DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Embry-Riddle men's tennis team suffered a tough loss in its final match of the regular season on Wednesday. The Eagles won the doubles point, but 10
th-ranked Lynn got the four singles wins they needed to edge ERAU 4-3 at the Crotty Tennis Complex.
Doubles went to ERAU as the Eagles earned wins at the top two spots to secure the doubles point. Lynn earned the first win of the afternoon when Giovanni Araujo and Diego Gonzalez topped
Fernando Alonso and
Alvaro Diaz Rodrigo 6-2 on court three. At No. 1 singles, ERAU's
Juan Ortiz Couder and
Luke Paschal and Lynns's Joao Ferreira and Lucca Baptista held serve through the first nine games. With a 5-4 edge, the ERAU duo registered the first break of the match to put the Eagles on the board.
At No. 2 doubles,
Lucas Bos and
Alexis Guedy led Carlos Gomez and Nicolas Cabrera 6-5. The Lynn team looked to its service game to tie the match, but Bos and Guedy recorded a break of their own to win 7-5 and give the Eagles a 1-0 advantage heading into singles play.
Gomez tied the team score at 1-1 with his 6-4, 6-2 win over Bos at the third spot, but Guedy reclaimed the lead for the Blue and Gold moments later with his 6-2, 6-2 defeat of Baptista on court two.
Each team picked up a point on the last two courts as Jan Kirchhoff topped Diaz Rodrigo 6-4, 6-2, and ERAU's
Tim Loerwink bested Araujo by the same score. Playing at the fifth spot, Gonzalez held off Alonso 7-5, 7-5 to knot the team score at 3-3, leaving it up to the contest at No. 1 singles between Ortiz Couder and Ferreira to determine the winner.
After Ortiz Couder won the first set 6-1, Ferreira came back to take the second 6-0 and force a third set. Ferreira jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the final frame, but Ortiz Couder fought back to tie the set at 5-5. In the final two frames, Ferreira was able to register a hold and a break to clinch the win for the Fighting Knights.
The Sunshine State Conference tournament will take place April 23-25. Matchups and locations are to be determined.
