FAYETTEVILLE — The Richmond Senior High School girls’ tennis team lost a close conference matchup on the road Wednesday.
In another Mid-South Conference match that came down to being decided in doubles play, the Lady Raiders finished one win short of earning the team victory.
On the road at Overhills High School, Richmond suffered a 5-4 defeat.
The two teams split the six singles matches to enter doubles tied 3-3. The Lady Jaguars secured the win by taking two of the three doubles contests.
“This was a tough loss today,” head coach Jessica Covington said. “The top of our lineup played really well and we got wins there, which was good to see. But the bottom of our lineup, which has gotten several wins this season, wasn’t able to give us the edge. We were never really able to get into a rhythm as a team.
“I think we beat ourselves today,” she added. “This was a winnable match for us and we just didn’t do a few things right in doubles play. There is always a little added pressure when it comes down to those matches and today just wasn’t our day.”
Richmond’s top three singles players — No. 1 junior Colbie Covington, No. 2 senior Jentry Denson and No. 3 freshman Molly Covington — each won her singles contest, the first time that’s happened this season.
Playing the best of three sets, Colbie Covington defeated Melody Chung 6-0, 6-1. Denson was also dominant in her match against Victoria Finnie, taking the win 6-1, 6-1. Molly Covington’s match ended in 6-3, 1-6, 13-11 tiebreaker victory over Zoe Beere.
Two of Richmond’s three remaining singles matches also went to a tiebreaker. No. 4 sophomore Sydney Barnes lost her match 10-12 against Isabella Finnie, and No. 5 sophomore Erin Drumwright came up just short 6-10 to Tristan LaDelle.
The Lady Raiders’ other singles loss was in the No. 6 match, a 1-6, 2-6 defeat for junior Angelina Culbreth in her contest with Kira Smoyer.
Drumwright and Culbreth redeemed their singles losses with an 8-2 victory in the No. 3 doubles match against Isabelle Finnie and Smoyer.
The No. 1 duo Colbie Covington and Denson lost 4-8 to Chung and Victoria Finnie, and the No. 2 team of Molly Covington and Barnes came up short 3-8 against Beere and LaDelle.
The Lady Raiders (2-4, 1-2 MSC) will play a home-and-home series with Pinecrest High School next Monday (home) and Wednesday (away). Both matches will start at 4 p.m.
