Manteca girls tennis has a new No. 1 this year in freshman Katie Kim.
She is already playing like a seasoned veteran.
In the Buffaloes’ 7-2 Valley Oak League season-opening win over Sierra on Tuesday at Manteca Regional Tennis Center Kim found herself pitted against three-time VOL finalist and three-time Manteca Bulletin All-Area Player of the Year Kaitlyn Rausa. Although a little nervous, it was youth over experience with Kim winning 6-4, 6-3.
“I was really nervous before the match,” Kim said. “I was shaking a lot.
“But when I went on to the court I realized everyone around me was here to support me and everyone had my back. I told myself I was going to do this for the team and for myself.”
The three-time defending VOL champion Buffaloes are coming off a 19-0 campaign that included the Sac-Joaquin Section Division III championship. Coach MaryAnn Tolbert did not quite know what to expect of her new squad, which stretched its league winning streak to 47 matches.
“This was nice,” Tolbert said. “You come back every year and you don’t know what’s going to happen when you get in that first match, especially against a crosstown rival. These girls have worked hard all summer and battled the heat and they came out here ready to play.
“Katie was amazing today. Coming out here as a freshman and playing with the composure she possessed was just outstanding.”
Sierra No. 2 doubles partners Kendall Sellers and Jasmine Sebastian downed Isabella Huerta and Danielle Diaz, 6-4, 6-4. No. 3 Melanie Nguyen tallied the other Sierra point when Sahiba Kaur was forced to withdraw.
“Usually, Manteca is really intimidating,” Sebastian said. “My partner Kendall and I pushed through, though.”
The rest of the Manteca victories came from No. 2 Ellie Kim over Nadia Petrovic 6-2, 6-1; No. 4 Kerren Zou over Livleen Kaler 6-1, 6-0; No. 5 Yanki Ma over Victoria Zellner 6-2, 6-3 and No. 6 Kalissa Martin over Sydney Trump 6-2, 6-2.
No. 1 Buffaloes doubles Kaileah Johannson-Melissa Poncini defeated Varsha Balasubranian-Bianca Dunga 6-0, 6-1 and No. 3 Amorina Tse-Heather Pang downed Brianna Villalobos-Caitlyn Morrow, 6-4, 6-4.
“Today was a very good match,” Timberwolves coach Ed Melfort said. “Even though we lost 7-2, I have never felt so good about a loss because I thought that my two best players — No. 1 (Rausa) and No. 2 (Petrovic) — didn’t play very well.  If they played better this match would have been closer.
“There were a couple of blowouts but a lot of matches were very close. I have a young team with some new players coming in so I am very excited going forward.”