MALIBU, Calif. – The UC Irvine men's tennis team was trailing 3-2 when seniors Rithvik Krishna and Hiroki Sakagawa delivered clutch wins for a 4-3 victory over Pepperdine Saturday at Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center.

The Anteaters (1-1) ended a 23-match drought in the all-time series with their first win over the Waves since 1992. Pepperdine has made four-straight NCAA Tournament appearances and boasts the second-ranked recruiting class according to Tennis Recruiting Network.
 
The Waves (0-1) claimed the doubles point with a 6-3 triumph at No. 2 and a 6-4 win at No. 1. Hugh Winter then gave the home team a 2-0 advantage, taking his match at No. 5 singles in straight sets.  
 
Not long after, freshman Ruining Huang upended David Fix, 7-5, 6-3, at No. 6. Sophomore Andy Nguyen followed suit, bringing the 'Eaters even with a 6-4, 7-6 (5) victory over Linus Halldin on court two.
 
No. 36 Maxi Homberg put Pepperdine back out front as he edged senior Noah Zamora, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, at the top of the lineup.
 
Senior Rithvik Krishna then stepped up, keeping UC Irvine alive with a hard-fought 7-5, 3-6, 7-5 victory over Lasse Poertner at the fourth spot.
 
All eyes turned to court three where senior Hiroki Sakagawa was locked in a close battle with Aleksa Pisanic. Sakagawa rose to the challenge as he won the big points to deliver a match-clinching 7-6 (8-6), 6-4 win.
 
UC Irvine will face another tough road test on Monday, Jan. 20, when it heads to USC. First serve is set for 11 a.m. at David X. Marks Tennis Stadium.