Coming off a few lukewarm practices, Waterford head volleyball coach Steve Manning didn't know what to expect from his Ravens during the state tournament. Fortunately, his girls rebounded from their listless week in a big way, defeating two top five teams en route to a third-place finish.

Waterford finished the regular season as the No. 2 seed in Region 14, having only lost region games to the first-place team, North Summit. The Ravens didn't play like a No. 2 team at state, though, even vaulting ahead of North Summit in the state standings when the Braves were upset in the second round.

"In terms of wins and losses, our year was very much like last year," Manning said. "Our region standings were a carbon copy, but I feel we were a better team than the Waterford team from the year before, and at state we played like it."

The Ravens defeated Enterprise and Richfield, two teams ranked in the 2A top five (by the Deseret Morning News), and forced eventual champion San Juan, another top-five team, to a five-game nail-biter. The Waterford/San Juan clash was the only five-set match San Juan faced the whole tournament, and the Broncos eked out a win.

"The San Juan game is a loss I can almost live with," Manning said. "San Juan is a terrific team with strong athletes and a good game plan. My girls played beyond what they'd done before, and we were only a few points from the final."

Maddi West, Waterford's senior setter, considers the San Juan game, even though it was the Ravens' lone tournament loss, the highlight of state.

"We started kind of rough in the first game against South Sevier, and then we rebounded with a surprisingly easy win against Enterprise," West said. "For the San Juan game, we really came together. I think for San Juan, their championship game was the semifinal against us."

Manning gives all the credit for the Ravens' success at state to his players. Waterford livened up its game plan this year when Julianna Simon transferred from Skyline, and this change in offense gave the Ravens more variety to their plays.

"Julianna urged us to a different and better level with her style of play," Manning said. "In turn, we had to ask more of Maddi (as the setter) than anybody. She took in everything, and at the end of state, she was just exhausted. She gave her all. How can you not respect that?"

Manning's daughter, Kara Manning, is Waterford's junior varsity volleyball coach, and as strong as Waterford was this year, both Mannings think next season will be even better.

"Most of our players are involved in club ball in the offseason, even the upcoming eighth-graders," Kara Manning said. "Next year should be big for both JV and varsity."

"We had a lot of strong juniors, and our freshmen are scrappy with great fundamentals," Steve Manning added. "The future looks really good for Waterford."

---

E-mail: hbruce@desnews.com