Irvine Valley's men's tennis team took it down to the wire, but Bakersfield won the final three matches in three sets to pull off a 5-4 win over the Lasers in the first round of the California Community College Athletic Association Dual Team Regionals on Tuesday at home.
Irvine Valley, seeded fourth, saw its team season come to a close with a record of 9-2 overall. Bakersfield, the No. 5 seed, moved on to take on No. 2 Ventura next Tuesday in the second round on the road.
The Lasers were down early after dropping two of three doubles matches.
IVC picked up a win in the final doubles contest on the courts. The No. 3 team of freshmen Sergio Jardas and Rudra Pathak won in a tiebreak, 9-8 (7-3).
And the Lasers got on a roll early in singles competition with a quick 6-1, 6-0 win by Pathak on the sixth court to tie the score in matches at 2-2.
Irvine Valley went up, 3-2, after an easy 6-3, 6-0, win by No. 1 player and sophomore leader Kiichi Ishida.
IVC moved within a singles win after freshman Alyan Ashraf won on the third court, 6-2, 6-4.
But Bakersfield earned the overall victory with three, hard-fought wins in three sets at the No. 5, No. 4 and No. 2 courts.
Brett Yackovich won, 1-6, 6-2, 6-2 at No. 5, Moses Jimenez came out on top, 0-6, 6-3, 6-4, and Lucas Specht clinched the win for Bakersfield with a 4-6, 6-0, 6-1 victory at No. 2 singles.
The Lasers will play again in the CCCAA State individual singles and doubles tournament a week from Sunday in the Ventura, Oxnard and Ojai areas.
