DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. –The top-seeded Embry-Riddle women's tennis team celebrated winning its third conference tournament title in four seasons after besting No. 3 seed SCAD Savannah (8-7) 5-1 in the tournament finale, Saturday at the Crotty Tennis Complex. With the win, the Eagles, ranked fifth in the most recent NAIA National Coaches' Poll, improved their record to 15-5 overall and earned an automatic bid to the NAIA National Championship in Mobile, Ala., May 13-17, for the fifth consecutive year.

"The ladies did a great job today," ERAU Head Coach Dave Paschal stated. "I'm very proud of their effort. To back up the regular season championship with the tournament championship is something that should build their confidence. Now if we can match up our talent with belief, nationals should be fun!"

Paula Ortiz Couder and Eva Vilar got the scoring started for the Eagles with an 8-1 defeat of Ana Dominguez and India Hart on the third doubles court. Anna Götz and senior Paola Montero extended the advantage to 2-0 when they bested Daniela Arcila and Carolina Viteri 8-3 at the second doubles spot.

The match-up at No. 1 doubles pitted the top-ranked ERAU tandem of Hui-I Huang and the Eagles' other senior Kristina Marova against sixth-ranked Theresa Schmaus and Maja Plavsic. The SCAD pair built on an early lead and held off the Eagle tandem 8-6 to pull the Bees within one heading into singles.

The Eagles' first singles point came on court three where Marova easily dispatched Hart in straight sets, 6-0, 6-0. A few minutes later, Ortiz Couder widened the gap to 4-1 with her 6-1, 6-0 defeat of Dominguez at the No. 6 spot.

The clinching point came at the fourth singles position where Vilar improved her overall record to 13-4 with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Arcila to seal the championship for the Blue and Gold.

"I'm proud of how we played," Marova said. "I'm especially proud of the two freshmen who stepped up and scored the final two points for us. We are looking forward to going to nationals. It's something we've been preparing for the entire year. We will do our best to go as far as we possibly can. We want to have fun as a team, but we will also be fighting very hard. Paola and I are looking forward to closing out our careers with a great student-athlete experience."

The national tournament bracket will be released on May 4.

Embry-Riddle 5, SCAD Savannah 1

Singles competition
1. Hui-I Huang (ERAUWT13) vs. Theresa Schmaus (SCAD) 2-6, 1-2, unfinished
2. Anna Gotz (ERAUWT13) vs. Maja Plavsic (SCAD) 1-6, 1-2, unfinished
3. Kristina Marova (ERAUWT13) def. India Hart (SCAD) 6-0, 6-0
4. Eva Vilar (ERAUWT13) def. Daniella Arcila (SCAD) 6-2, 6-2
5. Paola Montero (ERAUWT13) vs. Carolina Viteri (SCAD) 6-3, 4-1, unfinished
6. Paula Oritz Couder (ERAUWT13) def. Ana Dominguez (SCAD) 6-1, 6-0

Doubles competition
1. Theresa Schmaus/Maja Plavsic (SCAD) def. Kristina Marova/Hui-I Huang (ERAUWT13) 8-6
2. Paola Montero/Anna Gotz (ERAUWT13) def. Carolina Viteri/Daniella Arcila (SCAD) 8-3
3. Eva Vilar/Paula Oritz Couder (ERAUWT13) def. India Hart/Ana Dominguez (SCAD) 8-1

Match Notes:
SCAD Savannah 8-7
Embry-Riddle 15-5
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (3,6,4)
The Sun Conference Championship
Vilar clinched at No. 4 singles