MOBILE, Ala. – The fifth-seeded Embry-Riddle women's tennis team fought hard in their bid for the program's first national title, but the Eagles were unable to find the magic that earned them upsets in quarterfinal and semifinal rounds as they were edged 5-4 in a five-hour battle by No. 2 seed Georgia Gwinnett in the championship match.

The Grizzlies registered the first team point of the day as Paloma Cortina and Chiara Di Salvo bested Paula Ortiz Couder and Eva Vilar at No. 3 doubles. Next door, on court two, Anna Götz and Paola Montero capitalized on an early break to top Ines Comstamanga and Victoria Svenson, evening the team tally at 1-1.

The match at No. 1 doubles pitted top-ranked Kristina Marova and Hui-I Huang against No. 2 Valerie Podda and Helena Korompis. The Eagle duo raced out to an early 5-0 lead, but GGC rebounded to win six straight games to go up 6-5. The Eagles held/broke to tie things up at 6-6 and from that point neither team could pull away, leading to an 8-8 deadlock and a tiebreaker to decide the match. Podda and Korompis went up 2-0 early, but Marova and Huang bounced back into contention, knotting the score at 3-3. The Eagles won four of the next six points and two hours after their match started, Marova and Huang walked away with a 9-8 (7-5) victory over their GGC counterparts, giving the Blue and Gold a 2-1 edge.

In singles play, GGC took over the lead when Podda downed Huang 6-0, 6-1 at No. 1 and Cortina topped Götz 6-0, 6-2 at No. 2. Vilar leveled the score again with a 6-2, 6-2 defeat of Schwab on court four, but Di Salvo's 6-0, 6-2 over Marova at the third flight put the Grizzlies back on top 4-3.

At the sixth singles position, Ortiz Couder earned a 7-5 win in the first set but Korompis rebounded to take the second set 6-2. The third set belonged the ERAU freshman who rolled to a 6-1 win to make it 4-4.

With the match tied, all eyes turned to the fifth court where Montero and Comstamanga were doing battle. Montero had an early first-set lead, but Comstamanga was able to rally to tie the score at 6-6. In the resulting tiebreaker, the GGC freshman managed to pull out the 7-5 advantage for the first-set win. In the second set Comstamanga grabbed the early lead and never relinquished, scoring the clinching point for the Grizzlies, 6-2.

 The 2014 season will go down as one of the most successful in ERAU women's tennis history. In addition to playing for a national title for the second time in three seasons, the Eagles went undefeated in conference play at 7-0 on the way to The Sun Conference regular season and tournament titles. Ranked fifth in the final NAIA National Coaches' Poll, the Eagles ended the season at 18-6 overall.

#2 Georgia Gwinett 5, #5 Embry-Riddle 4

Singles competition
1. Valerie Podda (GGC) def. Hui-I Huang (ERAUWT13) 6-0, 6-1
2. Paolma Cortina (GGC) def. Anna Gotz (ERAUWT13) 6-0, 6-2
3. Chiara Di Salvo (GGC) def. Kristina Marova (ERAUWT13) 6-0, 6-2
4. Eva Vilar (ERAUWT13) def. Luma Schwab (GGC) 6-2, 6-2
5. Ines Comstamanga (GGC) def. Paola Montero (ERAUWT13) 7-6 (7-5), 6-2
6. Paula Ortiz Couder (ERAUWT13) def. Helena Korompis (GGC) 7-5, 2-6, 6-1

Doubles competition
1. #1 Kristina Marova/Hui-I Huang (ERAUWT13) def. #2 Valerie Podda/Helena Korompis (GGC) 9-8 (7-5)
2. Paola Montero/Anna Gotz (ERAUWT13) def. Ines Comstamanga/Victoria Svenson (GGC) 8-5
3. Paolma Cortina/Chiara Di Salvo (GGC) def. Paula Ortiz Couder/Eva Vilar (ERAUWT13) 8-5

Match Notes:
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (1,2,4,3,6,5)
NAIA National Championship
Comstamanga clinched at No. 5 singles.