The Oglethorpe men's tennis team saw all three doubles matches go down to the wire Friday morning at the SAA quarterfinals at Old Fort Park in Murfreesboro, Tenn. However, the fifth-seeded Rhodes Lynx took two of the three and gave themselves control of the match against the fourth-seeded Stormy Petrels and went on to win 5-2, knocking Oglethorpe out of the main draw of the SAA Tennis Championships.

The Petrels and Lynx saw all three doubles matches tied at 7-7 and the regionally-ranked Oglethorpe tandem of junior C.J. Antonio and senior Ben Hirsch won their match 9-8 after a 7-4 tiebreak victory. However, the other two Oglethorpe teams fell 9-7, with junior Briton Richardson and senior Craig Borne falling at No. 2 doubles and freshman Judd Motz/senior Josh Rosenberg falling at No. 3. That combination gave Rhodes a 2-1 advantage going into singles competition.

In singles, Antonio beat highly-regarded Rhodes No. 1 Eliot Blatt 6-4, 6-4, staking his claim for a potential spot in the NCAA Division III Tennis Championships. The Petrels were unable to get any more, however. Hirsch won his first set 6-2, but his opponent at No. 3 came back to win 2-6, 6-3, 6-2. Motz lost at No. 4, 6-4, 6-2, while sophomore Jimmy Nuckolls fell 6-2, 6-1 at No. 6, clinching the victory for the Lynx. Richardson and senior Kirk Zhao were both ahead in their matches, but they went unfinished as the match was only played to completion.

"It was a typical Oglethorpe-Rhodes match," said Head Coach Peter Howell. "All three doubles matches could've gone either way, as all three were tied 7-7. As usual with these matches, Rhodes' 2-1 doubles win was decisive. I was proud of the way our guys fought over the course of the morning, but things just didn't go our way today."

The Petrels will participate in a consolation match Saturday at Old Fort Park, as they'll take on No. 8 seed Hendrix at 10 a.m. Eastern. That will be Oglethorpe's final match of the regular season, as the back draw will end on Saturday.