ROCKINGHAM - In the first installment of the ROSports department’s Top 10 Sports Stories from the 2017-2018 school year, the No. 10 moment comes courtesy of the Lady Raiders tennis team.
In his first season at the helm of the Lady Raiders, head coach Mike Way made it no secret what the state of the program was when he took over. He was quoted several times throughout the season saying that he went out and got “several athletes” to compete, many of them with little or no true tennis experience.
And perhaps with a sport like tennis, that ideology can work. And for Way and his team, they managed to not only have a successful season on the court, but this year’s group of Lady Raiders earned Richmond girls tennis’ first ever postseason victory.
That victory over Pine Forest High School in the opening round of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association’s 4A state playoffs in late October was good enough to edge out several honorable mentions for the No. 10 moment from this school year. The honorable mentions will be highlighted in a separate article after all top 10 moments have been revealed.
Comprised of several multi-sport athletes, the Lady Raiders leaned heavily on the like of seniors Kathleen Pittman and Meredith Stogner, as well as juniors Jayana Nicholson and Greyson Way during the first-round bout against the Lady Trojans.
While Richmond would be eliminated in the second round by Sanderson High School a couple of days later, its performance during the fall 2017 campaign was nonetheless impressive.
Below is the original match story, written by sports contributor Matt Harrelson on Oct. 23, 2017:
FAYETTEVILLE - After the Richmond Senior High School girls tennis team did what head coach Mike Way called a "slip into the playoffs as a wild card," the Lady Raiders were able to defeat Pine Forest overall 5-3 to move on to the second round of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association State playoffs late last week.
It was the Lady Raiders’ first postseason win in program history.
"It's definitely good to get win, and it's good experience for the girls, but the competition is going to get tougher from here," said Way.
Richmond was able to win four out of the six singles matches against the Trojans with junior Jayana Nicholson defeating Shania Lane 2-6, 7-6, 10-8 in the No. 2 match. Senior Kathleen Pittman made quick work of Emily Haze 6-0, 6-2 in the No. 3 contest, and junior Greyson Way beat Kayla Schmidt 6-0, 7-5 in the No. 4 competition and senior No. 5 player Meredith Stogner bested Jazmin Leath 7-6, 2-6, 10-5.
Unfortunately, No. 1 player senior Destiny Buie was unable to beat her opponent, Kelcie Farmer, losing 6-0, 6-1, and junior Emily Parsons was also bested by her Trojan counterpart Annabella Fish 6-2 6-4 in singles competition.
In doubles action, Nicholson and Way were able to defeat Haze and Leath 8-0, which would be enough to move into the second round of the tournament.
"They usually play well together," Way said of the juniors. "They've been in competition like this before so they kinda of know what to expect, but it's good to get a win in doubles to take some pressure off of the singles matches."
The Lady Raiders will be taking on Sanderson High School on the court in second round Monday. Richmond will move on from the Trojans to the Spartans of Sanderson, after they defeated the Rolesville High School Rams in the first round.
Sports editor note: The No. 9 top sports story from this past school year will be released in Wednesday’s edition.
