SPRING LAKE — Deciding Tuesday’s tennis match was doubles play, which the Richmond Senior High School boys’ tennis team was able to take for a victory.
Snapping a three-match skid, the Raiders returned to the win column on the road against Overhills High School in a Mid-South Conference contest.
After splitting the six singles matches, Richmond won two of the three doubles matches to earn a 5-4 match victory.
“It feels great to see the guys rewarded with a team win,” head coach Jessica Covington said. “They have been working so hard and getting better each match, and when it came down to it today, they played with a lot of grit to get the win.
“We have mostly new players to the sport and today’s win was a really big confidence booster for us,” she added. “I’ve told the guys that it will all come together, and hopefully today gets us going in the right direction.”
Richmond’s three singles wins came courtesy of No. 3 junior Ben Lutz, No. 5 freshman Brian Dominguez and No. 6 senior DJ Gainey.
Earning his second singles win of the season, Lutz won a tiebreaker over Aaron Hamacher by a final score of 6-6, 7-4 and 6-1.
Dominguez won his team-leading third singles match of the spring, a 6-1, 6-2 decision over Joseph Ruggiero. Notching his first career victory, Gainey defeated Korben Schillig by set scores of 7-5 and 6-2.
Falling in their singles matches were No. 1 junior Brian Griffith (4-6, 0-6), No. 2 junior Cole Lambeth (2-6, 1-6) and No. 4 junior Ashton Mabe (3-6, 2-6).
Coming through for the Raiders in doubles play were the No. 1 tandem of Griffith and Mabe, as well as the No. 3 pairing of Lutz and Dominguez.
In the top-seeded match, Griffith and Mabe earned an 8-6 win over Wolf Chung and Hamacher. Rolling to a larger margin of victory over Ruggiero and Schillig, Lutz and Dominguez cruised to an 8-3 win.
Facing a tough pairing of Garret Domzalski and Sean Lackey in the No. 2 contest, Lambeth and Gainey came up short 1-8.
The Raiders (2-3, 1-2 MSC) have off until Monday when they host Pinecrest High School. Beginning at 4 p.m. will be the six singles matches, followed by doubles play.
