ROCKINGHAM — Tuesday’s tennis match was even through the first six matches, which were all played in doubles.
The Richmond Senior High School girls’ tennis team won their last match of the normal season after being off the court for two weeks.
When foe Scotland High School came to town, the Lady Raiders won 5–4, evening their record for the season.
Each team won three singles matches, so the two teams split the wins. Richmond’s easy win in two of the three pairs matches sealed the deal.
Head coach Jessica Covington said, “It was great to play again.” “At first, there was some rust, but the girls got right into it and really picked up some good wins.”
“Every time Amy and I play our rival, we want to win,” she said. “The singles match was tough, but our girls played great in the doubles.” I’m proud of how hard they worked and glad we were able to finish the first round of conferences with a tie.
The Lady Raiders won all three singles matches thanks to seniors Hanna Smith, Madison Grimes, and Ava Thompson.
Smith beat Maleah Locklear quickly in the No. 1 match. She beat the top seed in Scotland 8–2.
It was the same for Thompson in the No. 6 singles match, which she won 8–2. Grimes easily beat Rhea Truesdell 8–3 in the No. 3 category as well.
In their singles matches, No. 2 junior Jentry Denson, No. 4 sophomore Colbie Covington, and No. 5 senior Kenleigh Parker all won less than they should have.
During doubles play, Covington changed the order of the players by moving Denson and Covington between the top two pairs.
Williams and Locklear lost 8-1 to Smith and Covington in the No. 1 doubles match, which was Richmond’s biggest win of the afternoon.
Not quite as good was the No. 2 team of Denson and Grimes, who beat Truesdell and Lillie Rankin 8–2.
Parker and Thompson’s two-point loss didn’t change Richmond’s outcome because they already had those two matches won.
Covington said, “I switched up our top two doubles teams, and it looked like everyone did fine with it.” “The title came down to the three doubles matches. Winning two of them with a new team is good for us going forward.”
Richmond has another home game on Thursday, when it plays Southern Lee High School to start the second round of regular season conference play. The score is 1–2, 2-2 SAC. The first singles match is at 4 p.m.