MOBILE, Ala. – The second-seeded Embry-Riddle men's tennis team had what seemed to be a comfortable 3-0 advantage after doubles play, but it was not enough to hold off No. 3 Oklahoma Christian (19-3) as OCU edged the Blue and Gold 5-4 in the semifinal round of the NAIA National Championship, Friday at the Copeland-Cox Tennis Center.
Adrian Bayh and
Patrick Besch were the first to put a point up for the Blue and Gold as the top-ranked duo downed fifth-ranked Bruno Tiberti and Martin Poberil 8-6 at the top doubles spot. No. 12
Chris Freeman and
J.R. Leonik were next off the court with their 8-6 defeat of No. 14 Pier Piercianni and Nicolas Auruccio at the second spot and No. 20
Peter Francis and
Simon Felix completed the doubles sweep with an 8-6 decision against Jaime Sanchez Canamares and Renary Guelfi at No. 3 doubles.
Despite the deficit, OCU didn't give up and picked up two quick points at the fifth and sixth singels spots as Guelfi bested Francis 6-4, 6-1 and Auruccio downed
David Spennare 6-4, 6-3 to make the team score 3-2.
At the fourth singles spot, Bayh scored an easy 6-0 win against Piercianni in the first set, but the OCU senior took the second 6-2 to force a third-set tiebreaker. Bayh rebounded from the setback with a 6-2 win in the third, which put ERAU up 4-2.
The match at the top singles spot was the third of the year between top-ranked Tiberti and second-ranked Freeman. Freeman won the first meeting in the championship match of the ITA/NAIA National tournament, but Tiberti won the regular season contest, with both matches going to three sets. Friday's rematch was no different; Tiberti pulled out a 6-4 win the first, but Freeman answered by taking the second 6-2 to force a decisive third set. Both players held serve in each of their first two games, but Tiberti was able to break Freeman twice en route to a 6-2 win in the third to give OCU its third point of the day.
Coming out of a rain delay that suspended play for about 20 minutes, both Besch and Felix went into third sets at the second and third positions, respectively. Down 5-2, Besch was able to work his way back into contention at 5-4, but was unable to hold serve in the next game as Poboril took the match 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 to tie the score at 4-4.
The deciding match was at No. 4 singles where Felix and Sanchez Canamares were also engaged in a three-set battle after Sanchez Canamares. took the first frame 6-4 and Felix won the second 6-2. Felix jumped out to a 3-1 lead, but Sanchez Canamares was able to close the gap and eventually pulled ahead, scoring the clincher with a 6-3 win in the third set.
“Hats off to Oklahoma Christian to come back from 3-0 down,” ERAU head coach Dave Paschal said. “They fought very hard and competed to the end; they deserved to win.
“This has been one of the best years in program history,” Paschal continued.”We had some wins this year against teams that we lost to last year. This isn't the result we want to finish the season with, but I think our players would all agree they've had a great season and a student-athlete experience with their teammates.”
The loss caps a 20-4 season for the Blue and Gold who won an unprecedented eighth consecutive Sun Conference regular season title and went wire-to-wire as the second-ranked team in the nation.
