FAYETTEVILLE — A three-match week ended in a third straight victory for the Richmond Senior High School girls’ tennis team Thursday.
Adding an exclamation mark to its season-long winning streak, the Lady Raiders completed the regular-season series sweep of Jack Britt High School.
Playing on the road, Richmond rolled to a 7-2 victory over the Lady Buccaneers. It was the same score of the Lady Raiders’ win over Hoke County High School Wednesday.
Richmond’s other win this week came on Tuesday at home, a 6-3 defeat of Overhills High School.
In singles action, the Lady Raiders won four of the six matches, including a pair of tiebreaker victories. Needing one of the three doubles matches for the team win, Richmond swept the board.
“We really needed to have a successful week and the girls accomplished that by winning again today,” head coach Jessica Covington said. “I’m so proud of the whole team. Each girl who played today gave it her best and we rallied in the tiebreakers to put ourselves in a position to win.
“This winning streak will definitely help us moving forward,” she added. “It’s good for the girls to gain more confidence, and it will also help us for the pre-regional tournament next week.”
Earning Richmond’s non-tiebreaker victories in singles were No. 1 junior Colbie Covington and No. 3 senior Jentry Denson.
Facing Maya Rojas and playing the best-of-three sets, Covington rolled to a 6-3, 6-2 win. Denson took care of business 6-2, 6-3 in her contest with Kalany Ramos.
No. 2 freshman Molly Covington and No. 6 junior Angelina Culbreth both outlasted their respective opponents in the tiebreaker.
Playing two sets, Molly Covington defeated Keilah Mendez 6-0 in the first game. With the second set tied 6-6, Covington earned the victory with a final score of 7-5.
Culbreth split her first two sets against Zoya Saqib before holding on for a 10-point tiebreak victory. She won the first set 6-1, lost the second 4-6 and answered with a 10-3 win in the extra set.
Falling short in singles action were No. 4 sophomore Sydney Barnes and No. 5 sophomore Erin Drumwright. Barnes lost a 7-10 tiebreaker to Saavni Arramreddy, while Drumwright was swept by Chimaka Ogbuoji.
Sticking with its usual doubles pairings, Richmond kept the momentum going to blank the Lady Buccaneers. The No. 1 duo of Colbie Covington and Denson won 8-5 over Rojas and Ramos.
In the No. 2 matchup, Molly Covington and Barnes defeated Mendez and Arramreddy 8-3, and the No. 3 pairing of Drumwright and Culbreth earned an 8-6 win against Catherine Orellana and Camille Brown.
The Lady Raiders (5-6, 4-4 MSC) will compete in a pre-regional tournament Monday at Davie County High School. Matches will start at 9:30 a.m.
