HUDSON – After recovering from a loss against Groton-Dunstable earlier this season, the Hudson Hawks beat the Crusaders last Friday 3-2.
Before the game, Hudson Head Coach Bobbi-Jo Lewis said she was “hoping for the win.” She said since their loss, they have “grown as a team.”
“Groton is phenomenal,” Lewis said. “They are always good. They’re strong. I respect their coach. She and I have a good relationship, which is nice.”
Hudson had faced off against Groton-Dunstable on Sept. 19 and lost 1-3.
Lewis said this season is the “first real season” since the pandemic hit.
While it has been a bit of a “learning curve” for the team, she noted that the Hawks “have really come together as a whole.”
This season, her team is composed of mostly sophomores and juniors and two seniors – Taylor Chaves and Kamryn Vasselin – who Lewis said are “great leaders.”
“They are wonderful students [and] wonderful leaders. They have really taken the JV and the JV two players under their wing,” she said.
Lewis said the seniors also educate the younger players on how the team builds camaraderie, which includes pasta dinners, spirit days and wearing team swag.
These team traditions make players feel “a sense of belonging to the program,” Lewis said. Plus, she said they are important because they bring the three teams together.
“I really strive to have us be one program instead of three individual teams,” Lewis said.
In order to prepare for their three to four matches every week, the girls hone their skills on the court and run one mile.
Though Lewis said playing this many games has been “challenging,” the Hawks are up to the challenge as they have been working hard all summer long.
“Many of them attended camps, or clinics, or private lessons. They all work really hard in the offseason to prepare [for the season],” she said.
Lewis said the Hawks’ goal for this season is to qualify for the high school state tournament.
“The power rankings just came out. We are rated 20th in the state right now in division three. I want to see that move up a little bit in the next few weeks,” she said.
The next match for the Hawks will be versus Bay Path Regional Vocational Technical High School on Oct. 5.
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