The Oglethorpe men's tennis team is in the SAA championship match after outlasting the fourth-seeded Birmingham-Southern Panthers 5-4 Saturday in the SAA semifinals at the Adams Tennis Complex in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The top-seeded Stormy Petrels will take on the third-seeded Centre Colonels Sunday at 3 p.m. Eastern for the SAA championship.

In a match that took place on the indoor courts at the Adams Tennis Complex after rain forced the proceedings to a more sheltered setting, the Petrels fell behind in doubles, giving themselves a little bit of trouble in the overall match. Freshmen Ameya Dani and Daniel Cohen fell 8-3 in the topline match and seniors Walker Benson and Calvin Schneider followed with an 8-4 defeat at No. 2. Freshman Vince Claussen and senior Zoe Raymond salvaged the No. 3 match 8-3, but the Petrels found themselves down 2-1 headed to singles and needing to win four out of the six singles contests.

Benson got things off to an excellent start for the Petrels, winning 6-2, 6-1 at No. 3 to tie the match 2-2. Cohen followed with a 6-1, 6-0 win at No. 5, but Dani fell 6-2, 6-2 at No. 1 and Claussen lost 6-3, 6-2 at No. 2. The dual match came down to the final two, both of which the Petrels needed to win.

Schneider earned a hard-fought three-set win to tie the dual match 4-4. He won the No. 4 contest 6-4, 0-6, 6-0. That left the match in Raymond's hands. He'd already taken the first set of his No. 6 match 6-0 when Schneider's match ended, and he finished it off with another sweep in the second set. His 6-0, 6-0 win sent the Petrels to the conference final.

In addition to the conference title, the Petrels will be playing for the SAA's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tennis Championships. It would be their first-ever bid to that tournament.