By Skip Pearlman
Simon Dudar, now in his 10th season as the coach of the Haldane team, says his 2019 squad is one of the deepest and most competitive he’s had.
Haldane is coming off a 10-6 season but lost a top player, Olivia Olsen, to graduation. The Blue Devils return three solid singles players in Anna Brief, Natalie Sandick and Julie Geller. Mairead O’Hara, a returning freshman, and Caroline Nelson, an incoming freshman from Garrison, are the top doubles team, and seniors Bridget Goldberg and Cassie Laifer are in the second doubles spot. Freshman Amanda Johnson also returns.
“We have 13 girls, and this is probably our deepest team,” Dudar said. “The players are making each other better.”
The 2019 Haldane girls’ tennis team (Photo by S. Pearlman)
O’Hara and Nelson are off to a 5-0 start. “We’re hoping they can continue and make the conference tournament,” Dudar said.
The coach said he also expects great things from his singles players. “We’re hoping we can compete for a top spot in the league,” he said. “It would be exciting to make the league tournament.”
The Blue Devils began the season with three losses, falling to Croton and twice to Carmel but defeating Valhalla, 5-0, on Wednesday (Sept. 11).
“We have to stay consistent,” Dudar said. “We have to stay confident. We have to try to keep the pace to our liking. Our players need to believe in themselves, and we’ll see how far we can go.”
