Waterford places 2nd at state

Youthfulness led the way for the Waterford girls tennis team this year as it took second at the state 2A meet despite having just one senior.

Kim Beck spearheaded the youthful attack for Waterford. Beck, the team's lone freshman, was the only first-place finisher for the Ravens. She defeated Rowland Hall's Mallory Rosenthal, 6-2, 6-2.

The Beck family has dominated Waterford girls tennis in recent years. Three family members, sisters Kim and Larissa Beck and cousin Ana Pantiledes, were on this year's team, and two other Beck sisters played there recently.

The oldest Beck girl, Ariana, was the first to break into the game. She is now a junior at Vanderbilt. Lise followed in Ariana's footsteps and is now a sophomore at Emory. Lise paired up with the third Beck sister, Larissa, to take first place at state in second doubles in 2004.

Larissa was the lone senior on this year's Waterford team, finishing second in second singles. She lost to Rowland Hall's Blake Harries in a hard-fought three-set match, 6-3, 5-7, 6-3. Larissa was the team captain for the Ravens this year and believes having fellow family members on the team is a benefit.

"We take lessons with each other and get put in match play against each other," Larissa said. "We basically help each other improve."

Continuing the family ties, a Beck cousin, junior Ana Pantiledes, played first team doubles with Brooklyn Day, also a junior. The Pantiledes/Day combo was defeated by Manti's Jillann Mackey and Amber Cox in the early going, 6-3, 6-4.

Elizabeth Beck, the matriarch of the Beck family, paced from match to match, watching all the girls during the tournament.

"It's nerve-wracking," she said.

She never intended for the girls to end up playing tennis competitively.

"We just wanted to be able to play together on family vacations," Elizabeth Beck said. "Once they got in lessons, though, they all really took to it."

On the non-Beck portion of the team, two sophomores who only picked up rackets a year ago, Sarah Ngo and Kristen Fine, made it to the quarterfinals before being defeated by Rowland Hall's Sydney Hartsell and Morgan Sorensan, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Ngo, a quiet girl on and off the court, was rarely without a smile on her face during the tournament. She is perfectly paired with the more vocal Fine. Ngo and Fine have been friends for five years and they have the same mentality on the court: no pressure and no pointing fingers.

"Sarah is very bright and very coachable. She can't help but have fun, and it's so refreshing," Waterford assistant coach Debra Goodson said. "Kristen is very good and has more confidence, so they help each other."

Tina Haroutunian rounded out the Waterford squad. Haroutunian went out in the quarterfinals against eventual finalist Stephanie Chard of Rowland Hall, 6-0, 6-0. As a junior, however, she'll get another shot next year.

The only team to place ahead of Waterford at state this year was Rowland Hall, which won by a score of 21-10. The Winged Lions were a senior-heavy team, though, so Waterford's youth factor could easily make it a more competitive tournament next year.

"1A/2A first singles will be really strong next year, but we'll be really deep through seven," Waterford coach Ken Wade said. "We're really optimistic."

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E-mail: hbruce@desnews.com

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