DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The sixth-ranked Embry-Riddle men's tennis team celebrated a program first with their 4-1 defeat of 27th-ranked Rollins in the quarterfinals of the Sunshine State Conference tournament on Friday. The No. 3 seed in the eight-team tournament, the Eagles advanced to the semifinal round of in a full conference tournament for the first time since becoming members of the league in 2017-18.*
 
The Eagles claimed the doubles point with wins at the first and third spots. Juan Ortiz Couder and Luke Paschal upended 17th-ranked Efe Comu and Mikkel Baumann 6-4 at No. 1 and Fernando Alonso and Alvaro Diaz Rodrigo downed Charlie Putrino and Phillip McMurray by the same score to give ERAU a 1-0 advantage heading into singles.
 
Fernando Alonso quickly made it 2-0 for the Eagles with his 6-1, 6-0 defeat of McMurray at No. 6. Diaz Rodrigo also registered a straight-set (6-3, 6-2) victory over Putrino at No. 4 to make it 3-0, but the Tars were able to get a point back with fourth-ranked Denis Golubev's win on court one.
 
The clinching point for the Eagles came from Michele Iftimie at No. 4 when he held off Andrea Brignacca 6-2, 7-5 to help the Eagles advance.
 
The Eagles are now 15-4 on the year and will face top seed and second-ranked Barry in the semifinals at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
 
* ERAU was one of four teams to compete in an abbreviated 2021 tournament.