SAVANNAH, Ga. ? The Embry-Riddle men's tennis team suffered its first loss of the season, falling to defending NCAA II national champions Armstrong Atlantic State on Friday. The Pirates, ranked No. 1 in the NCAA II national poll, are now 5-0 on the year, while the third-ranked Eagles slip to 2-1.

AASU took an early 2-0 lead, winning two of three doubles matches. The first doubles match off the court was at the No. 3 position where Edualdo Bonet and Paul Fitzgerald topped ERAU's Istvan Bolgar and Peter Francis 8-4. At the No. 2 spot, the Embry-Riddle freshman duo of Adrian Bayh and Charlie Rice were down 7-4 to Paul Bishop and Mikk Irdoja, but battled back to make the score 7-6. But the AASU tandem held on to take the match 8-6.

The Eagles got a point back at No. 1 doubles as Carlos Bes Comeras and Jan Hoekzema came back from being down 5-4 to best the eighth-ranked pair of Tim Johannsen and Rafael Array 8-6. The win at No. 1 doubles came at a price, however, as the Eagles lost their No. 1 singles player, Bes Comeras, to injury which forced ERAU head coach, Dave Paschal, to adjust his singles lineup.

The Pirates increased their lead to 4-1 after 11th-ranked Bishop downed Bayh 6-3, 6-1 at No. 2 singles and No. 21 Johannsen bested Bolgar 6-2, 6-1 at the fifth position.

Hoekzema, who moved up to the top spot with Bes Comeras out of the line-up, took the top-ranked Bonet to three sets before falling 6-0, 3-6, 6-3 to the defending national singles champion.

Irdoja earned a 6-4, 6-2 win over Francis at No. 3, while Fitzgerald downed Zander Woodford-Smith 6-1, 6-2 at No. 6. Array pulled out a three-set victory with a 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 win over Rice at the fourth spot to seal the win.

The Eagles return to the court at 2 p.m. on Saturday when they go up against No. 7 Savannah College of Art and Design.