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ROCKINGHAM — The Southeastern Conference girls tennis match between Richmond Senior and Hoke County came down to the final two doubles matches.

The Raiders held a slim advantage and needed one win to defeat the Bucks. The team of Courtney Pope and Caroline Kirkland claimed a 9-8 (10-8) victory at the No. 2 doubles to give Richmond its needed point for a 5-4 conference win Wednesday afternoon.

Brittany Hudson, Katy Shelley and Pope were all victorious in straight set in their singles matches for the Raiders (5-6, 3-4). Shelley teamed with Holly Fulp to win, 8-6, in No.3 doubles.

Richmond coach Paula York was pleased to see her squad win its second straight SEC contest and is hoping to extend the streak today against Lumberton. The Pirates edged the Raiders earlier this season, 5-4.

“We have made giant steps since the beginning of the year,” York said. “The girls don’t play a lot of tennis during the summer, so everybody has to knock off a little bit of rust. Lumberton is going to be a big match for us, because if we can win and get some help, we can possibly finish tied for third in the conference.”

The Raiders will hit the road to face the Pirates at 4 p.m. today.

Early goals lift Richmond

LAURINBURG — Johnny Jaurez and Juan Hernandez scored goals in the first half to spark the Richmond Senior boys soccer team to a 2-0 victory over Scotland County Wednesday night.

The win improves the Raiders to 4-7-1 overall and 2-3 in the conference. Richmond is now in fourth place at the halfway mark of the season. The top four teams in the Southeastern Conference advance to the postseason.

“We went with a different formation tonight,” Richmond coach Bennie Howard said. “We went with a 3-4-3. We couldn’t stop anyone from scoring with four defenders, so I thought we would try three. And it worked. I give all the credit to the guys. All I did was design the strategy and they executed it.”

In the junior varsity match, Richmond defeated Scotland, 7-0. Jalon Almond scored two goals and Armando Garcia, Brandon Ingram, Juan Onesto, Brantley Paul and Yantuhan Morales each recorded a tally in the win for the Raiders (7-1-1, 4-1).

Richmond will return to action on Wednesday at Raider Stadium against SEC foe Hoke County, the junior varsity contest begins at 5:30 p.m. followed by the varsity game.

Bearcats get past Raiders in 5

WADESBORO — The Anson County volleyball team rallied from a two-game deficit to knock off Richmond Senior in five games, 16-25, 19-25, 25-18, 25-23, 15-9, Wednesday afternoon.

The Raiders fall to 1-7 on the season and will return to Southeastern Conference play at 6 p.m. today at home against Hoke County.