ST. LEO Fla. – Fresh off a hard-fought 5-4 win against Florida Tech last Saturday, the Embry-Riddle women's tennis team returned to the court to earn a win against another Sunshine State opponent with an 8-1 defeat of St. Leo on Wednesday. The Eagles improved their record to 3-0, while the Lady Lions, ranked 28th in NCAA II, fall to 1-3.


The Swedish duo of Julija Stojkovska and Caroline Nilsson were the first to notch a win for the Eagles, downing St. Leo's Gina Schifano and Christine Clyne, 8-2. Playing together for the first time this season, Sara Abraul and Josefine Strom increased the Eagle lead to two with an 8-5 defeat of Chloe Andersson and Hannah Beard at No. 3 doubles.

St. Leo's only point of the afternoon came at No. 1 doubles where Jeanette McDonald and Shaena Keefe pulled out an 8-6 win over Natasa Zoricic and Yi Ching Chen.

The Eagles swept through singles play earning shutouts at the No. 2 through No. 4 singles positions as Chen blanked Keefe, Nilsson bested Schifano and Stojkovska downed Clyne. Zoricic and McDonald had a tough three-set battle at No. 1 singles, but, in the end, it was Zoricic who came away with the win, 6-1, 6-7, 10-6.

With the match already decided, the contests at No. 5 and No. 6 singles were played as eight-game, pro sets as opposed to the usual best-of-three sets. Strom easily downed Andersson 8-1 and Abraul held off Beard 8-7 to seal the win.

The Eagles play the second of three straight matches on the road at 3 p.m. on Friday when they travel to Miami Gardens to take on conference foe St. Thomas. The Bobcats are ranked #27 in the NAIA pre-season poll.