pacey Brooks 4-6, 6-2 and 11-13. Yates was also close to his win of the year, dropping his match to C.J. Locklear 6-3, 3-6 and 9-11.
Ojeda was bested by Erik Brooks 3-6, 5-7 in his singles match.
Splitting the six singles matches, Richmond and Purnell Swett also split the first two doubles matches. Brewer and Bailey teamed up to defeat Ben and Josiah Brooks 8-5 in the No. 2 match, while Cummings and Pacey Brooks held off No. 1 Campos and Pittman 8-6.
Richmond (1-2) will head to Pinecrest High School (0-2) on Thursday to continue SAC play. The Patriots won the regular season conference title in 2018 with a 12-0 record.
