Hudson continues to point girls tennis towards success


Donna Hudson has directed the Halifax County High School varsity girls’ tennis team to more success this season.

The Comet coach noted Halifax had a quality 5-4 win in Rocky Mount on Monday.

FCHS provided tough competition for the Comets.

“Kassidy Irby played 1 against a very strong FC 1. Their game scores make it look like FC dominated, but that just isn’t the case. Kassidy was competitive for every point. She served hard, she was aggressive, and she was in the game at all times. She lost the first set 1-6, and the second 2-6, but all in all she made a very strong showing,” said Comet coach Hudson.

“Kendall Foushee also lost at the 2 seed, in a match that really was just a toss-up. Foushee won the first game, and then managed to stay one game ahead for the entire first set. She won that set 6-4. In the second set she lost her footing a bit, literally and figuratively. After hitting a few balls out she eased up and her opponent jumped aggressively on slower hit balls, taking a lead that Kendal couldn’t recover. In the last game Kendall lounged for a ball and dropped her racquet, landing hands first on the court to end that set with at 2-6 loss.

“They went into a tie breaker after a brief rest, and Foushee was the stronger player most of the way. She led by one, trading points all the way to a tie at 10, then lost two consecutive points to lose the tie breaker 10-12,” said Hudson.

“At 3, Dejah Britton had a strong start, but couldn’t keep her momentum going. She lost the first set 4-6, then really seemed to run out of steam and lost the second set 1-6. Britton is a much better player than she showed in this match,” said Hudson.

HCHS had better luck on the lower end of the court.

“On 4, 5, and 6 it was on our side. Ashley Collins won at 3, Yasmine Ferrell returned to the 5 spot and won, and Rose Ruotolo-Sarnataro returned to the 6 spot and also won. Only court 6 offered interesting tennis though. Collins battled a close first set, losing it 6-4, and was continuing with good momentum to stage a good comeback when her opponent had to leave the court for medical reasons,” said Hudson.

“Collins got a forfeit, which turned out to be an important win for us. Yasmine Ferrell played 5 after being out of singles for several weeks, and dominated her opponent 6-0 6-1. Ferrell looked great – hitting good angles and going after difficult returns. At 6, Sarnataro played a girl who has just as much determination as she does. Both players hit consistently, back and forth, back and forth, to make a very long match. Rose focused on hitting away from her opponent, and was able to win, 6-4 6-4,” said Hudson.

“We went into doubles with an even split – 3 wins for us, 3 for FC. Our doubles teams are strong, so we were hopeful to get 2 of 3 for the win. We knew the Ashleys would be in a good position to win, and they did at 3 doubles. They were much stronger than FC’s 3 doubles, and won easily 8-0. “We expected a win at 2, with Dejah and Yasmine combining against the FC 3 and 6 seeds. They normally work together better than most partners, but today they just couldn’t seem to get any momentum going. They lost 1-8 to a team that should have been a good match for them. That split left it up to Kassidy and Kendall to defeat a very strong pair in the decisive match of the night, and they turned it on to get the job done. With a battle for every point, (HCHS’ top players) focused, refocused, and attacked. Their strong serves came through for us in this match. They defended well against equally strong serves from Jarvi and Ranson. The wind was blowing, and everybody watching was wrapped up in blankets as they persevered to take the advantage and win 8-6, to keep us undefeated as a team. We won this match, but it wasn’t a clean, we-did-our-best win,” said Hudson.

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