INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The Embry-Riddle men's tennis team dropped its opening match at the 2023 ITA Division II Men's National Team Indoor Championship on Friday, falling to second-ranked Columbus State 4-0. The Eagles were invited to compete in this year's national event after finishing as one of the top 10 teams in the 2022 ITA/NCAA II final rankings.
 
Playing at No. 2 doubles, the duo of Fernando Alonso and Alvaro Diaz Rodrigo held a 6-5 advantage over Tommasso Schold and Felix Steen. They were unable to play out the match however, as the Cougars clinched the doubles point with Pietro Martinetti and Javier Cueto Ramos' 6-2 win over No. 22 Alexis Guedy and Michele Iftimie, and Santiago Perez and Andrea Sandrone's 6-0 win against Luke Paschal and Lukas Schneider.
 
The Cougars increased their lead to 3-0 with singles wins at the second and sixth positions as Schold topped Alonso 6-3, 6-1 on court two and Justin Welz bested Yoav Nir at No. 6.
 
All four remaining matches went to three sets. At the fifth spot, Schneider bounced back from a 7-6 loss to Armin Trklja in the first to take the second 6-2 and go up 4-2 in the third. At the top spot, 32nd-ranked Guedy dropped his first set to Perez, 6-3, but battled back to top the nation's top-ranked player by the same score in the second. Playing on court three, Iftimie also suffered a first-set setback but rallied to top 17^th-ranked Cueto Ramos 7-6 in the second.
 
All three matches were unfinished, however, as 23rd-ranked Martinetti held off Diaz Rodrigo 7-5, 6-1, 6-1 to score the clinching point.
 
The Eagles move into the consolation bracket and will face the winner of Friday's Saint Leo/Hawaii Pacific match at 8 a.m. on Saturday.