The Oglethorpe men's tennis team defeated Birmingham-Southern 6-3 at the Downing Howell Courts on Saturday, giving them their first conference victory of the season and their second win over a regionally-ranked opponent.

The team swept all three doubles matches to go up 3-0 over the Panthers early in the match. Junior C.J. Antonio and senior Ben Hirsch, the 13th-ranked doubles pair in the Atlantic South, defeated their opponents 8-6 at No. 1, with junior Briton Richardson and senior Craig Borne taking down the No. 2 BSC pairing 9-8 (7-2). Senior Josh Rosenberg and freshman Judd Motz secured a win in the No. 3 doubles spot with an 8-4 victory. The wins helped the Petrels take control of the match as they headed into singles.

The teams split the singles contests, each side winning three apiece. Several Stormy Petrels had strong performances in the singles matches. No. 1 C.J. Antonio, currently ranked 18th in the region, handled BSC No. 1 Alex Makarenko in two sets 7-5, 6-2. Judd Motz won his match in the No. 4 spot defeating his Panther number 4 counterpart in two sets 6-3, 7-5. Oglethorpe No. 5 Briton Richardson had a solid day, beating George Dunn 6-4, 6-2. That clinched the win for the Petrels. No. 2 Kirk Zhao fell in straight sets to the BSC No. 2, losing 6-2, 6-3. Hirsch led early in his match at No. 3, winning the first set 6-2. But Hirsch lost the final two sets after a tough battle. OU No. 6 Raines Green fell to his counterpart 6-3, 6-4.

Head Coach Peter Howell spoke on the victory: "The doubles sweep was huge for us going into singles, giving us great momentum with Richardson clinching early. It's great to get a conference victory against a solid team."

The Petrels move to 5-6 and 1-1 in SAA play after the win over the Panthers. The Petrels will take on Millsaps Sunday on the Downing Howell Courts at 10 a.m. as they look to gather another win in SAA competition.