Manteca’s quest to repeat as Valley Oak League champion improved on Monday after a 21-25, 25-20, 25-18, 25-19 win at East Union.

The Buffaloes (8-2, 16-4 overall) took a half-match lead over idle Sierra (7-2, 15-10), which has a tougher closing stretch. Manteca has won more big test remaining in fellow reigning co-champ Oakdale (6-4, 17-13), which was knocked farther out of the race by a five-set loss to Central Catholic.

Manteca has won five consecutive league matches with one of its top players, outside hitter Ariceli McBroom, out with an ankle injury. The hope is for her to return for the postseason.

“We’re just trying to take each game at a time,” Manteca coach Robin Chandler said. “For each game, I watch film and try to strategize. I don’t like to worry, but I like to see what we’re up against. As long as we’re playing our game, we’ll have a chance. If we get the balls to Taimane and Trinity, then we’re doing good.”

Feeding outside hitter Taimane Tu’uga and middle Trinity Todd helped the Buffs shake out of their early rut Monday. Tu’uga led all players with 28 kills, along with 15 digs, while Todd added 12 kills and a block.

It was fittingly Tu’uga who ended the match with a decisive kill, which followed a block from Alanna Lowery, a recent call-up from the JV squad.

Na’ima Calderon, filling in for McBroom, knocked down six kills.

“(Calderon) has had to step up, and we have somebody in the back row come in for her, so we actually have two girls stepping up,” Chandler said. “We pulled up the JV player to kind of fill in.”

Both of Manteca’s setters were effective. Jill De Costa Aldape kept the East Union defense off balance with her attacking ability, contributing four kills and two blocks, to go with 17 assists. Katie Anderson amassed 21 assists, six digs and three aces.

Maddie Nunes led the defense with 21 digs, while chipping in six assists. Lana Bondoc served up three aces and had 11 digs.

Manteca did well to overcome a sluggish start in which it trailed by as much as eight on multiple occasions. Chandler credited the effort of East Union (3-7, 11-12), which had a lengthy 11 days between matches.

“We started slow, and they’ve very scrappy, too,” Chandler said. “They don’t let the ball drop, and they were finding the spots on our court a lot. I think they’re a really good team and we just kind of started slow, and we can’t keep doing that.”

East Union is fighting stay in the hunt for its first playoff berth since 2015. Although the Lancers have given the title contenders fits, even beating Oakdale in five sets, they’re still have trouble with consistency and closing out sets.

“We have the talent, we got the skills, but sometimes we get going and then we slow down,” EU coach Tevani Liotard said. “That’s what happened to tonight.

“That was the tone that we set in the first game. I felt like we had all of our guns and we were playing well. They were kind of sitting back a little bit, and then all of the sudden we start making little mistakes. Then they out-hit us and out-tipped us, and were kind of playing scared.”

Middle blocker Isabella Martinez Lopez paced East Union with six kills. Jedah Haywood and Lilyan Frye (six assists) added four kills apiece. Lucija Dayeh handed out 15 assists, and Lola picked up seven digs.

East Union hosts Sierra on Thursday.

Junior varsity

Manteca 2, East Union 0

Ava Diedrick was dominant all-around in helping the visiting Buffaloes prevail, 28-26, 25-20.

She tied with freshman teammate Olivia Espinoza for the team lead with six kills but also had seven digs, and five aces.

La’Vee Clark registered nine assists and 12 digs. Natalia Ramirez racked up five assists and five digs. Bianca Esparza came through with 13 digs and eight service points.

Adisyn Owens turned in six assists, two kills and two digs for East Union. Sophia Quezada chipped in with seven assists. Addie Souza collected six kills and eight digs. Norah Warnso picked up 13 digs.

Freshman

Manteca 2, East Union 0

Manteca swept 25-13, 25-21 behind Chloe Badig’s eight kills, five digs and two aces.

Kahmara Hurst fired seven aces and contributed five digs defensively. Madison Venancio dished out eight assists.