The Oglethorpe men's tennis team fell 6-3 to Birmingham-Southern, ranked 13th in the Atlantic South, Saturday morning in Birmingham, Alabama. The 11th-ranked Petrels had a chance to turn the tables, as they had a total of four match points in two matches which the Panthers went on to win. A victory in both of them would have given the Stormy Petrels the win in the dual match. As it is, the Petrels fall to 8-4 on the season overall, 1-1 in SAA play.
The Petrels won 8-4 at No. 3 doubles with freshmen Angel Llerena and Richard Johnson, but saw Birmingham-Southern take the other two. The Panthers won 8-2 at No. 2, but the Petrels had two match points at No. 1 with the doubles team of senior C.J. Antonio and sophomore Rhys Richardson, newly ranked seventh in the Atlantic South, going against Birmingham-Southern's regionally-ranked duo. The Panthers were down 7-6 and the Petrels had two chances to break them for the match, but BSC was able to stave it off and then come back to win three straight games to take the match 9-7, sending proceedings to singles with the Panthers up 2-1.
In singles, Oglethorpe and Birmingham-Southern each picked up a quick victory. Rhys Richardson won 6-1, 6-4 at No. 4 for the Petrels while Llerena fell 6-2, 6-1 to the Panthers' No. 3, making the score 3-2 in favor of the home team. No. 23 Antonio was locked in a tight match against regionally-ranked Alex Makarenko at No. 1, but Antonio prevailed 7-4 in a tiebreaker and then won the second set, winning the match 7-6 (4), 6-4 and tying the dual match. It was anybody's match, tied 3-3 with three other matches headed to third sets.
One of them involved sophomore Judd Motz at No. 2, who'd had a pair of match points against his opponent but hadn't been able to close things out in the second set. His third set was hotly contested, but he fell 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 in the end. Senior Briton Richardson also went up a set at No. 5, but saw his opponent complete a comeback, as well, as he fell 4-6, 6-4, 7-5. Finally, freshman Michael Santaloci fell behind a set, but came back to win the second in a tiebreaker, 7-5, to force a third. The third proved very competitive, but Birmingham-Southern took that match, too, in the end, winning 6-1, 6-7 (5), 7-5.
"This was a very exciting and high-quality tennis match," said Oglethorpe head coach Peter Howell. "It's difficult to lose a match like this, as we had several chances to win. We had multiple match points in two matches, where winning both of those means we win the dual. We also had a couple of other matches in third sets that could've gone either way. Credit Birmingham-Southern, though. They played some very good tennis today and took the match away from us. We'll look to rebound tomorrow in Jackson."
The Petrels will take on Millsaps Sunday in Jackson, Mississippi, at 12:30 p.m. Eastern. After that, they'll return home to take on Rhodes and Hendrix next weekend.
