Richmond To Join Lady Pirate Tennis Program
February 23, 2009 | Women's Tennis
Feb. 23, 2009
GREENVILLE, N.C. - Abby Richmond, a three-time all-state and all-conference performer at St. Mary's School in Raleigh, has declared her commitment to attend and play tennis at East Carolina University beginning this fall according to an announcement from head women's tennis coach Tom Morris Monday.
Richmond, who attended Holmes (N.C.) High School as a freshman, has played the No. 1 position at St. Mary's for the past three seasons. As a junior, she advanced to the state singles finals before earning the program's Coaches and Saints Award as a senior team captain.
While at Holmes, Richmond was selected as the team's most valuable player and conference player-of-the-year after capturing conference and regional singles titles.
"I'm excited about Abby's commitment to join our program at East Carolina," Morris said. "I feel that her addition will provide our team with great depth and potential, and I look forward to the opportunity of working with her in the 2009-10 season and beyond."
Richmond currently holds a No. 4 state rank and a No. 57 standing in the South according to the United States Tennis Association (USTA). She is also a two-time Junior Fed Cup participant, competing in the both the 14s and 18s Division. In addition, she was a Tarheel Qualifier finalist in doubles and a State Closed finalist in singles and a doubles champion in the 18s Division.
Since Morris has taken over the ECU women's tennis program in 1999, he has guided the Lady Pirates to 153 victories and successful campaigns in nine of his 10 years, which recently includes the top four single-season win totals in school history - a 17-9 mark in 2005, back-to-back school-record 19-9 and 19-10 finishes in 2006 and 2007, respectively, and a 17-6 ledger in 2008.
East Carolina has opened its 2009 spring schedule with a 4-1 record.
