SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Hiroki Sakagawa earned his second ranked singles win of the season in UC Irvine's narrow 4-2 loss at No. 32 UC Santa Barbara Sunday afternoon at Arnhold Tennis Center.
 
The Anteaters (11-7, 3-1 Big West) saw a four-match win streak come to an end with their first conference loss, while UCSB won its eighth in a row to improve to 15-5 overall and 4-0 in Big West play.
 
UCI trailed 3-0, but as they have done all season, the 'Eaters showed their resolve. Hiroki Sakagawa started the rally with a 7-6 (4), 7-5 win over No. 87 Lucca Liu at the top of the singles lineup. It was Sakagawa's team-leading 11th victory, and second over a ranked opponent as he previously defeated No. 103 Manvydas Balciunas of San Diego on Feb. 6.
 
Greg Gamal followed suit, outlasting Conrad Brown, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, at the sixth spot to close the gap to 3-2. It was Gamal's 10th win of the dual match campaign.
 
UC Irvine pushed the Gauchos to a third set on the two remaining courts. At No. 2, Max Fardanesh got out to a quick start with a 6-3 victory against No. 55 Dominique Rolland. Rolland then regrouped to take the second. In the final frame, Fardanesh was down a double break at 4-1 and 5-2, but fought back to tie it up at 5-5. Rolland answered with a break before winning deuce point for the 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 match-clincher.
 
On court five, Ruining Huang was in the driver's seat as he recovered from a first-set loss to go up, 5-7, 7-6 (7-2), 4-1, when his match against Charlie Underwood was abandoned.
 
Huang, Gamal, and Sakagawa are all 3-0 in Big West singles.
 
UC Santa Barbara started doubles play with a 6-1 win at No. 3. Over on court one, Fardanesh and Rohan Sachdev erased a 15-40 deficit to save match point, but were unable to complete the comeback as No. 53 Miguel Avendeno/Lucca Liu secured the team point with a 6-3 victory.
 
The Gauchos kept the momentum early in singles action with straight-set wins at Nos. 3 and 4.
 
UC Irvine will host Hawai'i on Friday, April 17, before heading to UC San Diego on Saturday, April 18, in the final week of the regular season.