DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Embry-Riddle women's tennis team came out the winning end of a battle between two of the top five teams in the NAIA with a 5-4 victory over fourth-ranked Oklahoma Christian, Wednesday at the Crotty Tennis Complex. The Eagles closed out a tough stretch of six matches in 10 days to improve its overall record to 14-1 on the year. OCU drops to 6-3 with the loss.
 
“We started really well in doubles and that really set the tone for our singles matches,” ERAU Head Coach Dave Paschal said. “I think we came out well in singles but give [OCU] credit. They were down in some sets and fought back to win those. That's a 5-4 match that can go either way with that team and if we do see them again at nationals I'd expect the same kind of battle. That's a very good team and it was a very good win for our women's program.”
 
The 10^th-ranked ERAU duo of Ekaterina Kamendova and Rocio Frej registered ERAU's first point of the day with a decisive 8-1 defeat of Gabriela Carillo and Marta Cantel at No. 2 doubles. Next off the court was the sixth-ranked tandem of Yi Ching Chen and Josefine Strom who upended the second-ranked doubles team of Hermon Brhane and Lucie Sipkova 8-4 at the top spot. Kristina Marova and Paola Montero wrapped the doubles sweep with an 8-6 victory over Andrea Constantinescu and Maryfer Abreu to give ERAU a 3-0 advantage heading into singles.
 
OCU got its first point of the day when Cantel topped Strom 6-3, 6-2 at No. 5 singles, but Marova answered with a 6-1, 6-3 decision against Carillo at No. 4 singles to extend the ERAU advantage to 4-1.
 
At No. 1 singles, top-ranked Brhane notched a straight set (7-6 (2), 6-2) win over sixth-ranked Chen to cut the ERAU lead to 4-2, but 15^th-ranked Kamendova clinched the ERAU victory with an 6-1, 3-6, 6-2 win over Constantinescu on the third court.
 
ERAU will have a nine-day break before its next match, which will be at 1 p.m. on Mar. 31 against conference foe Northwood in West Palm Beach.