LIVERMORE — It took a balanced effort for Manteca to sweep past its first opponent of 2016.

Returning sophomore Payton Reis blasted eight kills to go with eight digs, and Destanie Elliot added eight kills of her own along with three blocks as the Buffaloes downed Livermore of the East Bay Athletic League, 25-20, 25-17, 25-22.

“We don’t have to always depend on one person each night, so having that balance is great,” Manteca coach Kevin Bolding said. “Every coach hopes for that.”

Rhiannon Genilla contributed seven kills, eight digs and two blocks. Sophomore setters Kacey Bolding and Kaitlyn Morenzone distributed 16 and 11 assists, respectively. Bolding also turned in seven digs. Tawny Deerinck led the back row with 10 digs, and Sarah Inderbitzin chipped in a pair of blocks.

Coach Bolding was glad to see his team bet tested out the gate.

“They’re a good team, without a doubt,” he said. “They’re in a good league for volleyball, and a lot of those teams have a bunch of club players. I try to schedule some tougher teams to get us prepared for league. It was definitely a different environment for us and we did well.”

Manteca next heads to Ripon Christian on Thursday to take on the Sac-Joaquin Section’s most decorated small-schools program.

Liberty Ranch 3,

Lathrop 0

GALT — Facing a 2015 SJS Division IV postseason qualifier with many returning players, the Spartans fared well at the start before falling in three sets, 22-25, 14-25, 11-25.

Brittany Johnson led Lathrop with 19 digs and two kills. Joy Bautista finished with 18 digs, while Fasha Hayes and Juliana Denning contributed two kills apiece.

“They were a solid team and we want to play solid teams, so I’m not really sweating the preseason losses,” first-year Lathrop coach Heather Anderson said. “We were challenged and we hung with them in the first set. We obviously wanted to take at least one and we could have hung with them the whole match had we played to our potential.”