DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The top-ranked Embry-Riddle men's tennis team notched its seventh victory of the season with a 6-1 win over NCAA I Belmont (1-4), Tuesday at ERAU's Crotty Tennis Complex. The Eagles are now 7-2 on the year and for the third straight week, they held onto the top spot in the NAIA National poll, which was released by the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics on Tuesday.
Playing according to NCAA I rules, the Eagles held a 1-0 lead heading into singles play after sweeping all three pairings to win the doubles point.
Chris Freeman and
J.R. Leonik got things started with an 8-1 defeat of Fernando Mussolini and Navarro Veys at the No. 2 spot.
At No. 3,
Kevin Chaouat and
Simon Felix jumped out to a 5-2 lead, but Henrik Claesson and Bruno Silva came back to win the next two games and pull within a point (5-4). Their next service game saw the Eagle pair hold serve then break Belmont to go up 7-4, and Chaouat held serve for the 8-4 win and clinch the doubles point for ERAU.
Deni Zmak and
Anthony Grasso sealed the sweep with an 8-6 decision against Renato Antun and Henrique Norbiato at the top spot.
It took Felix just a little over an hour to score the Eagles' first singles point as he dispatched Veys 6-0, 6-1 on court three. Freeman followed with a 6-2, 6-2 defeat of Antun at No. 2 and
David Spennare clinched the Eagle victory by coming back from being down a break early in the first set to best Claesson 6-2, 6-2.
The Bruins got their only point of the afternoon at the No. 3 spot where Mussolini held off Grasso 6-3, 6-2, but
Miguel Lopez Gomez reclaimed the Eagles' four-point cushion by topping Silva 6-3, 6-3 on court five.
The final match off the court was at No. 1 singles where Zmak notched a 6-2 first-set win against Norbiato, but the Bruins' top player battled back to erase a 4-1 deficit in the second and tie the set at 4-4. The next four games saw each player hold serve to force a tiebreaker. Norbiato jumped ahead early in the tiebreaker, 3-1, but Zmak steadily fought his way back into contention, scoring six of the last seven points to earn the win, 7-6 (7-4).
The Eagles return to Sun Conference play at 2 p.m. on Thursday when they host St. Thomas.
