DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. –  The fourth-ranked Embry-Riddle women's tennis team avenged last season's national tournament second-round loss to Oklahoma Christian, downing the sixth-ranked visitors 8-1, Thursday at the Crotty Tennis Complex. ERAU is now 11-3 on the year, while OCU, who edged Embry-Riddle 5-4 to advance to last year's national quarterfinal, drops to 7-2 overall.

ERAU got off to a strong start with a 3-0 sweep in doubles. The top-ranked ERAU tandem of Yi Ching Chen and Josefine Ström was the first to finish its match, easily dispatching Maryfer Abreu-Roman and Marta Contel-Mirzano 8-1. Paola Montero and Kristina Márová followed with an 8-6 win over Lucie Sipkova and Makenzie Miller at the third doubles spot and Ekaterina Kamendova and Rocío Frej Vitallé completed the sweep with an 8-6 defeat of Hermon Brhane and Andrea Constantinescu at the No.2 spot.

The first singles match off the court was at the No. 2 spot where Kamendova made quick work of No. 25 Constantinescu, 6-2, 6-1. OCU registered its only win of the day when Sipkova topped Frej Vitallé 6-0, 6-2 at No. 3.

The clincher came for the Blue and Gold at the fourth singles position where Márová dropped Abreu –Roman 6-4, 6-2. Strom held off Contel-Miranzo 6-1, 7-5 at No. 5 and Caroline Nilsson bested Miller 7-6 (3), 6-3 at the No. 6 six spot.

The contest at the top singles spot was battle between two NAIA top-five players with fifth-ranked Brhane going up against No. 2 Chen. The match, which took just over three hours to decide, saw Chen fend off a fierce challenge from the OCU freshman and emerge with a 7-5, 7-5 win.

ERAU's next match will take place at 10 a.m. on Saturday when the Blue and Gold welcomes No. 17 Oklahoma Baptist to the Crotty Tennis Complex.