ROCKINGHAM — Playing on its home court for the first time this season, the Richmond Senior High School boys’ tennis team didn’t disappoint with a sweep of Jack Britt High School in a doubleheader.
The Raiders won both matches by final scores of 5-4, edging the Buccaneers, a program that won the Sandhills Athletic Conference title two years ago.
In each match, Richmond used three singles wins and two doubles wins to earn their first two match victories of the spring.
“The boys played really well overall, and a lot of them came through in clutch situations to get both wins,” head coach Jessica Covington said. “Being able to win three singles matches and two doubles matches both times really helped.
“We were on a more even level today where we could compete,” she added. “All the guys did better moving on court and came up to make better plays. We still need to get better with our net game, but we’re learning and that’s most important.”
The bottom half of the lineup would account for all six of Richmond’s singles victories, which were played as eight-game pro sets, which requires a player to win eight games with a minimum advantage of two games to be determined the winner.
No. 4 senior Noah Aiken returns a ball for a point during a singles match on Tuesday.
No. 4 senior Noah Aiken, No. 5 sophomore Ethan McDonald and No. 6 senior Alex Yates would each earn two singles wins against the same opponent.
For Aiken and McDonald, it was their first career wins, while Yates now leads the team with three wins this season after taking one of two matches against Pinecrest High School last week.
In the team’s first match, Aiken took an early lead and held off a surging Jakob Byrd in the last few sets, earning his first win of the season 8-4. The No. 5 pairing saw McDonald outlast Aiden Buckner 8-2, and Yates blanked Weston Hollingsworth 8-0 to knot the match at three heading into doubles.
No. 5 sophomore Ethan McDonald earned his first two career wins against Jack Britt.
The trio of Raiders mirrored their efforts in the second match, starting with Aiken’s 8-6 comeback victory over Byrd. Trailing 5-8, Aiken rallied to win the last three points.
McDonald bettered his score with an 8-1 win against Buckner and Yates defeated Hollingsworth 8-2.
No. 1 senior Bradford Pittman, No. 2 sophomore Ty Murray and No. 3 sophomore Matthew Burns would contend for singles match wins, but weren’t successful.
Pittman faced Shea Oliver and fell 2-8, 2-8; Murray nearly defeated Alexander Posener 5-8, 5-8; and Burns dropped match scores of 4-8, 1-8 against Braden Hug.
When the Raiders headed into their doubles matches both times, they had to win two of the three in order to get the overall match win. Using the No. 2 pairing of Burns and Murray, and the No. 3 grouping of McDonald and Yates, the Raiders closed the door on the Buccaneers.
McDonald and Yates made quick work against Buckner and Hollingsworth in the first match, defeating the two Buccaneers 8-0. Burns and Murray worked together to clinch the win with an 8-4 victory over Byrd and Hug.
The second round of doubles ended with 8-0 win for Burns and Murray, and an 8-1 victory for McDonald and Yates. Aiken and Pittman fell 0-8, 0-8 in both of their doubles matches to Oliver and Posener.
No. 6 senior Alex Yates watches as his shot lands in bounds during his first singles match.
“It was a good set of wins today, especially to come back after losing to Pinecrest,” Yates said. “The doubles matches are what brought us together — we worked well together and everybody did their part to earn the win.
“It’s only up for here,” he added. “Jack Britt is one of the better teams we’re going to face in the conference, so to get two wins against them gives us pretty good confidence moving forward.”
Covington closed by saying the Raiders “have a lot of potential” on their roster, and that with each experience of playing two matches, she anticipates Richmond becoming more successful.
The Raiders (2-2 SAC) will return to the court after spring break with a doubleheader at home against Hoke County High School on Tuesday, April 13.
