DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Valdosta State men's tennis team, ranked third in NCAA II, won all three doubles and three of six singles to top Embry-Riddle 6-3, Saturday at ERAU's Crotty Tennis Complex. The Blazers improved their overall record to 4-1, while the Eagles fall to 6-3 on the year.

An injury to the Eagles' regular No. 2 singles player, Alexis Huegas, forced ERAU head coach Dave Paschal make adjustments to his line-up. Charlie Rice and Luke Maricic played at their accustomed third doubles position, but were unable to get by Otto Lenhart and Konstantin Kutschenko, falling 8-3.
Istvan Bolgar and Peter Francis, the Eagles' regular No. 2 duo, saw their first action at No. 1 doubles and suffered an 8-5 loss to Philip Pakebush and Michael Kuech.

Jan Hoekzema and Zander Woodford-Smith played their first match together as doubles partners and gave Daniel Dueren and Christian Hansen all they could handle before falling 8-6, giving the Blazers a 3-0 lead heading into singles.

Hansen topped Rice 6-3, 6-1 at No. 3 singles and Dueren bested Francis 6-2, 6-4 at the No. 2 spot to clinch the Blazer victory. Top-ranked Philip Pakebush made the score 6-0 in favor of VSU after holding off Hoekzema 6-4, 6-4 at the top spot.

Although the match was already decided, the Eagles did not give up and that attitude was rewarded with wins in each of the matches in the bottom half of the line-up. Bolgar was the first to register a point as he pulled of a three-set win (6-4, 3-6, 10-3) over Kuech at No. 4. The next match off the court was at No. 6 where Maricic bested Kutschenko 6-4, 7-5.

Woodford-Smith and Lenhart were engaged in a fierce battle at No. 5 and in the end it was the Embry-Riddle sophomore who was able to emerge with a 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-5) victory.

Embry-Riddle returns to action at 3:30 p.m. on Monday when they host Eastern Kentucky.