 "Photo: Jiamay Austria")
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Just ask the scorned woman who nearly took a shattered college tennis team to a national championship.
When Southwestern College administrators shut down the school’s tennis team, coach Susan Reasons formed a community team called the Red Fury.
Participating in the Southern California 2.5 women’s division, the Fury won the San Diego division, and a berth in the Southern California Sectionals where they defeated Ventura and San Diego North County to make the Nationals.
“Our success was very surprising because it was just the first time we had played a tournament together,” said Yaz Gomez, the Red Fury co-captain.
The Red Fury quickly made an impact at the United States Tennis Association (USTA) National Championships by defeating the USTA Hawaii and USTA Southwest section.
Red Fury’s run at the USTA National Championships ended with a 2-1 loss to Texas.
“We never thought we’d make it to Nationals,” said Gabriela Sagayo.
Players credit the impressive run of the Red Fury to the fundamentals taught by Reasons.
“We’ve noticed a huge difference in our team and our style of play since we started training with Coach Reasons,” said Lizette Ferrero-Safa, the co-captain.
Reasons continues to split time between training the Red Fury to another USTA National Championship appearance and coaching tennis courses at SWC.
“We’re still new,” said Gomez. “So we’re learning every day.”
Ferrero-Safa said the team had been casually playing tennis together for just six months prior to beginning training with Reasons.
Reasons said she hopes to regain a competitive tennis team at SWC. Until then she said the Fury will represent SWC—and the Western United States.
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