DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The top-seeded Embry-Riddle men's tennis team advanced to the title match of The Sun Conference tournament for the fourth straight year with a 5-0 defeat of fourth-seeded Northwood, Friday at Embry-Riddle's Crotty Tennis Complex. The Eagles, ranked No. 2 in the NAIA, improved to 17-3 on the year, while Northwood, listed among those schools receiving votes in the latest NAIA national poll, falls to 4-5.
 
The Eagles' first point came at No. 3 doubleswhere Peter Francis and Simon Felix downed Diego Ortega and Alex Archuleta 8-0. Adrian Bayh and Patrick Besch put ERAU up 2-0 with an 8-4 win over Guilherme Azambuja and Mihkel Kruusmagi at the top doubles spot.
 
Chris Freeman and J.R. Leonik took an early 6-1 lead over David Cathalina and Niktia Borodatov at No. 2 doubles, but the Northwood duo fought back to narrow the gap 6-4. After breaking the Northwood team to make the score 7-4, the Eagle tandem, behind Leonik's serve, held to take the match 8-4 and complete the Eagles' doubles sweep.
 
In singles play, second-ranked Freeman took the first set 6-4 against Azamubja and was up 30-15 in the first game of the second set when Azambuja was forced to retire due to injury, giving the Blue and Gold its fourth point of the day.
 
The clincher claim at the No. 2 spot where Besch defeated Borodatov in straight sets, 6-1, 6-0.
 
The Eagles will play the winner of Friday's second semifinal between Webber International and Warner on Saturday morning.