SANFORD — A hot start to the season continued Wednesday for the Richmond Raider tennis team, which remained undefeated.
Hosting Union Pines High School in a make-up match from last week, the Raiders notched their second win in as many days.
Thanks to a strong showing in doubles play, the Raiders broke a singles tie and defeated the Vikings 6-3.
“This was our first real challenge of the season, and the boys really responded,” head coach Jessica Covington said. “Everyone played hard and we knew we had to win at least two of the three doubles matches to get the win.
“All three groups went in and earned close doubles victories,” she added. “The boys were aggressive and made smart plays to get the win. Remaining undefeated is great for our team’s confidence, especially after beating a quality team like Union Pines.”
Richmond split the six singles matches with the Vikings, using victories from senior Ethan McDonald, sophomore Jordan Jacobs and junior Will Whitley.
In the No. 6 match, Whitley wasted little time in defeating Jackson Baker 8-0, the team’s only shutout win of the day.
McDonald also made quick work in the No. 3 singles competition, beating Joey Tortora 8-1. Jacobs rounded out the early wins with an 8-4 win against Cam Deibel.
No. 5 junior Brent Humann nearly gave Richmond a one-point advantage heading into doubles, but he lost his match with Micah Wortham 5-7 in the tiebreaker.
Seniors Ty Murray and Matthew Burns suffered close losses on the upper courts in the No. 1 and No. 2 singles matches, respectively. Murray lost 6-8 to Aaron Scodius and Burns fell 4-8 to Jackson Carmichael.
Doubles play belonged to Richmond, which swept the table to add three additional wins.
No. 1 Murray and Burns regrouped and earned the largest margin of victory in the doubles matches, handing Scodius and Deibel an 8-4 loss.
Teaming up in the No. 3 pairing, Humann and Whitley secured the match win with an 8-5 victory against Tortora and Wortham. Adding an insurance win in the No. 2 doubles match were McDonald and Jacobs, 8-6 winners over Carmichael and Baker.
Richmond (4-0, 4-0 SAC) will return to play on March 21 at home against Scotland High School, starting at 4 p.m.
