Tough home match ends in loss against Pinecrest

ROCKINGHAM — Facing another tough conference opponent Tuesday, the Richmond Senior High School girls’ tennis team suffered a loss.

Continuing their second round of Sandhills Athletic Conference regular-season play, the Lady Raiders fell 8-1 to Pinecrest High School.

Richmond’s lone victory came in the No. 1 doubles match, which was played by senior Hanna Smith and sophomore Colbie Covington.

“Today didn’t go the way we wanted it to,” head coach Jessica Covington said. “Pinecrest is always a tough opponent and we have to be on our A game if we want to beat them. We didn’t have that today.

“Still, the girls persisted and gave it everything they had,” she added. “We will take this loss and learn from it. I’m proud of the way the girls have shown progress this season even when we aren’t on the positive end of the scoreboard.”

In their No. 1 doubles match, Smith and Covington finished in an 8-8 tie. In the tiebreaker, the two Lady Raiders notched a 9-7 victory.

The win marked the second time this season that Richmond won its doubles match against Pinecrest.

Smith and No. 3 senior Madison Grimes each made a run in their respective singles matches, but lost to Livia Pratt and Dylon McRae by matching scores of 8-4.

Covington managed to win two games in her No. 4 singles match against Pearl Hage, but ultimately fell 8-2.

Suffering shutout losses were No. 2 junior Jentry Denson, No. 5 senior Kenleigh Parker and No. 6 senior Ava Thompson.

No. 2 Denson and Grimes were defeated 8-3 in doubles play and Parker and Thompson came up short 8-0 in their No. 3 doubles match.

The Lady Raiders (2-4, 2-4 SAC) will play another home match Wednesday against Union Pines High School. The start time for singles is 4 p.m.