Manteca High had already secured a berth into the Sac-Joaquin Section Division II Team Tennis Tournament, but the team still had business to finish in a regular season-ending 6-3 win over the Sonora Wildcats.
Manteca (11-3 Valley Oak League, 12-3 overall) honored seniors Mia Ramirez, Ruth Habte, Kayla Godfrey and four-year varsity player Jasmine Sandhu prior to the victory.
The Buffaloes got strong doubles play from No. 1 team Liz Diaz and Ramirez who won 6-2, 6-7, 7-6 (7-1) and from No.2 team of Habte and Godfrey’s 7-6, 3-0 (Sonora retired to injury). Manteca also got a 6-0, 6-0 win from Aleeyah Cordoba and Noha Elabed in doubles play.
Sandhu closed out her final VOL season with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 win over Sonora’s Kaylee Hamblin. Teammate Rosa Zou beat Margaret Maltese 6-1, 6-2. Manteca also got a singles win from Jenny Yu 6-2, 6-4.
Manteca will begin the VOL Tournament Tuesday when the singles tournament gets underway in Sonora. Doubles play will begin Thursday. Manteca’s team tennis playoff run will get under way Oct. 31with the Buffaloes hosting the Capital Valley Conference’s No. 3 seed Oakmont High.
Weston Ranch 7, Oakdale 2
Ly Hoang cruised to an easy victory, beating Oakdale’s Christine Kim 6-0, 6-0 to help lead the Cougars to a VOL-best 13th win on the season.
The Cougars bounced back with a strong showing after suffering their first loss of the VOL season to the Manteca Buffaloes, winning all but one match in the league finale.
“I wasn’t sure how my team was going to respond to losing their first VOL match,” Weston Ranch head coach Jason Furtado said. “I was impressed how my girls pulled together and remained focused on the goal we set out to achieve in the beginning of the season, and that was to win a VOL championship.”
The Cougars got singles wins from Aarelle Albino (6-2, 6-2), Samantha Paras (6-3, 7-5), Chelsea Olitan (6-0, 6-0), Christina Poklay (6-3, 5-7, 6-2) and Raina Baet (6-0, 6-0).
Weston Ranch (13-1) also got doubles wins from Cinda Moua and Delarine Barut who teamed up for a 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 come-from-behind win.