Oxford, Ga. - The Harford men's tennis grabbed their first victory of the season against Oxford of Emory, taking down the Eagles 5-4 on Saturday.

In the first match of the day, the men's team put up a solid fight against powerhouse Abraham Baldwin as the team consistently showed improvement from the previous day.  The double pair of John Brett and Antoine Le Gloan lost 8-3 in doubles, but really started playing better as a pair. 

In singles, John Brett played another close match against one of the best players in the country from ABAC.  The freshmen Fighting Owl lost the first set 6-3, but came back in the second to take a lead and held it for most of the set until the #1 from ABAC tied it up at 5-5 and then and 6-6 and forced another tiebreaker before Abraham Baldwin's ace was able to close out the match.

After falling 9-0 earlier in the day to Abraham Baldwin, the Fighting Owls put on a much better performance in their second contest which was filled with high intensity tennis played in almost every match.  The two teams played each other for over four and a half hours and featured quite a few tight matches. 

The Eagles proved to be tough at the top, taking down Harford's #1 doubles team as well as their top three singles competitors. The Fighting Owls depth would prove to be a huge factor on the day, with Luigi Zanin and Tristian Diaz securing an 8-4 win as the #2 doubles pairing to go with Zanin's singles victory.

The singles was so intense that after nearly every point you could hear the crowd cheering. After the 1-4 singles matches were over Oxford had a 4-3 lead needing only one more match to clinch the match.  Juan Naranjo pulled out the match 7-6, 7-6 in what can only be described as a marathon match. With the score at 4-4, the final match would determine a winner. Bruno Brocanelli fell behind 2-5 in the first set, but came storming back to win the first set 7-5 in an amazing come back.  The second set he relied on his big serve and forehand that ended in Harford storming the court to celebrate their first victory of the year.
 
MATCH 1 vs. ABRAHAM BALDWIN  
DOUBLES
1. F. Fibleuil/M. Rogel d. J. Brett/A. LeGloan, 8-3 ABAC
2. F. Spickhoff/L. Zavrel d. T. Diaz/L. Zanin, 8-1 ABAC 
3. V. Paulino/N. Rosatti d. J. Naranjo/B. Brocanelli, 8-2 ABAC 

SINGLES
1. Frederic Fibleuil d. John Brett, 6-3, 7-6, (7-5) ABAC
2. Matthias Rogel d. Antoine LeGloan, 6-1, 6-0 ABAC
3. Lukas Zavrel d. Treston Diaz, 6-0, 6-1 ABAC
4. Ferdinand Spickhoff d. Luigi Zanin, 6-4, 6-1 ABAC
5. Vitor Paulino d. Juan Naranjo, 6-0, 6-0 ABAC
6. Raul Rodriguiz d. Dakota Bridge, 6-0, 6-1 ABAC

Abraham Baldwin 9 - Harford 0

MATCH 2 vs. OXFORD OF EMORY
DOUBLES
1. G. Cabral/J. McCarthy d. J. Brett/A. LeGloan, 8-4 Oxford
2. T. Diaz/L. Zanin d. T. Coston /G. Hua, 8-4 Harford
3. J. Naranjo/B. Brocanelli, d. AJ Sonawala/D. George, 8-4 Harford

SINGLES
1. Guillermo Cabral d. John Brett, 7-5, 6-3 Oxford
2. Julian McCarthy d. Antoine Le Gloan, 6-4, 6-2 Oxford
3. Tate Coston d. Treston Diaz, 6-2, 6-0 Oxford
4. Luigi Zanin d. Henry Hua, 7-6, (7-4), 6-1 Harford
5. Juan Naranjo d. Gordon Hua, 7-6, (7-3), 7-6, (11-9) Harford
6. Bruno Brocanelli d. AJ Sonawala, 7-5, 6-2 Harford
 
Oxford of Emory 4 - Harford 5

Click here for a video of the match winning point