Thrilling action on Wednesday, May 3 saw the Bruin tennis team fight to the very end, pulling out a tie-breaker victory in the final match of the evening in the second round of the Sac-San Joaquin Section Tournament on the home court.

In earlier competition that day, the scoring ended in a four match tie. And the final games, pitting second seed girls doubles duo Carla and Alondra Ibarra against their Sonora counterparts, came down to a tie-breaking set.

The players were offered the opportunity to play on the center court, where each team could root them on from the adjacent courts. Instead, the players opted to play in the court they had been on. Those watching from the east side fence had to squint into the setting sun.

As play wore on, shadows deepened in the corners of the court, but the low light coming from the side of the court didn’t interfere much with serving and receiving.

The Ibarra sisters, Carla, a sophomore, an Alondra, a freshman, handled the set, 5-2, for the match winner over the Wildcats, lifting the Bruins to the overall 5-4 team victory.

They were to host Colfax in the third round on Monday, past press time for The News. If they won, they would go on the road for the semi-finals on Tuesday.

Riverbank’s successful Bruin tennis team had continued its winning ways earlier, picking up individual honors along with league wins recently.

Both boys and girls team tennis players received All-League recognition at the Trans-Valley League Tournament on April 28-29 in Modesto. Coach Bruce Edwards also was honored as the Coach of the Year.

Recognized as All-TVL were Alex Alfaro, Alejandro Manzo, Jackie Pantoja, Jasmine Rubio, Lili Trevino and Jessica Vasquez. Thirteen out of 14 players brought home plaques for first or second place finishes.