WINTER PARK, Fla. – In the two previous meetings between the Embry-Riddle and Rollins men's tennis teams, ERAU came out on top by a score of 6-3. The 2012 edition of the series was no different as the Eagles, ranked No. 2 in the NAIA, won two doubles and four singles matches to top the NCAA II eighth-ranked Tars 6-3 at Rollins' Bert W. Martin Tennis Complex on Wednesday.
 
The top-ranked duo of Adrian Bayh and Patrick Besch got the first point for ERAU, downing Jeff Morris and Jason Alabaster 8-2 at the top doubles spot. Chris Freeman and JR Leonik made the team score 2-0 in favor of the Eagles with their 8-3 defeat of Lucas Jovita and Bernardo Barroso at No. 2. The match at No. 3 doubles saw ERAU's Peter Francis and Simon Felix fall behind 7-2 to Ari Davis and Constantin Sturdza. The Eagle tandem valiantly fought its way back into contention, but was unable to pull out the win, falling 9-7 and giving the Tars their first point of the match.
 
Bayh made quick work of Malte Christesen, downing the Tars' No. 4 singles player 6-1, 6-2. Playing in his first match at the No. 3 spot, Felix bounced back from the setback in doubles to dispatch Davis 6-1, 6-3 and give the Eagles a 4-1 advantage.
 
The remaining four matches on the court all went to three sets. On Court Two, Morris took the first set against Freeman 6-1, but Freeman came back to take the second 6-1 and force a decisive third set. Unable to ride the momentum of his second-set win, Freeman fell to Morris 6-2 in the third.
 
At the fifth spot, Francis dropped the first game 7-5 (5), but battled back to win the second and third sets by 6-4 margins.
 
Playing in what ERAU Head Coach Dave Paschal called “his best match since he's been here”, Besch took NCAA I No. 1 to three sets at the top singles spot, but Besch was unable to pull off the upset, falling to the Tars' senior 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.
 
Leonik registered the clincher in the fourth dual match of his collegiate career. Leonik lost the first set to Alabaster, 6-1, but rebounded to win the match with 6-4, 6-3 decisions in the second and third frames, respectively.
 
 
The Eagles will have a 10-day break before returning to action against league rival SCAD Savannah at 2 p.m. on Feb. 18. The match will be played at ERAU's Crotty Tennis Complex.