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Kim drops game, coasts to VOL title
Manteca teammates Marquis, Ngo claim doubles crown
VOL Tennis Tournament
Manteca’s Katie Kim sets up for the backhand return against Mianna Robinson during the Valley Oak League singles final Thursday at Sierra High. - photo by Wayne Thallander

Katie Kim lost a game.

That was the extent of the drama Thursday in the Valley Oak League Tournament singles final at Sierra High, as Mianna Robinson of Central Catholic ended Kim’s drive for a season’s worth of shutouts.

Robinson took the fourth game of the opening set to close in, 3-1. Kim, however, is in a class of her own.

Manteca’s reigning Sac-Joaquin Section Division II singles titlist gladly settled for the 6-1, 6-0 victory, repeating as league champion.

“Actually, I felt more relieved,” Kim said of losing her first and only game in VOL play this season. She blanked all 10 of her opponents in team duals, and two more in the second and quarterfinal rounds Tuesday. After a first-round bye, she vanquished Kimball’s Anashi Thakur 8-0 and Oakdale’s Kennedy Jones, 6-0, 6-0. Semifinal opponent Caden Wilson of Central Catholic defaulted.

“I was trying to keep that record, but once I lost it, it was like, ‘Oh well. I don’t have to worry about it anymore,’” Kim added.

Kim and Robinson qualified for the SJS Division II Individual Tournament on Nov. 3-4 at Johnson Ranch

VOL Tennis Tournament
Chloe Marquis of Manteca hits a shot toward Central Catholic’s Mia Phillips and Isis Zulita in the quarterfinal round of the Valley Oak League Doubles Tournament on Thursday. - photo by Wayne Thallander
Racquet Club in Roseville. Joining them are Manteca’s doubles champs Chloe Marquis and Emma Ngo and Oakdale runners-up Kennedy and Rielly Jones. The Marquis-Ngo tandem won 6-1, 6-2 in the final.

Only the singles and doubles finalists move on. Sierra’s Tanya Sharma won two matches on her ways to the singles semifinals, where she dropped a 5-7, 1-6 decision to Robinson.

Kim is looking forward to defending her Section crown from a year ago. As a junior, she was admittedly nervous going into the tournament but went on to upset No. 1-seeded Clarissa Sutami of Vista del Lago, 3-6, 7-5, 10-8. Kim became the third tennis player in school history to with an SJS individual title, and the first two — Ranata Scholl (1982) and Lynn Henderson (1983) achieved this 40 years ago.

Kim also has a second-place medal in the SJS Division II doubles tournament, earned during her freshman year. There was no postseason play during the 2020-21 academic year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“I definitely feel a lot more confident with my play now than last year, and I feel like I have a better grasp of the tournament and who is going to be there,” Kim said.

Marquis and Ngo hope to make a run of their own to the SJS doubles final. On Thursday, the Buffaloes duo took care of Kimball’s Jasmyn Khangara and Jade Asuncion 8-0, Central Catholic’s Mia Phillips and Isis Zulita 6-0, 6-2 and Central Catholic’s Peyton Garrett and Adriana Saldivar 6-0, 6-3 en route to the final.

“Two of the most intense, passionate players,” Manteca coach MaryAnn Tolbert said. “They expect a lot of themselves, but they show their passion when they make a great play. They have played on their off time all season, practicing for this tournament. So proud of them.”

The rest of the Buffaloes are not done yet.

The VOL team champions have advanced to the SJS Team Tournament starting next Monday. Manteca is a three-time champion in Division III but has been placed in the more competitive Division II bracket. Seeded sixth, the Buffs host No. 11 Tracy. The match is scheduled to start at 2 p.m.
“It’s one thing to win something by yourself, but it’s another thing to win with a group of people you’ve been working with these past few months,” Kim said, who helped the team claim its last Section title in 2019. “I’m definitely more excited about the team than for my own individual tournament.”