Waterford looks to be team to beat

Anyone with an eye on the Region 14 title is going to have to go through Waterford to get it.

For the last few years, the Ravens have been more frightening to the rest of 2A than the Edgar Allen Poe poem of the same name. Their 2005 state championship team wasn't just good, they were dominant. And while they have lost the majority of their players to graduation, they remain every bit as dangerous.

Take, for example, Calvin Bennett. The junior has already won two individual state titles in his short high school career, and is considered by many to be the state's best player in any classification. After a successful offseason in which he won a national tournament in Alabama, Bennett will likely pick up exactly where he left off last year.

"Calvin is a very special player," says coach Ken Wade. "He's just amazing; there is no other way to say it."

In order to fill the vacancies in his No. 2 and 3 spots, Wade was forced to split his first doubles team, playing Daniel Reichert in second singles and Chris Chang in the third. These two will have to play their very best, as both doubles teams remain unsettled.

"We've got a lot of new guys on the team, and we're trying to decide where to play them," says Wade. "We've essentially got 10 guys vying for four spots."

In spite of their big name players, the Ravens will be challenged both in the state tournament and within their own region. Manti is both deep and strong, and Roland Hall can never be counted out this early in the season.

"We have set a goal to take both region and state," says Wade. "It won't be as easy as it was last year, but I think that we have what it takes."

Although head coach Tim Sleeper readily admits that Waterford is the early favorite to win Region 14, he isn't ready to concede just yet.

"I think we'll finish first," he says of his team. "I think that we have enough players to do it."

The Griffins of RHSM finished second to the Ravens last year in both region and state play. Both schools have a tradition of fielding competitive tennis teams, and this year's competition should be just as intense as it has been in years past.

Sleeper lost only half as many players as did Waterford, so he will certainly have the advantage of continuity. One thing he doesn't have, however, is someone who can compete with the Ravens' Calvin Bennett.