Manteca High’s boys tennis team is on a little roll after dropping its Valley Oak League opener to Kimball.

On Thursday, the Buffaloes dispatched rival East Union across town 8-1 for their fourth straight conference win. Coach Frank Fontana said his young team is showing improvement but is expecting a tough test in the coming week.

Today, Manteca travels to Sonora for a makeup match, and next week second-place Weston Ranch awaits followed by a second crack at unbeaten Kimball. The defending VOL champion Buffaloes (4-1, 6-4 overall) will soon find out where they truly stand in league.

“We basically have four matches in seven days starting with (Thursday’s) match, and our next three are going to decide our VOL fate,” Fontana said. “We are much improved from that first match (against Kimball) a couple of weeks ago. We’re gaining more confidence in our abilities, and hopefully we’ll continue to see that as we see the other top teams in the league.”

Manteca had the look of a contender Thursday as it easily claimed eight of the nine matches in straight sets. In singles, Mike Lopez (6-1, 6-1), Yok-Jing Ma (6-2, 6-0), Puneet Sandhu (6-0, 6-0), Alex Vazquez (6-2, 6-1) and Thomas Reza (6-1, 6-0) dominated. East Union’s lone win came at No. 6 singles, where Kevin Flores came from behind to knock off Spencer Jackson, 2-6, 6-2, 10-2.

The Angel Tejada-Andre Wiggins No. 1 tandem contributed a 6-2, 6-0 victory. Nick Lopez and Edvin Pepic prevailed 6-2, 6-2, as did Daniel Rodriguez and Gino Mercado, 6-1, 6-2.