It was a battle between the new kid on the block Mountain House (winner of the 2021 Division 4 title) and the established local powerhouse Manteca (winner of the 2016, 2017, and 2019 Division 3 titles). The Mountain House High School Lady Mustangs girls tennis team (#3 seed in Division 2 this year) hosted the Lady Buffaloes of Manteca High (#6 seed) on Wednesday. The match was delayed for about an hour due to rain at the start time.
At #1 singles, while MH super sophomore Anisha Pandey played well at times, she was no match for Manteca's Katie Kim, winner of the last 2 sectional singles titles, losing 0-6, 0-6
At #2 singles, MH senior captain Malvika Seth, winner of the last 2 league doubles titles, dominated the first set 6-1 against Chloe Marquis. She also led 5-2 in the second set as her aggressive play forced multiple errors from Marquis. The match however turned on a dime as Marquis fought off multiple match points at 3-5 and tied the set at 5-5 when the rain started again.
At #3 singles, Manteca sophomore Emma Ngo's consistency eventually wore down MH senior Lizzie Su, winner of the last 3 league doubles titles, 7-5, 6-0.
At #4 singles, Manteca's Shreya Raman outplayed MH sophomore Akuokor Sai, winning the match 6-4, 6-2.
At #5 singles, MH sophomore Akweley Sai won a very decisive victory 6-2, 6-0 against Jenna Pacini. At #6 singles, MH super freshman Ananya Reddy led the match 6-3, 2-1 against Christina Nguyen when the rain started again.
At #1 doubles, Manteca's Paison & Bottoms outplayed MH senior Cheon Delacruz (pictured) and junior Akhila Maganti to take a 5-4 lead in the first set when the rain started again.
Both #2 & #3 doubles started on Wed but were postponed til Saturday.
The match resumed on Saturday with Manteca holding a 3-1 lead and tension in the air. Mountain House needed to win 4 of the remaining 5 matches to move on in the playoffs.
First to finish was Reddy at #6 singles. She continued her solid play this year and won 6-3, 6-2. Next was MH junior Neha Bhaskarabhotla & sophomore Anya Palsson who controlled the match from the start at #2 doubles winning 6-2, 6-1.
Senior captain Malvika Seth battled fiercely but could not stop the momentum switch as Marquis won 11 of the last 14 games and won the match 1-6, 7-5, 6-3.
With Manteca ahead 4-3, the match came down to #1 and #3 doubles.
At #1 doubles, Manteca took the first set 6-4 on Saturday but Delacruz and Maganti fought hard to win the second set 6-4. Momentum shifted after the second set as the MH pair dominated the last set 6-1 to even the team match at 4-4.
In a very tense deciding match, MH senior Sumedha Kundurthi and MH sophomore Kavya Nigam came up with big shots at the right moments to win the match 7-5, 6-4 to clinch the win for Mountain House.
Mountain House will travel to Loomis next week to take on the 2nd seed Del Oro High in the semifinals of Division 2 sectional playoffs. Date TBD
| 11/2/2022 | Score | ||
| #6 Manteca | 4 | ||
| #3 Mountain House | 5 | ||
| Singles | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 1 Anisha Pandey | 0 | 0 | |
| Katie Kim | 6 | 6 | |
| 2 Malvika Seth | 6 | 5 | 3 |
| Chloe Marquis | 1 | 7 | 6 |
| 3 Lizzie Su | 5 | 0 | |
| Emma Ngo | 7 | 6 | |
| 4 Akuokor Sai | 4 | 2 | |
| Shreya Raman | 6 | 6 | |
| 3 Akweley Sai | 6 | 6 | |
| Jenna Pacini | 0 | 2 | |
| 6 Ananya Reddy | 6 | 6 | |
| Christina Nguyen | 3 | 2 | |
| Doubles | |||
| 1 Cheon Delacruz & Akhila Maganti | 4 | 6 | 6 |
| Eva Paison & Alayna Bottoms | 6 | 4 | 1 |
| 2 Neha Bhaskarabhotla & Anya Palsson | 6 | 6 | |
| Simar Mann & Parm Toor | 2 | 1 | |
| 3 Sumedha Kundurthi & Kavya Nigam | 7 | 6 | |
| Guadalupe Mercado & Michailla Springs | 5 | 4 |