Court Connection

Noelle Winter and Halsey Hulse Are Doubles Partners and Best Friends

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

Any successful doubles team has symmetry on the court, but that is especially true of Palisades High tennis seniors Noelle Winter and Halsey Hulse. They have grown up together, shared each other’s highs and lows and formed a friendship that goes well beyond the baseline.   

Like two peas in a pod, they first met at St. Matthew’s Day Camp the summer after kindergarten and Noelle, who goes by “Noe,” remembers that it took a little while for them to bond: “We weren’t friends at first. Halsey thought I was too competitive in the games but the summer after we became closer and then had our second-grade class together at Marquez Elementary.”

Today, they will try to help the Dolphins win the City Section title for the third time in their four seasons on the squad and they are set to team up one last time in the City Individual doubles tournament. After all, it takes two to tango.

“I don’t remember much about our first match, but I believe I was slightly better when we were younger because I’d been playing longer,” Hulse recalls. “As we grew up, Noe became the better player but we’ve always been friendly, even when we had to play each other in a USTA tournament. We’ll even laugh at each other if we mishit a ball.”

“Yes, Halsey won our first competitive match if I can remember correctly,” Winter adds. “She started playing tennis consistently before I did. At that time, soccer was my main sport so I picked up tennis on the side, but never was fully committed to it until I chose tennis as my primary sport in sixth grade when I was about 12. After that, we became more competitive and our matches were equal all throughout junior tennis.”

The two became a formidable doubles team in fourth and fifth grade and were the nucleus of a Marquez group that won the Pacific Palisades Elementary School Tennis League three times in four seasons. They even beat boys teams in the finals.

“We’ve been basically inseparable since second grade,” Hulse says. “All throughout elementary and middle school we shared the same circle of friends, and even today we have a lot of the same friends. We probably FaceTime each other every other day, even if it’s just for a few seconds to ask about homework or see if the other wants to hit. We’ve gone to Mammoth together, but other than that we haven’t gone on too many trips together mainly because Noe and I are at summer camp together each year. We were campers together in elementary school, and now we both work on staff. We spend a lot of time talking about tennis, school and anything. Most of the time we’re just laughing about who knows what.”

“Our families are very close and we talk every day either in person or over the phone,” Winter adds. We talk about anything and everything but especially tennis when we’re in season.”

Both girls cite their friendship off the court as a big reason for their success on it: “Our friendship has made us a stronger team,” Hulse says. “We’re good at communicating during points and we know how each other plays. We’re also so supportive of each other that there’s never any pressure to have to play well to impress the other, and there’s no real fear of letting each other down. Obviously I’ll feel bad if I’m missing a lot during a match, but it’s comforting to know that Noe and I will still be friends no matter what happens. I’ve always played ad court because my backhand is stronger and Noe plays the deuce side because her forehand is her strength.”

Adds Winter: “We’ve been playing doubles together since we were on the Marquez team so we’ve grown up and built our games simultaneously. I know pretty exactly what Halsey can do, which helps me to know what I’ll need to do during points. I can usually anticipate her shots which is very helpful in doubles. When we were little, we decided that Halsey would play ad side because she had a better backhand stroke and I would play deuce court because I had a better forehand. Since then, we have played the same way because thats what we’ve grown up doing and we now know how to play our sides very well.”

Asked to name the strength of each other’s games, neither hesitates:

“Noe’s a good partner because I can always count on her to keep the rally going and fight for every point,” Hulse says. “She’s aggressive at the net and has a consistent serve. Noe’s also always been a smarter player than I am and knows how to play against our opponents’ weaknesses.

Winter was equally complimentary: “Halsey is very, very consistent with her strokes and has a very strong, effective serve, both first and second. She also has a very strong mental game which is very important to be successful in tennis. She’s a good partner because I know I can rely on her to make her shots and be aggressive.”

This season, Winter has played No. 2 singles and Hulse No. 3 singles, though neither cares too much where they are on the ladder.

“We have a lot of fun memories from being campers, but also some good ones from working on staff as counselors for St. Matthew’s Day Camp throughout our high school summers,” Winter says. “Halsey threw me a surprise party for my 14th birthday and we’ve surprised each other with cakes and birthday gifts the past few years.”

“A lot of my favorite memories have been on the court, whether it be during practice or a match,” Hulse chimes in. “Every time we play we always find something to laugh about. Besides that, we’ve spent virtually every birthday together and many many fun days at the beach.”

As their high school days are winding down, both girls are looking forward to college. Winter is headed to the University of Texas in Austin and Hulse is committed to Cornell in upstate New York.

“Ever since I was a little girl, I wanted to go to a big school with a good football team so once I toured UT Austin with my sister when I was in ninth grade, I knew it was the place I wanted to go,” Winter admits. “I love Austin, the campus life and especially with my sister being a sophomore there now, it made me want to go so much more. I’m studying movement and health science, so I hope to have a career in that field.”

