ROCKINGHAM – The Lady Raider tennis team continued its winning ways on Thursday when it took on the Lady Pirates of Lumberton High School and shut them out 7-0 to up their winning streak to seven in a row.
All six singles players put Ws on the board starting with No. 1 player Jayana Nicholson’s victory over Morgan Miller 8-4. Unfortunately for Lumberton, that would be as close as it would get to winning a match. Continuing singles coverage, No. 2 Greyson Way defeated Anna Russ 8-1, followed by No. 3 Emily Parsons winning 8-2 over Brittany Collins.Â
In the No. 4 singles match, Chloe Wiggins blanked her Pirate counterpart Makleigh Wynn 8-0, and the same happened in the No. 5 and No. 6 matches, respectively, with Taylor Parrish and Emily Buie beating Mackenzie Cody and Madison Graham to complete the singles shutout.
This is the second time Richmond has defeated Lumberton, and although head coach Mike Way can’t put his finger on why, he knows his team has had the Pirates’ number all season long.
“It just seems we have played well against them for some reason,” he said Thursday.
Due to lightning, the No. 1 and 2 doubles matches never took place, although the team of Parrish and Morgan Hooks took care of business in the No. 3 match, beating Beth McDonald and Paige Leggett 8-1 to end the day and bring Richmond’s match win total to seven.
Looking forward, the Raiders were slated to face Pinecrest High School at 10 a.m. on Saturday, but RSHS Athletic Director Ricky Young said Thursday that officials from Pinecrest called and said they couldn’t play that day and would try to reschedule. A reason why wasn’t given.
That puts Jack Britt High School in the Lady Raiders’ crosshairs as they’ll try to extend their winning streak to eight, but Way said it’s going to be easier said than done.
“It’s going to be a tough one either way,” the coach said whether they play Jack Britt or Pinecrest first. “Jack Britt was missing their No. 1 last time we played them, so it will be a much more competitive match this time around. We need to be the more aggressive team.”
That’s a phrase that Way has used throughout the season, as well as saying that his team needs to practice “forcing the action.”
When asked what exactly that means, he said, “Trying to win points instead of just keeping it in play and waiting on your opponent to make a mistake. We have been working a lot on trying to set up points — trying to move your opponents around the court and take advantage of openings.
“We took our lumps in the beginning of the year because we were playing not to lose instead of playing to win.”
As of publication, the Pinecrest matchup that was set against Pinecrest has been postponed with no make-up date provided. The Lady Raiders will next take the court at 4 p.m. on Monday to take on the Lady Bucs of Jack Britt in a game that’s being made up from Sept. 20 due to Hurricane Florence.Â
Depending on whether the Patriots game is made up, Richmond (7-3, 6-1 SAC) will finish out the regular season with matchups next Tuesday at home against Seventy-First High School and Thursday away at Scotland High School. Both competitions are set for 4 p.m. start times.
