DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Embry-Riddle men's tennis team advanced to the semifinal round of the NAIA National Championship for the 10th straight year with a 5-0 win over Xavier in quarterfinal action on Thursday. Playing their second match of the day, the Eagles pulled out two close doubles wins on the way to improving their overall record to 20-3.

Jaime Sanchez-Canamares Rios and Patrick Besch tallied the Eagles' first point with an 8-4 win over Tushar Mandlekar and Kevin Chaouat at No. 2 doubles.

The matches at the first and third spots were much more closely contested with both requiring extra points to determine the outcome. At No. 1 doubles, top-ranked Deni Zmak and Simon Felix matched up against No. 20 Kyle Montrel and Nikita Soifer. Both sides held serve through 16 games resulting in an 8-8 tie. In the tiebreaker, both teams traded points on serve until the Xavier duo registered a break and a hold to go up 6-4. Montrel then served for the match but couldn't handle Felix's return and Felix held on his next two serves put the Eagles in front 7-6. Soifer had the chance to keep Xavier in the match, but double-faulted on his next serve to give the Eagles the 8-6 tiebreak win and a 2-0 advantage in the team scoring.

The final match off the court was at No. 3 doubles. ERAU's Luke de Caires and Miguel Lopez Gomez jumped out to an early 3-0 advantage, but Viktor Svoboda and Adam Albrecht erased the deficit and eventually claimed a 7-6 lead. Lopez Gomez held serve to tie the score at 7-7 and the ERAU pair then registered a break to go up 8-7. With de Caires serving, the Eagles held to win 9-7 and carried a 3-0 advantage into singles play.

Felix was efficient in his win at No. 4 singles as he dispatched Mandlekar 6-0, 6-0 in just 50 minutes.

A few minutes later, Lopez Gomez followed suit on court six, registering a 6-0, 6-0 shutout of his own against Adam Albrecht to score the clincher and send the Eagles into Friday's semifinal.

The Eagles will battle the winner of the quarterfinal match between Lindsey Wilson and Vanguard at 1 p.m. (CST) on Friday.

#1 Embry-Riddle 5, Xavier 0

Singles competition
1. Deni Zmak (ERAUMT13) vs. Kyle Montrel (XU) 6-4, 2-3, unfinished
2. Jaime Sanchez-Canama (ERAUMT13) vs. Nikita Soifer (XU) 5-6, unfinished
3. Patrick Besch (ERAUMT13) vs. Viktor Svoboda (XU) 7-5, 1-1, unfinished
4. Simon Felix (ERAUMT13) def. Tushar Mandlekar (XU) 6-0, 6-0
5. Luke de Caires (ERAUMT13) vs. Kevin Chaouat (XU) 6-4, 5-1, unfinished
6. Miguel Lopez Gomez (ERAUMT13) def. Adam Albrecht (XU) 6-0, 6-0

Doubles competition
1. #1 Simon Felix/Deni Zmak (ERAUMT13) def. #20 Kyle Montrel/Nikita Soifer (XU) 9-8 (8-6)
2. #22 Patrick Besch/Jaime Sanchez-Canama (ERAUMT13) def. Tushar Mandlekar/Kevin Chaouat (XU) 8-4
3. Miguel Lopez Gomez/Luke de Caires (ERAUMT13) def. Viktor Svoboda/Adam Albrecht (XU) 9-7

Match Notes:
Xavier 12-12
Embry-Riddle 20-3; National ranking #1
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (4,6)
NAIA National Championship Quarterfinal
Lopez Gomez clinched at No. 6 singles