Ruben Morales and Manuel Lazcano placed second at the Western Athletic Conference Doubles Championships for the second year in a row.
The Central Valley varsity boys tennis duo qualified for the Sac-Joaquin Section Division-II tournament by virtue of their top-two finish.
"We're both really proud to have made history," Ruben said. "We made it to sections for the second year in a row. Hopefully, we don't play the No. 1 seed again."
Morales and Lazcano lost 6-3, 6-2 to Livingston's unseeded tandem of Diego Jimenez and Angel Ramirez in the finals on Thursday in Livingston.
"We knew we had a strong chance at winning it all," Morales said. "The fact that we were the No. 1 seed, we thought it was going to be easier. We should have performed better. We should have tried harder. I guess it just wasn't our day. They were really on their game. They were consistent."
Fatigue may have been a factor during the loss.
Morales and Lazcano played a combined six matches at the WAC doubles and singles tournaments last week.
"I played a three-set match on Wednesday," Morales said. "Manuel played twice. It was physically demanding and mentally draining. That affected our performance."
Morales and Lazcano beat Livingston's fourth-seeded duo of Michael Leon and Harjot Sidhu 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) in the semifinals and Ceres High's Christian Pimentel and Jorge Campos 6-1, 7-6 (10-8) in the quarterfinals.
Ruben and Manuel received a bye in the first round.
"We're both at the same level tennis-wise," Morales said. "We know how each other play. We have great chemistry."
Hawk teammates Henry Garcia and Roman Ortiz lost 6-1, 6-1 to Jimenez and Ramirez in the quarterfinals.
Garcia and Ortiz edged Los Banos' third-seeded doubles team of Andy Liu and Jared Haug 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the first round.
Chris Padilla and Donnavin Koeurn, Ceres High's second-seeded doubles tandem, advanced to the semifinals.
Padilla and Koeurn lost 6-1, 6-4 to Jimenez and Ramirez.
Padilla and Koeurn earned a hard-fought 6-4, 7-5 win while battling Livingston's Sam Redmon and Kevin Castro in the quarterfinals.
Ceres High's Juan Hernandez and Will Rodriguez lost 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 to Los Banos' Jack Gerstenberg and Will Marchese.
Lazcano finished in the top eight at the WAC Singles Championships.
Manuel lost 6-1, 6-1 to fourth-seeded Christian Pimentel of Ceres High in the quarterfinals on Wednesday at Livingston High School.
Lazcano topped Pacheco's Oscar Amador 6-0, 6-1 in the opening round.
Seeded third, Morales lost by upset to Ramirez in the first round.
Ramirez rallied for a 2-6, 6-2, 7-5 victory.
