The Oglethorpe men's tennis team rebounded from a tough loss on Saturday to earn a 5-4 win over a tough Millsaps team on Sunday in Jackson, Mississippi. The Petrels got standout performances from senior C.J. Antonio, ranked 23rd in the nation, and sophomores Judd Motz and Rhys Richardson, to clinch the match in the singles portion. The victory improves the Stormy Petrels to 9-4 on the season overall and 2-1 in SAA play.
The Petrels got off to a good start in the doubles portion of the match, taking two of the three possible doubles matches. Antonio and Richardson, the seventh-rated doubles team in the region, knocked out the 10th-ranked doubles team in the region in short order, winning their match 8-3. Meanwhile, the No. 3 team of freshmen Angel Llerena and Richard Johnson found themselves locked in a battle, but prevailed 8-6. Seniors Briton Richardson and Matt Roberson fell 8-4 at No. 2, making it 2-1 in favor of the Petrels headed to singles.
The Petrels earned the victory relatively quickly after the start of singles, with Motz taking care of his opponent 6-2, 6-2 at No. 2 to start things off and Antonio, the ninth-rated player in the region, taking out the Atlantic South's 25th-rated player 6-1, 6-1 at No. 1. With the Petrels up 4-1, Rhys Richardson closed things out with a solid 6-1, 6-2 victory at No. 4, clinching the dual match for the Petrels at 5-1.
After that, the Majors worked their way closer, beating Roberson 6-3, 6-0 at No. 6 and Llerena 6-2, 6-4 at No. 3. Briton Richardson came back from a first-set defeat at No. 5, winning the second 6-2. However, he fell 10-5 in the 10-point tiebreaker to decide the match, losing 6-4, 2-6, 1-0 (5).
"I was worried about a possible hangover after our tough loss at Birmingham-Southern Saturday," said Oglethorpe head coach Peter Howell. "We came out on fire today, though, and really took care of business to get the victory. This was a solid SAA road win, and I'm looking forward to seeing what we can do against Rhodes and Hendrix next weekend."
The Petrels will take on the Lynx at Saturday at approximately noon and will go against the Warriors Sunday at approximately noon. Both matches are set to take place on the Downing Howell Courts.
