The third member of the Kim family to star for Manteca’s girls tennis team might already be the best of the bunch.

Just ask young Hailie herself.

“I definitely think I’ve done better,” the freshman joked last Thursday after claiming the Valley Oak League singles championship at Manteca Regional Tennis Center.

Older sister Katie, a 2023 graduate, also won a league title her freshman year but in doubles. She then enjoyed a dominant run on the other side of the 2020 coronavirus shutdown, earning back-to-back singles crowns in the VOL and Sac-Joaquin Section Division II tournaments. Ellie, the eldest, played a key role in Manteca winning SJS Division III team championships in 2018 and 2019.

Hailie, however, is on track to achieve unprecedented success for Manteca tennis.

She knocked off defending VOL champion Riley Avila of Oakdale 6-3, 6-0 despite not playing her best.

“I was really nervous in the beginning,” Kim said. “I couldn’t find my rhythm at all the whole first set. I was not doing that great. I feel like the last two times I played her, I definitely had a lot more confidence and played a lot better.”

She’s now 24-0 after her latest victory, a 6-0, 6-0 over Merced sophomore Vasudha Shyam in the first round of the SJS Division III team tennis playoffs on Monday. The Buffaloes head to top-seeded Rio Americano next Monday, but Kim has personal business to tend to first — getting her first SJS singles title at an earlier age than when Katie earned hers.

Sibling rivalries aside, Hailie acknowledges that her sisters’ past experiences may give her an edge going into the SJS Division II Individual Tournament this Thursday at Johnson Ranch Racquet Club in Roseville.

“I definitely think I know about it a little more, just because my sisters have told me everything that they didn’t know,” Kim said.