DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. –  The fifth-ranked Oklahoma Christian men's tennis team bounced back from a 3-0 sweep in doubles play to edge third-ranked Embry-Riddle 5-4, Thursday at the Crotty Tennis Complex. The loss puts ERAU, who was short-handed due to injury and illness, at 6-5 on the year, while OCU moves to 12-1.

Peter Francis and Simon Felix got the Eagles' first point of the match with an 8-2 defeat of Bruno Tiberti and Esteban Flores at the third doubles position. Playing together for the first time this year, Jan Hoekzema and David Spennare fell behind 5-2 to Martin Poboril and Pier Piorecianni at No. 1 doubles. Hoekzema and Spennare each held in their next respective service games and registered two break points for an 8-6 victory. Adrian Bayh and Patrick Besch registered an 8-6 win over Thomas Van Couter and Renardy Guelfi to give the Eagles a 3-0 lead heading into singles.

With the Eagles' regular No. 1 singles player Chris Freeman suffering from an illness, ERAU Head Coach Dave Paschal had to move everyone up a spot in the line-up.

OCU got its first points on wins at the top two singles spots as third-ranked Van Couter bested No. 7 Hoekzema 6-2, 6-0 and Tiberti topped Besch 6-3, 6-1. Francis added another point to the ERAU tally with a 7-5, 6-4 defeat of Poboril at the No. 3 spot.

At the fourth position, Felix, who was also suffering from an illness, dropped the first set 6-1, but was able to force a third set with a 6-2 win in the second. In the end, Felix couldn't hold off No. 34 Guelfi and fell 6-2 in the final stanza.

Piorecianni registered a 6-3, 6-4 defeat of Spennare at the No. 5 spot to knot the team score at 4-4, turning all attention to the No. 6 singles spot where Bayh and No. 21 Flores battled for the clincher. Bayh took the first set 6-4, but Flores claimed a decisive 6-0 win in the second to force a third set. Both players continued to battle back and forth, resulting in a 6-6 tie. The resulting tie-breaker was another see-saw battle and in the end, Flores managed to edge Bayh 8-6 to give OCU the win.

Embry-Riddle will look to rebound from the loss on Saturday when they host No. 25 Oklahoma Baptist at the Crotty Tennis Complex. Match time is slated for 10 a.m.