Bulletin staff reports
TRACY — Solman Aniss will get another shot at winning the Valley Oak League Singles Tournament title.
This time, he’ll have to get past one of his teammates.
Aniss secured his spot in the final Tuesday at Kimball High, defeating Central Catholic’s John Dunn 6-1, 6-4 in the semifinals. Joining him in the championship round Thursday is fellow Buffalo Kurtis Ma, who beat second-seated Kyle Banks of Sierra, 6-4, 6-1.
It’s the third time 13th-year coach Frank Fontana has had two players meet up in the singles final. Aniss’ older brothers, Mostafa and Yassen, squared off in 2008, while Oral Nunis and Mike Lopez went at it in 2012.
No. 1-seeded Solman Aniss opened with a bye before dispatching Oakdale’s Ludvig Westberg (8-2) and East Union’s Matthew Vadachira (6-0, 6-1). Last year, Aniss lost to Kimball’s Logan Le in the final. Le, whom Aniss swept in the regular season, opted not to compete in the singles tournament but will compete at doubles.
“Throughout the event he was on cruise control and was just the better player in each match he played,” Fontana said. “He just had to stay focused and take care of business in each and every match.”
Ma is the sixth seed and started with an 8-4 win over Kimball’s Johnathan Loayza. He then knocked off No. 3 Dane Juarez of Central Catholic 6-2, 6-3 in the quarterfinals.
“I knew he had it in him and that he could beat the other player sin the draw,” Fontana said of Ma. “All three were quality opponents and Kurtis played well.”
Action begins Thursday with the first round of the doubles tournament at 9 a.m. The singles final is set for 11 a.m.

COED TENNIS
Ripon 8, Hughson 1
HUGHSON — The Indians (5-3) racked up competitive wins to earn their fifth straight Trans-Valley League victory.
They got singles wins from Philip Carlson (6-1, 3-6, 6-3), Sam Brown (7-5, 6-4), Liliana Trevino (6-4, 6-4) and Mia Ponsiano (7-5, 6-0).
Three of the doubles matches went a third set, all claimed by Ripon: No. 1 boys Manuel Ponce/Nathaniel Salvatorelli (3-6, 6-7, 6-3), No. 2 girls Molly Ysit/Nimrit Hayer (6-4, 2-6, 10-6) and mixed Evan Gibson/Amanda Wesley (6-4, 3-6, 6-4). The top girls tandem of Shannon Johnson Abigail Pendleton also prevailed, 6-2, 6-3.

BOYS VOLLEYBALL
Weston Ranch 3, Sierra 1
The visiting Cougars picked up their second Valley Oak League win Tuesday, 25-14, 25-20, 22-25, 25-14.
Andre Salazar had seven kills, three assists, three digs and three blocks for Weston Ranch (2-4 VOL, 8-10 overall) and Josh Ico had 10 kills, five digs and an assist.
 
Ripon Christian 3,
Mtn. House 1
RIPON — Ripon Christian (6-0 TVL, 12-3 overall) clinched a spot in the Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs with the 26-28, 25-19, 25-11, 25-10 win.
Cade Alger led the Knights with 14 kills and 15 digs. Andrew Vander Weide rapped a team-high 15 kills. Braden Van Groningen added nine kills, six digs and two blocks. Jacob Vander Hoek contributed seven kills, Mark Ozenbaugh had eight digs and Dillon Zuidervaart handed out 30 assists to go with nine digs.

Ripon 3, Riverbank 0
RIPON — Ripon (2-4, 5-13) completed a season sweep of the Bruins, 25-16, 26-24, 25-22.
Michael Winters served six aces and led the defense with 15 digs. Trent Hawes contributed 13 digs, Dylan Sexton racked up six kills and 13 assists and Mitchell Ulrich fired five kills.
GOLF
Lathrop 227, Manteca 242
TRACY — Christian Guzman had four birdies and finished one-over 36 to lead the Spartans (8-5) at Old River Golf Course.
He was backed by a solid runner-up finish from Luke Marcello, who carded a 39. Mads Boellert (40), Sebastian Iniguez (50) and Andrew Lam (61) followed suit. Manteca was paced by Marc Buenrostro’s 41. Matsua Garcia-Mendez (47), Isaac Bill (47), Adrian Gonzales (48) and Sal Safi (59) were other scorers for the Buffaloes.
   
Freshman softball
East Union 9, Oakdale 9
With the Mustangs in position to win the game with a hit with runners on second and third and one out, Lancers pitcher Marisa Carranza got of a jam runners as she struck out last two batters to end the game and clinch the Valley Oak League championship for East Union.
East Union trailed 8-1 in the top of the fourth inning, scoring two in the fourth and five in the fifth to tie the game. The Lancers took a 9-8 lead when Keyaria Rodriguez scored from second on a dropped third strike to Serena Rubalcalba. Oakdale eventually tied the game.