Manteca High’s tennis team was well represented in the first day of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division II Individual Tournament on Thursday.

Valley Oak League doubles champions Yok Jing Ma and Angel Tejada worked their way into today’s semifinal round at Roseville’s Johnson Ranch Racquet Club, while Mike Lopez won his opening match before falling in the singles quarterfinals.

Ma and Tejada started their run with a surprisingly-lopsided 6-2, 6-2 win over the No. 3-seeded duo of Evan Harling and Jacob Lampi from Bella Vista. They then knocked off Vanden’s Patrick Dazo and Jose Arvisu in a more competitive contest, 6-4, 7-5.

“Yok and Angel played very solid all day,” Manteca coach Frank Fontana said. “I stopped watching their first match after the first few games because they were just rolling. Their second match was against a really tough team. In talking to the Vanden coach, he thought that they were two of the better teams in the tournament.”

The Buffalo tandem meets second-seeded Alick Liang and Gurman Bains of Ceres. Ma and Tejada look to be the first Manteca doubles pair to reach the finals since Yassen Aniss and Arnie Morales did it in 2009. Aniss and Morales lost in three sets.

Lopez showed well in singles action. He first edged out Mira Loma’s Ned Azimov 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 in a 2 ½-hour long match. A two-time runner-up in the VOL Championships, the sophomore again played well in the second round but dropped a 4-6, 5-7 decision to No. 4 Konner Macias of Whitney.

“Mike had a great tournament,” Fontana said. “He played two quality players and definitely hung with them.  He showed that he does belong, and maybe with a little hard work in the next two years who knows how much farther he can go?”