MALIBU, Calif. - In the final match of the day, Pepperdine senior Bassam Beidas outdueled his opponent from Illinois to win the third set by the score of 7-5, lifting the #30 Waves to a 4-3 upset of the #11 Fighting Illini in men's tennis on Saturday.

"It was a great win over a really, really good team," Pepperdine Coach Adam Steinberg said. "It's been quite a year losing all these 4-3 matches, so I'm really excited for the guys. I hope they can continue the momentum into Tuesday's match."

Pepperdine won all three doubles matches for the first time since the season opener on Jan. 27. The Waves picked up wins over nationally ranked duos at both #1 and #2 doubles.

The Illini evened the score after winning the first singles match at the #3 position, and the Waves went back ahead  when freshman Mousheg Hovhannisyan (North Hollywood, Calif.) won 6-2, 6-4 at the #4 slot. It was tied again when Illinois won at #2, though Pepperdine went in front again at 3-2 when freshman Finn Tearney (Wellington, New Zealand) won 6-4, 6-3 at the #5 position.

With the Waves needing just one more win to clinch the match, both the #1 and #6 singles matches went to a third set. Although sophomore Daniel Moss (Malibu, Calif.) lost 7-5 at #6, Beidas (Cairo, Egypt), who had come back from a set down to win the second and third sets, finished his match off against 64th-ranked Marek Czerwinski not long after to win it for the Waves.

Pepperdine (7-9) beat its highest ranked opponent of the season. Seven of Pepperdine's losses have been top 20 teams. The Fighting Illini dropped to 10-7.

Pepperdine next hosts Boise State on Tuesday (March 30) at 3 p.m., then has a doubleheader on Thursday (April 1) against Loyola Marymount at 10 a.m. and San Diego State at 3:30 p.m.

#30 Pepperdine 4, #11 Illinois 3

Doubles

• 1) #25 Bassam Beidas/Alex Llompart (PEP) def. #68 Marek Czerwinski/Stephen Hoh (UI), 8-4
• 2) Hugh Clarke/Finn Tearney (PEP) def. #57 Johnny Hamui/Dennis Nevolo (UI), 8-1
• 3) Sebastian Fanselow/Alejandro Moreno (PEP) def. Bruno Abdelnour/Abe Souza (UI), 8-5

Order of finish: 2, 1, 3

Singles

• 1) #40 Bassam Beidas (PEP) def. #64 Marek Czerwinski (UI), 3-6, 6-3, 7-5
• 2) #36 Dennis Nevolo (UI) def. #110 Sebastian Fanselow (PEP), 6-4, 6-3
• 3) #77 Abe Souza (UI) def. Alex Llompart (PEP), 6-4, 6-4
• 4) Mousheg Hovhannisyan (PEP) def. Johnny Hamui (UI), 6-2, 6-4
• 5) Finn Tearney (PEP) def. Stephen Hoh (UI), 6-4, 6-3
• 6) Connor Roth (UI) def. Daniel Moss (PEP), 3-6, 6-2, 7-5

Order of finish: 3, 4, 2, 5, 6, 1

Records: #30 Pepperdine 7-9, #11 Illinois 10-7