ROCKINGHAM – Despite the Raiders losing 8-1 against Sandhills Athletic Conference foe Scotland County Thursday, the main focus on the evening was Richmond’s seniors.
Family, friends and teammates celebrated the careers of seniors Jimmy Cooley, Kristofer Spivey, Jose Jaramillo, Ben Morrison and Victor Lucero.
As for Thursday’s singles matches, No. 6 player Bradford Pittman picked up Richmond’s lone win, defeating his Scot opponent 6-2, 6-4.Â
Head coach Pat Hope said Thursday night that Richmond had some interesting matches on courts two, four and five. These saw No. 2 player Cooley in a marathon match, winning the first set 6-3, going into a tiebreak for the second set losing 5-7 and then 3-10 for the match.
No. 4 Spivey had a battle on his hands, as well, eventually falling 3-6, 6-1, 4-10, and No. 5 Jaramillo’s match went three sets. The senior won the first set 7-5 before falling behind 1-6 and 4-10 to lose to his Scotland counterpart.
“The wind really affected our shots all day,” Hope said, “and it took a while for us to adjust.”
Doubles action saw the No. 1 team of twins Austin and Miles Harrington lose 5-2 to Scotland High School’s No. 1 and No. 2 players. Cooley and Kevin Campos lost in the No. 2 match 8-4, followed by Mason Bailey and Caleb Brewer falling 7-2 to make the overall score 8-1 for the afternoon.
This was Richmond’s final regular season match, and the team will now put its focus solely on the upcoming SAC tournament, set to start on Monday. However, Hope said that rain is in the forecast for the first part of next week, so there’s a chance the tourney will be delayed until next Thursday.
No matter when it starts, Hope explained that Richmond will only play six players in the tournament.
“There are two pairs of doubles teams and two play singles,” the coach said. “Seeding occurs on the first day. The top five singles players and doubles teams advance to regionals. Pinecrest and Scotland (high schools) will play in the Dual Team Playoffs.”
With their next matches becoming win or go home, Hope talked about what his team needs to do to prepare for the SAC tournament.
“We need to minimize errors and stay consistent on volleys until we find an opening for a point,” Hope concluded. “We’ll give it everything we’ve got whenever we get to play.”
