Top left: St. Paul Academy junior captains Leo Benson and Maik Nguyen. Right: sophomore David Schumacher. Bottom left: eighth-grader Zahir Hassan. (Jodi Benson (Benson and Nguyen, Hassan) and Rita Li (Schumacher)/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

A roster with three middle-schoolers and no seniors sounds like a recipe for failure.

At St. Paul Academy, it's the fuel for a repeat state championship. The Spartans are 11-3 this season and ranked No. 1 in Class 1A by the Minnesota High School Tennis Coaches Association. St. Paul Academy's losses were to Eden Prairie, Edina and Blake, all 2A schools.

Junior captains Leo Benson, Maik Nguyen and Baasit Mahmood provide the leadership and have experience despite their age.

"Two of the three junior captains were sophomore captains, and all three have been on the team for at least three years," SPA coach Luke Elifson said. "The continuity is something that we have relied on, and having young captains who are mature beyond their years sets the tone for the rest of the squad."

The Spartans enter postseason play with three lineup combinations. Seventh-grader Winston Arvidson and eighth-graders Zahir Hassan and Isaak Senaratna are in every one of them.

"The energy and talent is impressive, but what has stood out the most is the maturity they have brought to the table," said Elifson, who expects to have four more middle-schoolers on the varsity over the next two seasons.

Benson sees advantages to having such youth on the team.

"Knowing that this is the team we will have for the next two years just makes us hungrier to get better and creates more team chemistry," he said.

The challenge is not light for the Spartans. St. Paul Academy is a member of the Independent Metro Athletic Conference, and conference members Blake, Breck and Mounds Park Academy have spent time this season ranked among the state's top 10 in Class 1A or 2A. All have their eyes on the state tournament, which runs June 6-9. The Class 1A tournament will be at Reed-Sweatt Family Tennis Center, Class 2A at Baseline Tennis Center. Section tournaments are beginning and must be completed by May 30.

"We are not settling for being top of Class A," Elifson said. "Instead we want to be known as one of the best teams in the state, period. First we have to take care of business this year, but the long-term potential is very exciting."