DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Embry-Riddle men's tennis team swept all three doubles matches and won five on six singles contests to top Valdosta State 8-1, Saturday at the Crotty Tennis Complex. The Eagles, ranked No. 1 in the NAIA, improved to 3-0 on the year while the Blazers, ranked 13
th in NCAA II fell to 0-3.
The Eagles scored two quick doubles points when
Simon Felix and
Kevin Chaouat teamed up for an 8-1 defeat of Joachim Schemm and Andrew Harvin on court three and
Chris Freeman and
J.R. Leonik bested Sebastian Javsyk and Tammo Haake by the same margin on court two.
At the top doubles spot, junior
Patrick Besch and newcomer
Deni Zmak teamed up for the first time this season. With score tied at 5-5, the ERAU tandem broke Konstantin Kutschenko and Mario Navarro, then held serve to go up 7-5. VSU held serve to make it a 7-6 game, and Besch returned the favor, holding serve for an 8-6 win and a 3-0 Eagle advantage heading into singles.
It took less than an hour for Zmak to finish his singles match against Navarro and the ERAU freshman extended the Eagle lead to 4-0 with a 6-2, 6-0 win at No. 2 singles. At the No. 5 singles spot,
David Spennare made quick work of Harvin, earning a 6-1, 6-1 victory to clinch the Eagles' third win of the season.
After
Miguel Lopez Gomez' straight-set (6-2, 6-1) win over Haake at the fifth spot, Freeman rebounded from a first-set loss to pull out a three-setter against Kutschenko, 1-6, 7-6 (5), 13-11. Felix's match against Schemm also went to three sets, but Felix was unable to ride the momentum of a second-set win, falling 6-4, 4-6, 10-8.
The final match off the court was at No. 4. After winning the first set 6-3,
Anthony Grasso fell behind Jasyk 4-1 in the second. The ERAU freshman was able to rally and won the match with a 7-6 (3) second set decision.
The Eagles' next match will be at 3:30 on Thursday when they host sixth-ranked NCAA II opponent Rollins at the Crotty Tennis Complex.
