Raiders come up one win short against Union Pines

ROCKINGHAM — Trying to go a perfect 3-for-3 in as many days this week, the Richmond Senior High School boys tennis team nearly got the job done.

On the heels of back-to-back shutouts against Sandhills Athletic Conference opponents, the Raiders weren’t able to extend their winning streak against Union Pines High School.

Facing the Vikings for the second and final time during the regular season, Richmond surrendered a 5-4 defeat.

“I thought even though we didn’t win, we played really well today,” head coach Jessica Covington said. “Union Pines is the school in our conference that we are most evenly matched with and it was a battle. It was good to see that.

“The guys played hard and a point here or there could have been the difference maker,” she added. “This match definitely made us better.”

Richmond won three singles matches and one doubles contest. No. 1 junior Jordan Jacobs, No. 2 Matthew Leggett and No. 5 junior Gavin Applewhite each completed a perfect week in singles action.

On the upper courts, Jacobs took care of business against Lane McPherson in 8-4 fashion, while Leggett cruised past Joey Tortora by a final score of 8-3.

Applewhite notched Richmond’s third singles win to split the six matches. He defeated Cam Deibel 8-2 to send the match into doubles tied 3-3.

Dropping their singles matches were No. 3 senior Brent Humann (5-8), No. 4 senior Will Whitley (1-8) and No. 6 junior Noah Gil (0-8).

Humann and Whitley teamed up to earn Richmond’s lone doubles victory, a tiebreak thriller in the No. 2 match. Facing Tucker Lloyd and Jace McPherson, the two seniors redeemed themselves with an 8-8, 7-4 victory.

Needing to win just one of the two renaming matches, No. 1 Jacobs and Leggett and No. 3 Applewhite and Gil both lost 6-8.

With one more regular season home match on the schedule, the Raiders (4-4, 4-4 SAC) will host Scotland High School Tuesday.

Set to start at 4 p.m., Richmond will also recognize Humann and Whitley on senior night.