The Oglethorpe men's tennis team went toe-to-toe with the Rhodes Lynx, a fellow regionally-ranked team, Friday on a windy day in Memphis, Tenn., but the home side eventually prevailed in a very tight 5-4 contest. The result drops the Stormy Petrels to 7-7 on the season, 2-2 in SAA play.
The match started out tight in the doubles competition and stayed that way for the duration. Junior C.J. Antonio and senior Ben Hirsch won 8-3 at No. 1 to start things off, but the Lynx took the other two doubles matches. Junior Briton Richardson and senior Craig Borne faced a difficult match against a quality opponent at No. 2. They were up 4-3 and 5-4 early on in the match but wound up falling 8-5. At No. 3, freshman Judd Motz and senior Josh Rosenberg got behind a break in the early going and never recovered, falling 8-4 and putting Rhodes ahead 2-1 going into singles.
Four of the six singles matches went three sets in what was a tight dual match across the board. Motz got things all tied up right off the bat with a 6-3, 6-3 win at No. 4. Richardson and Zhao won their first sets at Nos. 5 and 2, respectively, but Antonio and Hirsch fell down a set at Nos. 1 and 3, respectively. The opposite happened in the second set of each match, sending all four to decisive third sets. Richardson fell in the third, losing his match 2-6, 6-1, 6-2 and giving Rhodes the lead back. Zhao came back to win his match 6-1, 1-6, 6-2, but Hirsch fell in the third set of his, losing 6-2, 5-7, 6-3, giving Rhodes a 4-3 lead and putting them one away from clinching. Antonio kept the Petrels alive with another victory at No. 1, though, coming back from a set behind to win a third-set tiebreak, 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7-2). Everything came down to the No. 6 match featuring Borne, but his opponent was just too consistent, and the Petrels lost that match 6-1, 6-3 and the dual match 5-4.
"This was a heck of a tennis match that could have gone either way," said Head Coach Peter Howell. "Our guys gave it all they had and I was proud of the effort. Both teams did a great job of handling the wind, but we just came up one match short."
The Petrels will get right back to action Saturday morning, as they're in Conway, Ark., to take on Hendrix beginning at 10 a.m. Eastern time. Next weekend, they'll travel again to face off against nationally-ranked Sewanee and Centre.
