ROCKINGHAM — Wednesday’s Mid-South Conference girls’ tennis match was decided during doubles play.
Two days after suffering a loss in its MSC opener, the Richmond Senior High School girls’ tennis team got back in the win column.
Hosting Jack Britt High School, the Lady Raiders earned a 5-4 victory.
Trailing by two matches after singles play, Richmond rallied to sweep all three doubles matches to earn its first conference victory of the season.
“This was a much better performance for our team today,” head coach Jessica Covington said. “We played another quality opponent and the girls dug in when it mattered and were able to overcome a deficit during doubles.
“I’m proud of all the girls,” she added. “We are a young team and we’re working through the growing pains. Today proved that we can be competitive and win matches, especially when our effort is there the whole time.”
Responsible for winning the Lady Raiders’ two singles contests were No. 3 freshman Molly Covington and No. 4 sophomore Sydney Barnes.
Playing the best of three sets, Molly Covington cruised to a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Keilah Mendez.
Barnes survived a tiebreaker against her opponent Kalaney Ramos, taking the match 6-6, 7-4.
Dropping their respective singles matches were No. 1 senior Colbie Covington (1-6, 0-6), No. 2 senior Jentry Denson (1-6, 5-7), No. 5 junior Angelina Culbreth (3-6, 4-6) and No. 6 sophomore Erin Drumwright (4-6, 2-6).
Trailing 4-2, Richmond needed to win all three doubles matches to get the win — which it did in fairly easy fashion.
Recording the team’s largest margin of victory was the No. 3 duo of Culbreth and Drumwright, who defeated Saavni Arramreddy and Chimaka Ogbuoji 8-2.
The No. 1 team of Colbie Covington and Denson handed Mira Rajababoo and Maya Rojas an 8-3 defeat, and Molly Covington and Barnes defeated Mendez and Ramos 8-6 in the No. 3 contest.
The Lady Raiders (2-4, 1-1 MSC) have off until next Wednesday when they travel to Overhills High School. Singles matches for the conference contest will begin at 4 p.m.
