DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. ? The Crotty Tennis Complex on Embry-Riddle's Daytona Beach campus was the site of a battle between the third-ranked team in the NAIA and the third-ranked team in NCAA II on Saturday. In the end, it was the Embry-Riddle men who held off their NCAA II counterparts from Lynn, 5-4. With the win, the Eagle men close out their regular season slate at 14-2 overall and will spend the next two weeks preparing for The Sun Conference tournament, which they will host, April 17-18.

The No. 3 doubles team of Peter Francis and Istvan Bolgar fell behind 4-2 but bounced back to claim the Eagles' first point of the day with an 8-5 win over Luca Pavanelli and Alessandro Sarra. Carlos Bes Comeras and Jan Hoekzema gave the Eagles a 2-0 advantage as they topped the Lynn tandem of Julien Carsuzaa and Miloslav Navratil 8-4.

The Fighting Knights got a point back at No. 2 doubles as Tomas Racak and Alex Voirin held off Charlie Rice and Adrian Bayh 8-5.

The Eagles continued to build on their lead as Jan Hoekzema notched an easy 6-1, 6-2 win against Navratil at the second spot and Zander Woodford-Smith defeated Axel Joachim 6-3, 6-1 at No. 6.

Depsite the three-point lead, the Eagles realized that a win was not guaranteed as the remaining four matches were very close with two going to a decisive third set. At the fourth position, Francis won his first set against Voirin 6-3, but dropped the second set 1-6. With his teammates lending vocal support behind his court, Francis regained his focus and did not yield a single game to Voirin in the third set, clinching the Eagle win.

Rice was unable to get by Sarra at No. 5, falling 6-3, 6-4. Bes Comeras battled Racak to a 6-6 tie in the first set but lost the tie breaker 7-2. Racak built on the momentum of his tie-break win, taking the match with a 6-4 win the second set.

The final match on the court was another three-setter between Bayh and Pavanelli. Pavanelli took the first set 6-4, but Bayh battled to a 7-5 win in the second. Both players won six games each in the third set and in the end, it was Pavanelli who walked away with the win, topping Bayh 7-3 in the tie-breaker.

The Eagles now wait to see who their opponent will be in the first round of The Sun Conference tournament. Tournament times and pairings are yet to be determined.