DAYTONA BEACH. Fla. – The No. 16 Embry-Riddle women's tennis team (9-3, 3-2 Sunshine State Conference) hosted its home SSC opener, suffering a 6-1 defeat against No. 13 Saint Leo (9-5, 3-2 SSC).

Embry-Riddle got off to a winning start in the doubles, as the No. 37-ranked No. 1 doubles tandem of Itxaso Blanco and Laura Cuesta Bret scored a 6-2 victory over SLU's No. 7-ranked doubles pair of Luzia Obermeier and Lavina Lancellotti. Saint Leo bounced back in the No. 2 matchup, as Claudia Borbon Roca and Catherine Rabatin defeated ERAU's Maja Issler and Carla Cabero del Hierro 6-0. The Lions then took the doubles point by winning the No. 3 slot, as Kamilya Shailina and Madelyn Martin won 6-4 over Jessica Christa Wira Hadipoernomo and Kaylee Kirivong.

The singles started positively for the Eagles, as Wira Hadipoernomo took the No. 5 singles 6-2, 6-2 over Camila Keller.

However, the Lions took the next two matchups as Blanco lost the No. 1 matchup 2-6, 3-6 to Obermeier, and Cuesta Bret fell 3-6, 2-6 to Borbon Roca in the No. 3 matchup.

The No. 2 slot saw the clinching point, as a hard-fought 7-5, 6-4 match went to Lancellotti over Issler.  Following that was the No. 5 singles, where Cabero del Hierro fell 2-6, 6-7 to Shailina, with the second set being a 7-3 tiebreaker in Shailina's favor.  To wrap things up, Saint Leo's Rabatin won 6-2, 2-6, 6-2 over Alessia Tripaldelli in the No. 6 spot.

The Eagles are back in action this weekend, as they have a weekend slate up north in Valdosta, Georgia. ERAU is set to take on Valdosta State on Saturday at 2 p.m. as well as West Alabama on Sunday morning at 10 a.m.