Del Oro came in as the lower seed and a sub-.500 record but may have been the favorite Tuesday in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division II quarterfinal at Manteca.

The host Buffaloes, despite fielding perhaps their best team in the program’s short history, had a tough time keeping up with the battle-hardened Golden Eagles from Loomis in the 20-25, 26-24, 11-25, 19-25 defeat.

“They were the No. 6 seed and we probably underestimated them, but they’re just a way better team than what we’re used to seeing,” Manteca middle blocker Aidan Patton said. “It was a good accomplishment for us to make it past the first round, which was a goal of ours. We have lots of seniors but also a lot of younger players. We were a well-rounded team this year.”

Del Oro (16-16) faces a familiar foe Thursday in Sierra Foothill League foe Granite Bay (16-11) — a team the Golden Eagles beat three times in the regular season. The second-seeded Grizzlies swept Tracy and River Valley in the first two rounds.

“This year, even the top teams in our league had losses,” Del Oro coach Katie Haley said. “Everybody was super close, and I can’t think of a team that doesn’t have at least three or four club players. The level of play up there is really high.”

The Golden Eagles’ balanced offense, orchestrated by sophomore setter James Learn, gave third-seeded Manteca (20-4) fits. Six-foot-4 senior Zachary Winter blasted a match-high 15 kills, while sophomores Jayden Steel and Hunter Larkin contributed 11 and 10, respectively.

“A lot of the teams we face locally may have their one or two good hitters that we can key in on, but Del Oro is so well balanced,” Manteca coach Jennifer Reis said. “They ran their middle, their backs and the outsides, and that just kept our middles off balance.”

Sophomore outside hitter Jesus Gomez led Manteca with 12 kills and 21 digs. Setter Mark Bondoc had 29 assists and 13 digs. Julio Gomez and Garrison Reis chipped in nine kills apiece.

A five-point service run from Winter gave Del Oro early separation that it rode to the end of the opening set. It was Winter who fittingly ended it with a kill.

The Buffaloes started game 2 with more spirited play and took their largest lead of the match at 16-11 with Garrison Reis’ well-placed dink to a back corner.

Following a timeout, Del Oro responded with an 11-2 run capped by back-to-back aces from Hayden Yarnes. Manteca called a timeout of its own while staring at a 22-18 deficit.

Gomez got the Buffaloes’ going with a kill, and Patton denied Seth Wilhelm (eight kills, two blocks) with a solo stuff. Patton later blocked Wilhelm again to tie it at 24-24. Mateo’s dink set Manteca up with game point, and a Del Oro hitting error ended it.

The Buffs could not carry the momentum into the remaining sets, however.

Game 3 quickly got away from them as Del Oro scored 18 of the final 22 points. Caden Pancoast served the final seven points of the set, a stretch that included two aces.

The Golden Eagles then soared to a 6-1 lead in the fourth game and ended the match on a 9-3 run.

“Sometimes, really good teams make you feel like you’re playing bad because they put so much pressure on you, and Del Oro is one of those quality teams that just doesn’t make too many mistakes.”

Manteca came up short of its ultimate goal of winning the first SJS championship for the program, but the Buffs were able to win their third straight Valley Oak League title and matched the single-season record set by the 2018 team that also finished 20-4.

“Being part of this team the last four years, I’m so proud of how far we have come,” senior libero Cedrick Maglinao said. “Everybody has really improved and gotten so much better.”