SANTA BARBARA – The No. 28 California men's tennis team dropped another narrow loss on its road trip on Sunday, this time falling to 32nd-ranked UC Santa Barbara, 4-3, at the Arhnhold Tennis Center.
 
Cal comes away from its short nonconference jaunt – including a 4-3 defeat at No. 40 Pepperdine on Saturday – with a 9-6 record. The Golden Bears have lost three consecutive 4-3 matches, including a March 18 setback against No. 15 Arizona in Berkeley.
 
UCSB improved to 15-1.
 
After losing the doubles point for its second straight contest on Saturday, Cal retooled two of its pairs for Sunday. The Bears paired Yuta Kikuchi with Siddhant Banthia on court one and teamed Carl Emil Overbeck with Derek Chen on court three. But the Bears lost to the 57th-ranked Phillip Jordan and Kai Brady, 6-4, on court one, and then the Gauchos clinched the point on court two, with Cal's 64th-ranked Lucas Magnaudet and Ryder Jackson falling 6-4 to Luka Mrsic and Pablo Masjuan.
 
The 46th-ranked Kikuchi posted a 6-3, 6-3 win over Phillip Jordan at court-one singles to tie the overall match at 1-1.
 
UCSB won the next two to take a 3-1 lead. First, Cal's 120th-ranked Jackson lost to Masjuan on court two, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2, and then Banthia fell to Mrsic, 5-7, 6-1, 6-3, on court five.
 
The Bears rallied – with Chen beating Lucca Liu, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, on court four and Overbeck besting Gianluca Brunkow, 7-6(4), 2-6, 6-4, on court three – to knot the score at 3-3.
 
But Cal's loss was complete when Magnaudet fell to Brady on court six, 7-5, 3-6, 6-1.
                                                                                                                                         
"When it rains it pours," said Kris Kwinta, Cal's Peter Wright Director of Men's Tennis. "It's a failure on my part to prepare these guys to be more assertive, believe in themselves in tough moments and play with courage. Right now, we're playing not to lose. We're in a little bit of a slump and have a lot of adjustments to make before the next match.
 
"We definitely have a capable team and a lot of great players. We had some really good individual performances, but it's a team sport."
 
The Bears remain on the road for their next match – an April 2 Pac-12 Conference tilt at No. 31 Utah.