MALIBU – The No. 28 California men's tennis team lost to 40th-ranked Pepperdine, 4-3, on Saturday evening at the Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center. The Golden Bears (9-5) led 3-2, but the Waves (8-7) won the last two singles matches to prevail.
 
Cal dropped the doubles point in back-to-back matches for the first time this season, and – as in a 4-3 loss to No. 15 Arizona in their last match – the Bears lost by the narrowest of margins to Pepperdine. The Bears' 64th-ranked pair of Ryder Jackson and Lucas Magnaudet beat Maxi Homberg and Eero Vasa, 7-5, on court two. But the Waves claimed a win on court one and then clinched the doubles point with a result on court three.

The Bears have won the doubles point nine times out of 12 chances this season.

"How you do in doubles shows how thin the line between winning and losing is," said Kris Kwinta, Cal's Peter Wright Director of Men's Tennis. "One point one way or the other, and it's a win or a loss. We've lost our mojo in doubles a little bit. Guys are a little fatigued."
 
Cal won three of the first four singles matches to take a 3-2 lead over Pepperdine, as the Bears' 46th-ranked Yuta Kikuchi defeated the 79th-ranked Tim Zeivogel on court one, Magnaudet triumphed over Linus Halldin, 6-4, 6-3, on court six and Carl Emil Overbeck beat Pietro Fellin, 2-6, 6-0, 6-3, on court four.
 
With Cal needing to win one of the last two matches to take the victory, Pepperdine won three-setters on courts five and three – with Derrick Chen's 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 loss to Vasa the clincher – to beat the Bears.

"We still had chances in singles today, and guys responded like they did when we lost doubles in the San Diego match," said Kwinta, who referred to a 5-2 win over the Toreros. "It's a disappointing outcome, but we had a good team talk. We'll be back battling tomorrow."
 
Cal plays at No. 32 UC Santa Barbara on Sunday at 1 p.m.