DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The 14th-ranked Embry-Riddle men's tennis team picked up two early wins in doubles, but were unable to parlay those into an upset of top-ranked Saint Leo, falling to the Lions 5-2, Wednesday at the Crotty Tennis Complex. The loss puts the Eagles at 11-4 overall and 2-2 in the Sunshine State Conference. Saint Leo remains unbeaten in league play at 6-0 to go with an 18-1 overall mark.
 
The first doubles win went to the 24th-ranked ERAU duo of Caelan Potts and Fernando Alonso which downed Nicolas Bacella and Ghali Mensour 6-2 at the No. 2 spot. The Lions earned a point of their own courtesy of Vincent Thiel and Eduardo Cohen's 6-4 win over Safar Rasulov and Alvaro Diaz Rodrigo at No. 3.
 
The start of the decisive top-flight doubles match saw the ERAU pair of Joshua Nuyts and Michele Iftimie take a 4-1 lead over 10th-ranked Martin Soukal and Luis Iriarte. The Saint Leo team fought back and eventually the score was tied at 6-6, but the tiebreaker went to Nuyts and Iftime (7-5), giving the Eagles a 1-0 edge heading into singles.
 
The Lions overtook the Eagles with straight-set wins at the second, fifth and sixth spots to go up 3-1.
 
Two of the final three matches went to three sets, the first of which was won by Alonso who bested Mensour 6-4, 1-6, 6-2 at No. 5. Moments later, however, Bacella outlasted Ifitmie 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 on court three to score the clinching point.
 
The Eagles will play another conference match on Saturday, this time traveling to Lakeland to take on 10th-ranked Florida Southern at noon.