DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – In a contest between teams ranked 46th and 47th in the latest ITA/NCAA II women's tennis rankings, No. 46 Embry-Riddle prevailed over No. 47 Palm Beach Atlantic in Sunshine State Conference play at the Crotty Tennis Complex on Sunday. The match, which lasted four hours and 23 minutes, saw the Eagles win the doubles point and claim five of six singles matches to top the visiting Sailfish 6-1.
 
The victory improved the Eagles' overall ledger to 7-9 and their conference record to 3-4, while the Sailfish drop to 11-9 overall and 2-6 in the league.
 
The Eagles got off to a strong start, winning at No. 2 and No. 3 doubles to take the doubles point and a 1-0 lead into singles. Alexis Marshall and Mafalda Soares teamed up for a 6-2 defeat of Elvira Edstrom and Nicole Reich on court three, and Georgina Wood and Jillian Hobbs held off Bella Memersky and Consuela Van Grinsven 7-5 on court two.
 
The Eagles grabbed the first two singles points with straight-set wins on courts two and three. First to finish her match was Roberta Krvaijca who bested Yuliia Russuu 6-2, 6-2 at the third spot. Wood followed with a 7-5, 6-0 win over Memersky on court to extend the Eagle advantage to 3-0.
 
Playing at the fourth position, Sabrina Ehrenfort held off a fierce challenge from Van Grinsven in the first set before taking the tiebreaker 7-6 (7-2). Ehrenfort fell behind 4-1 in the second set, but rallied to win five straight games to take the set 6-4 and clinch the Eagles' victory over the Sailfish.
 
The last two matches off the court both went to three sets. Playing at No. 6, Soares rallied from a 6-3 loss in the first to defeat Reich 6-2, 10-1 in the subsequent frames.
 
Marshall suffered a tough 7-6 (7-2) loss in the first set. She fought back for a 6-4 win in the second and battled to a 10-7 win over Edstrom in the super tiebreaker to close out the match.
 
Next up for the Blue and Gold is a home match against top-ranked Lynn at 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday.