IRVINE, Calif. - The No. 9 Pepperdine men's water polo team dropped a close contest to No. 7 UC Irvine on the road on Friday evening, falling 12-11 to the anteaters.

The Waves and Anteaters went back and forth all night, but an early three-goal run in the fourth quarter was too much for Pepperdine to overcome. The Waves fall to 11-13 overall, 1-7 in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play.

The Waves were within one at the end of the third period, 9-8, but UC Irvine rattled off three-straight goals to go ahead 12-8. Pepperdine was far from done, scoring three-straight of their own, but they couldn't find the equalizer in the final minute of play.

Spencer Lupin (Mission Viejo, Calif./Santa Margarita Catholic HS) led the Waves with three goals on the day and Artak Arzumanyan (Glendale, Calif./Glendale HS) scored his two goals in the fourth quarter.

The Anteaters were led by Lovre Milos with five goals on the day and Kyle Trush with three. UC Irvine is now 14-10, 3-6 MPSF.

Pepperdine will close the regular season on Sunday when they host No. 6 UC Santa Barbara.

Pepperdine 2-4-2-3 --- 11
UC Irvine 1-4-4-3 --- 12

PEP: Spencer Lupin 3, Artak Arzumanyan 2, Christopher Dilworth 2, Mark Urban 2, Marko Asic 1, Sean Thomas 1
UCI: Lovre Milos 5, Kyle Trush 3, Pablo Carballo 2, Larson Pfeil 1, Ryan Warde 1

Saves: Kyle Krutenat (PEP) 6; Dylan Peterson (UCI) 7.