DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Embry-Riddle men's tennis team dropped a tough 5-4 decision against NCAA II No. 8 St. Leo, Wednesday at the Crotty Tennis Complex. Five of the matches in the four-hour, 40-minute contest required extra play to determine the outcome and the Lions managed to hold on for wins in four of those contests to improve to 14-3 on the year, while the Eagles move to 10-3.

The top-ranked Eagles started off strong but ended doubles competition down 2-1. The No. 1 doubles team of Deni Zmak and Simon Felix defeated Saint Leo's Bruno Sisti and Aloua Adjenak 8-3 to lead off the scoring and put the Eagles up 1-0.

On court two, Jaime Sanchez-Canamares Rios and Patrick Besch engaged in a back-and-forth battle with Matt Nicholson-Lewis and Victor Lozier, but eventually fell in a tiebreaker 9-8 (7-5).

The match on court three also required a tiebreaker to decide the result and in the end it was Ismail Lemtouni and Fons Verberne who managed to outlast ERAU's Miguel Lopez-Gomez and Luke de Caires 9-8 with an 8-6 decision in the tiebreaker.

Zmak made the score 2-2 when he dispatched Adjenak 6-1, 6-2 at the top singles spot. Felix gave the Eagles the 3-2 lead with his 6-1, 6-1 defeat of Oskar Nurmio on court three, but Jacobo Gonzalez-Tarrio tied things up again with a 6-0, 6-3 decision against Lopez Gomez at the fifth position.

The contest at No. 4 singles needed three sets to determine the outcome and, in the end, it was Lozier who emerged with a 6-1, 2-6, 7-5 win over Besch to reclaim the lead for the Lions.

Competing in the longest singles match of the day, Sanchez-Canamares fell just short of a win in the first set, falling 7-5 to Nicholson-Lewis, but the ERAU junior battled back to claim the second by the same score and force a third set. With the score tied at 3-3, Sanchez-Canamares bested the Lion senior in each of the next three games to win 6-3 and tie the team score again.

The deciding match was on court six where de Caires took an early lead with a 6-2 decision in the first set against Verberne, brother of ERAU's Juan Verberne. The ERAU freshman was unable to maintain the advantage, however, and dropped the next two sets 6-2, 6-2 to give SLU the win.

Tuesday's match marks the Eagles' last tune-up before their return to Sun Conference play. The Blue and Gold will continue defense of its conference title at 1 p.m. on April 3 when the team travels to Babson Park, Fla. to take on Webber International.

#8 Saint Leo 5, #1 Embry-Riddle 4

Singles
1. Deni Zmak (ERAUMT13) def. Aloua Adjenak (SLM) 6-1, 6-2
2. Jaime Sanchez-Canama (ERAUMT13) def. Matt Nicholson-Lewis (SLM) 5-7, 7-5, 6-3
3. Simon Felix (ERAUMT13) def. Oskar Nurmio (SLM) 6-1, 6-1
4. Victor Lozier (SLM) def. Patrick Besch (ERAUMT13) 1-6, 6-2, 7-5
5. J. Gonzalez-Tarrio (SLM) def. Miguel Lopez Gomez (ERAUMT13) 6-0, 6-3
6. Fons Verberne (SLM) def. Luke de Caires (ERAUMT13) 2-6, 6-2, 6-2

Doubles
1. Deni Zmak/Simon Felix (ERAUMT13) def. Aloua Adjenak/Bruno Sisti (SLM) 8-3
2. Matt Nicholson-Lewis/Victor Lozier (SLM) def. Jaime Sanchez-Canama/Patrick Besch (ERAUMT13) 9-8 (7-5)
3. Ismail Lemtouni/Fons Verberne (SLM) def. Miguel Lopez Gomez/Luke de Caires (ERAUMT13) 9-8 (8-6)

Match Notes:
Saint Leo 14-3; National ranking #8
Embry-Riddle 10-3; National ranking #1
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3,2); Singles (1,3,5,4,2,6)
Verberne clinched at No. 6 singles
ERAU is ranked No. 1 in NAIA
SLU is ranked No. 8 in NCAA II