ROCKINGHAM – Armed with a fairly balanced team of 17 total players – nine upperclassmen and eight underclassmen – first-time Raider tennis head coach Patrick Hope spent this past offseason getting to know his players.
He knew coming into the season there would be work to do, but simply wanted his players to get better as the season progressed, and improvement was what he saw from the Raiders as the year went on.
Richmond had an up-and-down season in Hope’s first year, but were able to get a few wins including sweeping Hoke County 9-0 in both contests and beating Purnell Swett High School 6-3 and 7-2 on the year. Even though Richmond lost 5-4 to Lumberton High School earlier in the season, Hope called it “the most complete match we’ve played all year.”
“I saw improvement in every player from Union Pines all the way to the conference tournament,” Hope said. “I started the year by telling the team if you come to practice and work hard, we will be in position to compete at the tournament.
“Our guys battled through a lot — unpredictable weather, academic responsibilities, work commitments and quality competition from the conference,” he added. “Somehow we found a way to have a doubles pair go to regionals and two players battle for the final singles regional bid.”
The quality competition in the Sandhills Athletic Conference Hope was referring to came in the form of Pinecrest, Scotland and Jack Britt high schools, who perennially top the conference, even though Jack Britt just joined this year.
As for regionals, the duo of Jimmy Cooley and Kevin Campos defeated a pair of Scots 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 to move onto the regional field at Cary Tennis Park in Cary, N.C., where they would eventually lose 6-0, 6-1 to Lumberton. In the consolation bracket with a trip to regionals on the line, Kristofer Spivey beat Nicholas Murphy from Scotland 1-6, 7-5, 6-2, but then was defeated by Lumberton, as well, 7-6, 2-6, 6-2 in a hard fought match.
From start to finish, in his first year as coach, Hope said his approach actually changed halfway through the season.
“Tennis is a game that requires mental toughness, so a lot of what I did between games is have kids focus on the current situation,” he said, acknowledging that he was learning, too. “Forget about the past, good or bad, and play the next point.
“Year one was basically just immersing myself with the game and learning as we go,” Hope concluded. “Next year, the team and I will be more prepared.”
