MOBILE, Ala. – After not playing against outside competition for the last three weeks, it took the Embry-Riddle men's tennis team a little while to get going, but the top-seeded Eagles quickly shook off the rust and earned their second win of the season against the University of Northwestern Ohio (14-8), besting the Racers 5-2 in the second round of the NAIA National Championship on Wednesday. The Eagles improved their overall record to 21-2 and advanced to the national quarterfinals for the ninth consecutive season.

The Eagles fell behind early dropping two of the three doubles matches. Ermin Alpan and Thommy Johansson were the first to register a point for UNOH, topping Simon Felix and Kevin Chaouat 8-2 at the third position. The Eagles leveled the team score at 1-1 when Chris Freeman and Deni Zmak downed Gustavo Rueda and Cassio Sirimarco 8-5 at No. 1 doubles. At the second spot, the Racer duo of Daniel Rueda and Alex Hager came back from a 5-2 deficit to top Patrick Besch and Anthony Grasso 9-7 to give UNOH a 2-1 lead heading into singles.

In singles play, David Spennare wasted little time in evening things up as he dispatched Hager 6-0, 6-0 at the sixth spot in about 45 minutes. Just a few minutes later, Felix put the Eagles in front with his 6-1, 6-0 defeat of Sam Rutter at No. 5. The next match to reach completion was on court two where Zmak downed Gustavo Rueda 6-3, 6-0.

On court one, playing in his first singles match since February, Besch was down 5-2 early to seventh-ranked Daniel Rueda in the first set, but the reigning ITA/NAIA national singles champion battled back to win the next five straight games and take the set 7-5. Besch was up 4-0 in the second, but was unable to finish the match as Freeman defeated Alpan 6-3, 6-3 to score the clincher and send the Eagles into the quarterfinal round.

The Eagles will be back in action at 9 a.m. (CST) on Thursday when they take on eighth-seeded Lindsey Wilson, who downed Concordia (Calif.) to advance.