ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. – The Embry-Riddle men's tennis team's historic 2022 season came to an end in the quarterfinal round of the NCAA II National Championship at Sanlando Park on Thursday. The fifth-seeded Eagles came out on the wrong end of a three-hour battle, falling to fourth-seeded Wayne State 4-3.
The first win of the day came at No. 2 doubles where the Eagle tandem of
Fernando Alonso and
Alvaro Diaz Rodrigo topped Luke Laws and Dom Spicer 6-3. At the top spot, seventh-ranked Cedric Drenth and Daniel Grey held off 23rd-ranked
Juan Ortiz Couder and
Andres Donayre 6-4, leaving it up to the match at No. 3 doubles to decide the doubles point. The match remained on serve until the final game when Niklas Karcz and Ben Lakeman registered a break against
Alexis Guedy and
Michele Iftimie to clinch the doubles point with a 7-5 win.
Karcz made it 2-0 for the Warriors with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Iftimie at No. 3 singles.
Lukas Schneider answered for the Blue and Gold, downing Drenth 6-4, 6-4 at No. 5.
The match at the top spot, saw 30th-ranked Drenth take the first set against sixth-ranked Ortiz Couder 6-0. But Ortiz Couder showed why he is one of the top players in the country as he stormed back to win the next two sets 6-1, 6-1 for the Eagles' second point of the day.
At No. 2, Guedy took down Lakeman 6-3, 6-3 to give the Eagles their first lead of the match, but the lead was short-live as Laws outlasted Alonso 0-6, 6-2, 6-2 at No. 6 to tie the team score at 3-3.
Diaz Rodrigo dropped the first set against Grey, 6-2, but the ERAU freshman gave the Warriors' fourth-flight player all he could handle in the second pushing the set to a tiebreaker. In the end, it was Grey who emerged victorious, winning the tiebreaker 8-6 and grabbing the win for WSU.
"Congratulations to Wayne State and Coach [Bryan] Morrow," ERAU Head Coach Dave Paschal said. "They played really well deserved the win. He's built a fantastic program there."
"It's a bittersweet ending after having the best year in our Division II era. It's very hard because I didn't want the season to end. This is a special group, one of my favorite teams in my 27 years as a head coach. It's hard to lose our three seniors – Tim, Andres, Juan – because they've been the backbone of our program for the last five years, especially Juan being here for seven years. He is a special student-athlete on and off the court. I'm really proud of the effort these seniors and everyone put forth in today's match and throughout the season. I've truly enjoyed coaching this team this year."
The 2022 campaign is the best the program has had since becoming NCAA II members in 2017-18. The Eagles closed out the season at 19-6, were ranked as high as fourth in the nation and had a 3.91 cumulative fall grade point average.
