VALDOSTA, Ga. – The Embry-Riddle men's tennis team put up a strong fight against West Florida in a neutral site match on Saturday, but fell to the eighth-ranked Argonauts 4-2 at the Valdosta State Tennis Complex. The Eagles, who have been playing without their top-flight singles and doubles player Juan Ortiz Couder since he suffered an early season injury, moved to 4-7 on the year, while UWF improved to 12-4.
 
The Eagles started the day by claiming the doubles point with wins at the second and third positions. Andres Donayre and Lucas Bos earned the Eagles' first win by defeating Pedro Cordeiro and Igor Cantanhede 6-2 on court two, and Blake Rohweder and Mickael Faucher followed with a 6-4 defeat of Juan Cabrera and Lucas Sanchez on court three.
 
The Argonauts picked up two quick points in singles as Motta topped Rohweder 6-2, 6-4 at No. 6, and Cordeiro bested Faucher 6-0, 6-3 at No. 5.
 
Playing at No. 1 singles, Donayre dropped the first set to Bojadjiev 6-2, but the junior rallied to win the second set 6-1 and upended UWF's ninth ranked player 6-4 in the third to score the Eagles' second point of the afternoon.
 
The matches at the third and fourth singles spots also needed three sets to decide the outcome. After dropping the first set 6-4, Sanchez managed to hold off Bos 6-3, 6-2 to make it 3-2 UWF, and Robin Rafatin scored the clinching point with a 6-2, 1-6, 6-3 win over Andrej Omeragic on court four.
 
"I'm very happy with how the guys competed today," ERAU Head Coach Dave Paschal said. "It's the best match we've had this year in terms of the energy we played with in both singles and doubles. For us to have a chance to beat the No. 8 team in the country without Juan shows that guys are stepping up in their new roles."
 
The Eagles are back in action with an early start in their final game in Valdosta as they take on No. 15 West Alabama at 9 a.m. on Sunday.