First Posted: 9/11/2012

ROCKINGHAM — Richmond Senior girls tennis coach Paula York knew it was going to be a difficult week for her team.

And her thoughts are coming true.

Pinecrest dropped a total of nine games during the match to cruise to a 9-0 Southeastern Conference victory over Richmond Tuesday afternoon.

“We knew it was going to be tough,” York said. “Pinecrest has a JV and varsity team. And today they brought their varsity team.”

Caroline Decker got things rolling for the Patriots with a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Caroline Kirkland at the No. 1 singles spot. Chrissy Nurnberg and Karen Smith captured each of their matches with 6-0, 6-0 wins over Katy Shelley and Abbi Carpenter, respectively.

In the fourth singles contest, Paige Sumner downed Haleigh Denham 6-1, 6-1, while Piper Davis stopped Summer Jacobs by the same score. Pinecrest’s Brittany Jenkins completed the sweep in the singles with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Chelsea Jacobs.

“We played hard,” York said. “We gave it our best effort out there against them today. Tomorrow is another day.”

Decker and Nurnberg combined to stop the team of Kirkland-Shelley 8-1 in the top doubles contest. Josie Lee and Kathlyn Newman defeated Carpenter and Denham 8-2. Kailey Osterman and Delaney Kjellison blanked Meredith McLean and Jacobs 8-0.

Richmond (1-5, 1-3) returns to the courts at 4 p.m. today against Scotland.

Raider cross country teams win meet

ROCKINGHAM — Brandon Gibson captured the boys meet and Morgan Tedder won the girls to lead Richmond Senior to a sweep of a three-team Southeastern Conference cross country meet Tuesday afternoon at Hinson Lake.

Gibson completed the course in a time of 18:29 to beat teammate Maurice Oneil by 21 seconds. Randy Altman was third overall at 19:03. Alfonso Ratliff and Cody Wilson were fifth and sixth, respectively. Ratliff was timed at 19:58, while Wilson clocked in at 20:01.

Richmond finished first with 17 points, Lumberton was second at 59, followed by Hoke County with 60.

Tedder finished with a time of 23:07, 10 seconds faster than Lumberton’s Nikki Hansen. Belle Hillenburg was third overall, clocking in at 24:52. Cassie Smith came in sixth at 25:11. Ana Rivers and Taylor Davis finished eighth and ninth, respectively. Rivers completed the race with a time of 26:34, while Davis notched a time of 27:47.

“I feel pretty good about getting the win,” Richmond coach Reggie Miller said. “We still have room for improvement. You want to win at home in front of everyone.”

Richmond falls at Purnell Swett

PEMBROKE — The Purnell Swett volleyball team snapped Richmond’s six-game winning streak with a 11-25, 25-17, 25-22, 25-19 Southeastern Conference victory Tuesday night.

The Raiders are now 8-4 overall and 1-1 in SEC play.

“We played great and like a team in the first game and fell apart the other three,” Richmond coach Shellie Wimpey said. “We need to regroup and be ready for Lumberton.”

Richmond will return to the court at 6 p.m. Thursday when it travels to SEC rival Lumberton.

Sports editor Shawn Stinson can be reached at 910-997-3111, ext. 14, or by email at [email protected]