DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Embry-Riddle women's tennis team extended its record to 2-0 with a hard-fought 5-4 victory over NCAA II Florida Tech, Saturday at Embry-Riddle's Crotty Tennis Complex. The Eagles came from being 2-1 down following doubles to hand the Panthers (1-1) their first loss of the season.

Florida Tech jumped out to an early lead as Andrea Madrigal and Stephanie Dohner easily downed Sara Abraul and Caroline Nilsson 8-0 at No. 3 doubles. The Panthers seemed poised to claim another victory at No. 2 doubles as Monica Price and Alex Weinnig surged ahead 4-1. But the resilient ERAU tandem of Josefine Strom and Julija Stojkovska stormed back to win 9-7 and even the match score at 1-1.

Natasa Zoricic and Yi Ching Chen went up early at No. 1 doubles, but soon found themselves down 7-4 to Natalia Ramos and Abby Greif. The Embry-Riddle duo staved off defeat for a while, winning four games in a row to move ahead 8-7, but they were unable to hold off the Panther duo in the final game, falling 9-8 to give Florida Tech a 2-1 match lead.

Strom evened the score for the Eagles with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Madrigal at the No. 5 singles spot. Katarina Huba reclaimed the lead for the Panthers at the No. 3 spot with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Stojkovska, but Chen tied the match again with a 6-4, 6-3 defeat of Greif at No. 2.

Nilsson gave the Blue and Gold its first lead of the afternoon with a three-set victory over Price, winning 6-3, 0-6, 6-3. The Eagles got their match-winning fifth point at No. 1 singles. Zoricic took the first set 6-3, but Ramos battled back for a 6-2 win in the second, setting up a critical third set. Zoricic seemed to have the match in the hand, going up 5-2 in the third, but Ramos responded by holding serve and then breaking Zoricic to make the score 5-4. Zoricic regained her composure and broke back in the next game, winning the match on a cross-court shot.

Florida Tech got its fourth win at No. 6 singles as Dohner bested Abraul 6-0, 4-6, 11-9.

The Eagles' play their first road match of the season at 3 p.m. on Wednesday when they travel across the state to take on St. Leo.