Union Pines played three men’s tennis matches in two days this week, sweeping a doubleheader from Hoke County on Tuesday before falling to Richmond on Wednesday for the Vikings’ first conference setback.
The Vikings hosted Hoke and the teams played an uncommon format, playing both their conference matches at once. After Union Pines won five of the six singles matches in the first showdown, the teams mutually agreed to dispense with the doubles and just begin the second team match. Both singles and doubles were played in the nightcap, with Union Pines winning 8-1.
The next day, the Vikings traveled to Rockingham and split the six singles matches with the Raiders, but then lost all three doubles matches for a 6-3 defeat.
Both matches with Hoke had the same singles result. The Fighting Bucks won at No. 6 singles in both. Union Pines swept the doubles in the second team match.
In the first match, going down the order, Aaron Scodius blanked John Tolentino 6-0; Jackson Carmichael defeated Juan Pena 6-3; Joey Tortora beat Armando Zunige 6-3; Cam Deibel downed Iber Dela Cruz 6-2; Micah Wortham shut out Abbi Khantivong 6-0; and Hoke’s Angel Guzman topped Jackson Baker 6-2.
In match two Scodius shut out Tolentino 6-0 again; Carmichael beat Pena 6-2; Tortora shut down Zunige 6-1; Deibel defeated Dela Cruz 6-4; Wortham held off Khantivong 6-4; and Guzman snuck past Baker in a tiebreaker, 7-6 (7-2).
In the doubles Scodius-Deibel beat Tolentino-Zunige 6-2; Carmichael-Tortora downed Pena-Dela Cruz 6-4; and Wortham-Baker edged Khantivong-Guzman 7-6 (8-6).
Scodius won his 47th career match and Baker his first during the Hoke contests.
The next day, Union Pines dropped a tight match to the 4A Raiders when the home team proved slightly better in the doubles.
In singles, Union Pines was strong up top, as Scodius edged Ty Murray 8-6 and Carmichael stopped Matthew Burns 8-4. However, Richmond was better at the Nos. 3 and 4 spots, with Ethan McDonald blanking Tortora 8-0 and Jordan Jacobs downing Deibel 8-4. The No. 6 singles had easily gone to the Raiders when Will Whitley shut out Baker 8-0, but No. 5 seed Wortham salvaged a singles split for Union Pines by slipping past Brent Humann 9-8 (8-6).
It all came down to the doubles, and those belonged to the Raiders. Murray-Burns defeated Scodius-Deibel 8-4; McDonald-Jacobs edged Carmichael-Tortora 8-6, and Humann-Whitley beat Wortham-Baker 8-5.
Wortham won the 7th match of his career. Union Pines takes on Pinecrest next week.
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