With five straight state titles and no losses since 2003, to say that the Walton girls tennis team has been on a roll would be an understatement. Roberta Manheim has been the head coach for each of the five titles and has overseen a winning streak that has now reached triple digits.
With Walton’s 5-0 victory over Wheeler Thursday, the Raiders opened up the 2009 season with a victory – but the bigger record is 100 consecutive wins. Manheim refuses to take credit, however, instead heaping all of the praise on her girls.
“We have been very fortunate to have had very talented girls who are willing to play for Walton,” she said.
Under Manheim, several current Raiders as well as several from past teams have received college scholarships. Cameron Ellis received a scholarship to the University of Georgia after four years at Walton, Katie Kilborn played at Vanderbilt, and last year’s lone senior Ashley Lawrence is playing at Wofford. Manheim’s current Nos. 1 and 2 singles players are both looking to add one final team title before heading off to play Division-I tennis next season. Top singles player Elizabeth Kilborn has signed to play at Georgia Tech, while No. 2 Emily Lauten will become a Hokie next year at Virginia Tech. These two helped Walton win last year’s state title while playing in the top two spots.
Manheim’s team is once again loaded after the two seniors. Sophomore Emily Zabor has stepped into Lawrence’s No. 3 singles spot and both of Manheim’s doubles pairings are made up of sophomores with Kayla Brady/Maxie Weinberg at No. 1 and Stephanie Falcon/Claire Marshall at No. 2.
With so much talent again, “everyone will have the opportunity to play,” Manheim says, and it has been this formula which has allowed Walton to reload its singles spots every year.
But how does the team stay hungry?
“I tell my girls all the time, ‘Take it one match at a time,’” Manheim says. “I think part of our strength is they are so focused and they have always wanted to play for each other.”
Match after match, title after title, this Walton girls tennis program doesn’t look to come up short anytime soon. Move over, John Wooden – there’s a new coach with her own winning streak!
Proctor can be reached at fproctor@scoreatl.com.
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