ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. – No. 6 Hawai'i Pacific University closed its Florida trip on a strong note defeating No. 37 Embry-Riddle (Fla.) 4-1 in non-conference play at Sanlando Park, the site of the NCAA Division II Championships next month.
 
The sixth ranked Sharks (12-4) bounced back from a loss on Friday while snapping the Eagles (7-9) three match winning streak.
 
The Sharks opened by winning a hard-fought doubles point. It was determined at No. 2 where Lukas Bauer and Cheng-Chieh Wang defeated the Eagles' Andres Donayre and Lucas Bos 7-5 for the point. The teams had split the other flights, with HPU's No. 3 duo of Ondrej Ctverak and Benjamin Loccisano downed Mickael Faucher and Blake Rohweder 6-3, but the Sharks seventh ranked duo of Valentin Masse and Maxime Gayte were beaten by Alexis Guedy and Andrej Omeragic 6-1.
 
The Sharks made it 3-0 as 69th ranked Loccisano won at No. 3 over Bos 6-0, 6-3 and Bauer took down Rohweder 6-2, 6-2 at No. 6. The Eagles answered with a win at No. 2 as Guedy defeated Ctverak 6-3, 6-4.
 
HPU clinched the match when 38th ranked Gayte beat Omeragic 6-4, 7-5 at No. 4.
 
The Sharks were close to another point at No. 5, where Wang was up 4-6, 6-2, 5-1 when play ended. The featured No. 1 court went unfinished as well with 23rd ranked Masse up in the third set against 54th ranked Donayre 4-6, 6-3, 2-0.
 
The Sharks stay on the mainland but travel east to west as they head to Surprise, Ariz., for the PacWest Conference Championships next week.