Undefeated regional champs: Tuscola's Lam and Richardson move on to states as No. 1 seed
Oct. 29—The accolades keep piling up for talented Tuscola tennis doubles pair Anneke Lam and Cooper Richardson in their senior season for the ages. They've yet to lose a match together this year and earned the 3A western regional tournament crown on Oct. 24 heading into the state tournament Oct. 29-30 in Burlington.
"I knew they were going to have a phenomenal season just watching them play in the offseason, they wanted to go to states, I knew that," Tuscola Head Coach Andrew Johnson said. "But I think going in and just being undefeated, I don't think that was part of that plan — it just happened."
After qualifying for regionals together as juniors, Lam and Richardson set a goal coming into this season to qualify for states. Not only did they complete that goal in undefeated fashion, they knocked off the doubles pair of Ellie Holzman and Nicole Kozischek from Hickory that eliminated them from regionals a season ago in this year's regional final.
"We just didn't have a whole lot of confidence going into it because of last year's experience, but it turned out a lot better than we were expecting," Richardson said.
Lam and Richardson breezed through day one of regionals Oct. 23 with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Ashe County and a 6-1, 6-1 win over North Lincoln.
In the semifinals against Cramer on day two, the pair did something they hadn't had to do the rest of the year: overcome a big deficit. After dropping the first set 6-1, they battled back for 6-2 and 6-4 wins in the second and third to move onto the finals for the grudge match against Hickory. Although both sets were competitive, Lam and Richardson claimed the regional title with a 6-3, 6-4 victory.
"I think we've definitely grown a lot from last year for sure," Lam said. "Our communication has gotten better and I think our hits are a lot more consistent than last year. I think that consistency is what kind of drove us home."
Richardson and Lam's tennis careers began their freshman years of high school, which makes their success all the more impressive since many of their opponents began playing at younger ages. Back then, Richardson said she didn't know, "not even a little bit," that they could eventually end up undefeated qualifiers for the state tournament.
"This wouldn't be possible without our coach, Andrew Johnson, and all the support we've gotten from the local community. We've had people come out and hit with us and help prepare us for playing at a higher level and we really wouldn't be where we are today without them," Lam said. "We'd like to give a special thank you to Roger Whitener, Art Booth, David Lyle, Tom Agnew, Charlie Parrish, Jerry Greene and all the other regulars out here on the court."
Johnson said the last time Tuscola tennis had a state qualifier was about a decade ago and that it's been cool to see the community rally behind them, especially in a sport like tennis that's sometimes overshadowed by other team sports.
Johnson also pointed out that since the pandemic pushed last year's season back to this spring, they bounced back from their first-round regionals exit in less than two months to go undefeated heading into states.
"I think their overall record in four years is 30-10, so winning is what they know how to do and they've done it well," Johnson said. "This is just the fruit of all of that labor, a testament to their ability to be a great team."
