STOCKTON — It was easy come, easy go for Manteca’s reigning Valley Oak League champion boys tennis team on Friday.
The Buffaloes began their title defense with a 9-0 dismantling of Weston Ranch.
“It was a good performance from our team,” Manteca coach Frank Fontana said. “We have a lot of new guys after graduating seven of our top 12 players from last year’s team. Today was a good start, but we must keep improving every day and that is our goal.”
Manteca starts three freshmen, including promising No. 1 singles player Solman Aniss. He jump started his high school career with a 6-1, 6-0 sweep of Kent Balacy.
It was more of the same in the rest of the matches, as Weston Ranch could only muster 12 games. Kyle Thornburg (6-0, 6-1), Si Hao Tang (6-0, 6-1), Yok Ehy Ma (6-1, 6-0), Lenard Gutierrez (6-0, 6-0) and Matt Pabla (6-2, 6-2) were other winners in singles play.
Manteca’s top doubles team of Dhillon Patel and Kurtis Ma coasted, 6-0, 6-1. Rey Anaya and Kevin Lin teamed up at the No. 2 spot and won, 6-1, 6-1. Joseph Poncini and Cameron Gonzales rounded out the shutout, 6-1, 6-0.

Kimball 9, Sierra 0
The Timberwolves had a tough assignment to start the season under new head coach Dan Duke.
Kimball, a perennial contender in the VOL, was led by three-time defending singles champion Garrett Chun, who blanked Kyle Banks, 6-0, 6-0.
The most competitive match came at No. 1 doubles, where Tyler Holmes and Robert Tavares dropped a 3-6, 4-6 decision to Shehzer Hassan and Omar Popal.