VALDOSTA, Ga. – The No. 36 Embry-Riddle women's tennis team played 14^th-ranked Valdosta State tough in doubles and won four of the six singles matches but were unable to come away with a victory on Friday, falling to the Blazers 5-4. The loss drops the Eagles to 1-3 on the year, while the Blazers move to 3-1.
 
The Blazers picked up their first point at No. 3 doubles where Laura Ubeda and Estes Widdershoven downed Kathyrn Bock and Ana Gonzalez-Hoy 8-3. The Eagles' top-flight tandem of Maud Mrad and Alexis Marshall fell behind early, but rebounded to force an extra set against Bea Morales Hernandez and Anke Poncelet. The VSU duo was able to stave off the rally and put the Blazers up 2-0 with a 9-7 win.
 
On court two, Georgina Wood and Maria Turrillo were also down to Daniela Barta and Anja Coksa. VSU had match point at 7-6, but Wood and Turrillo mounted a rally to force a tiebreaker. With the tiebreak score knotted at 9-9, Barta and Coska managed to win two consecutive points to give the Blazers a 3-0 cushion heading into singles.
 
Bock scored the first point for the Blue and Gold with her 6-1, 6-2 defeat of Joanna Lario at No. 5 singles, but the Blazers answered with Widdershoven's 6-2, 6-3 win over Gonzalez-Hoy on court six.
 
Turillo made it 4-2 with her straight-set (6-2, 6-3) win over Poncelet at the third spot, but Sabrina Schmidt assured VSU of the win by holding off Wood in a three-setter at No. 2, 2-6, 6-0, 6-2.
 
While the team score was already decided, the two Eagles remaining on the court continued to battle. At the top spot, Mrad won the first set 6-4, but dropped the second by the same margin, resulting in a tiebreaker. The senior was down match point to 17th-ranked Morales Hernandez, but clawed her way back to an 11-9 win to take the match.
 
Marshall also registered a come-from-behind win of her own, downing Barta 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 at No. 4 to cap the scoring.
 
The Eagles return to the VSU Tennis Courts at 10 a.m. on Saturday to take on seventh-ranked West Florida.