Hulse, meanwhile, will be in the Ivy League at a campus in Ithaca, about a four-hour drive from where her brother Cade (who won the Post Cup Award as a baseball player at Pali High) now works in  New York City.

“I visited Cornell recently and was astounded by its beauty,” Hulse says. “I could envision myself there for the next four years and I’m so excited to be attending. I’m not sure what I want to do in the future exactly, but I’m interested in pursuing a STEM-based career. My older brother lives in New York so I’m glad I’ll be able to visit him on the weekends.”

Asked if tennis has strengthened their friendship over time, both answered in the affirmative.

“Being teammates and growing up playing tennis together has truly been one of the best experiences of my life,” Winter says. “It makes the sport so much more enjoyable when you do it with your friend and it’s definitely made our friendship stronger.”

Hulse adds: “Tennis has definitely strengthened our friendship because we spend so many hours each week on the court together.”

If not for tennis I think we’d be just as close of friends but I definitely think having that common love for tennis brought us together and gave us so many good memories we can now look back on.”

After their run of success for their Gulls team at Marquez, Winter and Hulse remained partners at Paul Revere Middle School where they led the PEP tennis program to a sweep of the Delphic League team, singles and doubles crowns versus private schools Brentwood, Windward, Chaminade, Campbell Hall, Oaks Christian, Crossroads, Buckley, Marlborough and Harvard-Westlake. They continued to hone their skills playing LiveBall and participating in clinics at the Palisades Recreation Center.

When they got to Palisades, the two picked up right where they left off, finishing undefeated at No. 1 doubles to help the Dolphins capture the Division 2 title at the California Classic in Fresno.

In November 2017 Palisades won its fifth straight City title and  its freshmen phenoms played a big part. Winter won her match at  No. 3 singles while Hulse paired with senior Maddy Goore to win at No. 2 doubles. Two weeks later, Winter and Hulse found themselves playing Dolphins Alex Miller and Caroline Ross in the Individual doubles final and while they lost to older players they gained valuable experience.

As sophomores, the Dolphins’ “dynamic duo” helped Palisades win another team title. Hulse played doubles with fellow 10th-grader Kalea Martin at Individuals, but suffered a severe allergic reaction and had to be taken to the hospital during the semifinals. Showing true grit, Hulse returned the next day for the third-place match and she and Martin rallied to beat Granada Hills’ tandem of Anisa Londhe and Jennifer Parandian.

No one is more appreciative of the contributions Winter and Hulse have made to the Dolphins’ legacy than Pali High Coach Bud Kling, who has seen his share of talented players since taking over the girls program in 1984.

“Those two have been playing together since elementary school and it really shows,” Kling says. “They’re hard working and intelligent, they lead by example and they’re just very smart and mature kids. Look at where they’re going next, both are great schools! They have been steady for four years and the freshmen really look up to them. They’re great kids.”

While they both want to win, they are not competitive with each other on the court or in class.

“We’ve only had a few Spanish classes together at Pali and we’re certainly not competitive about academics,” Winter says. “We’re very supportive of each other and same goes for tennis. We’ve never really been that competitive with each other for spots or anything, we just like to make each other better.”

Hulse elaborates: “We’ve taken a lot of the same classes, but we’ve always been in different periods most of the time. I’d say Noe and I aren’t competitive at all academically. We rarely, if ever, compare grades.”

Growing up near each other in the Palisades has made it easy to find time for sun and fun.

“We live about five minutes away from each other so it’s super convenient just to go to each other’s houses,” Hulse says. “We carpool to tennis a lot of the time. Usually, we’ll just hangout at one of our houses, go out to get lunch, go to the beach, or walk our dogs together.”

“We love going to the beach together when it’s nice out,” Winter says. “We like going for sushi at Pearl Dragon or other Japanese places in Santa Monica and we love to shop around town.”

Winter and Hulse both swept their singles matches as Palisades blanked Taft 7-0 in the team semifinals Tuesday. The Dolphins will face Granada Hills for the championship today seeking to regain the title the Highlanders took away in 2019.

Having not teamed up for City Individuals as juniors, Winter and Hulse are determined to leave this year’s tournament with first-place medals around their necks. The doubles competition starts next week.

“It would be the perfect ending to high school and our competitive tennis careers if we won City Individuals together,” says Winter, who just like Hulse is considering playing club tennis in college.

“I think it’ll mean a lot to us to be able to end our season playing together, win or lose,” Hulse adds. “It would definitely be nice to win Individuals to show just how much we’ve grown these past four years.”

What then?

“I think we’ll spend a lot of this summer working as counselors together at camp,” Hulse says. “However, I do think it could be fun to play a few USTA events before fall starts.”

Winter is all in on that as well: “Yes, I think it would fun if we played our last USTA tournaments together.”