Thursday, Sept. 4, 2003 | 9:28 a.m.
If one player could shape the destiny of a team, Palo Verde's boys' tennis team might go undefeated this year.
But tennis is a team sport, and despite the dynamic talent of the Panthers' Cameron Parker, defending champion Bonanza is the prep favorite in 2003.
"It's not a whole bunch of individuals playing tennis," said first-year Gorman coach Craig Witcher, an instructor at Lorenzi Park and a former coach at UNLV. "Tennis has that fine line of being an individual sport, but on the team, every guy counts."
"Your worst guy is just as valuable as the best guy, because they all get a point if they win. You try to get it to where they all have their purpose and they all have their value."
Palo Verde's Zach Brandt, also in his first year coaching tennis, said that Parker, a senior, has been working on his already strong game.
"He's one of the top singles boys' players in the state, and he's been playing all summer," Brandt said. "He plays real high in some big tournaments out of state."
Rick Niemczewski, the successful coach at Bonanza, said he has been tweaking his team after winning the 2002 championship. With a solid core returning, however, not much tweaking might be necessary.
"Of nine starters, we've got eight of them back," Niemczewski said.
The big returners are Rishi Daulat and Ernie Domanico, who will play singles for the Bengals. Lenny Whiting will make the switch to singles, as well.
"Bonanza won state last year. On paper, they probably look better than us," Witcher said. "But that doesn't mean anything, because that's on paper. They're going to have to get out, hit the ball, and win the match to beat us."
Coronado, Palo Verde and Bonanza look to have the top girls' teams in 2003.
The biggest change -- and challenge -- for this year is that all regular-season play will only be within the division. That means trouble for the Southwest division, with Bonanza and Bishop Gorman lurking.
"The other teams are generally young and/or just not known as 'tennis schools,' " Niemczewski explains. "I don't mean that in a bad way. It's just the way it's been for a number of years."
Brandt wasn't too excited about the change, which was ordered as a means of saving money in the school district's tough financial times.
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