Howell has over thirty-five years of both playing and teaching tennis experience that include holding the #5 national ranking by the United States Tennis Association (USTA) for six consecutive years and being named the Georgia Pro Tennis Player-of-the-Year four times. The men’s tennis team he guides at Oglethorpe University has been ranked regionally in the Atlantic South Division among NCAA Division III schools in each of the past three seasons.

In 1977 Howell founded the Georgia Professional Tennis Association, a grass-roots formation of tennis professionals in Georgia dedicated to improving the standards of tennis in the community. Since its creation, the Georgia Professional Tennis Association has grown to over 300 members and has become the model for similarly founded organizations across the country.

A graduate of Vanderbilt University, Howell starred for three seasons for the Commodores on the tennis courts before injury sidelined him for his senior year. As a junior, Howell was named captain of the team and earned Most Valuable Player honors.

Howell comes from a family steeped in tennis tradition and, in 1964, the Howell family was selected as the Tennis Family-of-the-Year by the Southern Tennis Association. Peter will join his brother, Richard Howell, who was inducted in 1993 and his mother, Caroline Howell, who was inducted in 2000, as a member of the Georgia Tennis Hall of Fame at induction ceremonies scheduled for May 2010.

“It’s a terrific honor to be recognized by the tennis community in Georgia as having made a difference,” said Howell, who, in his joking nature, added, “it shows that good things happen if you live long enough!”

As voted on by their teammates, here are the awards that were handed out:
 
Men's Team:
Most Valuable Player: Bryan Bailey from Hebron, Kentucky.
Most Improved: Joey Kosciolek of Lawrenceville, Georgia.
Stormiest Petrel: Lawrence Sweatman of Memphis, Tennessee.
 
Women's Team:
Most Valuable Player: Molly Colvard of Chickamauga, Georgia.
Most Improved: Kayla Atkins of Acworth, Georgia.
Stormiest Petrel: Sarah Duff of Braselton, Georgia.
 

For the season, Britt posted a 6-10 record in singles matches and a 7-8 record in doubles matches to earn the honorable mention distinction.

Coaches voted for 10 players in rank order, with a first place vote worth 10 points, a second place vote worth 9 points on down to a 10th place vote being worth one point. The top-10 players were all named All-SCAC and any player beyond the top-10 that received votes were named to the Honorable Mention team.

 

O'Dell, of Peachtree City, Georgia, went 2-0 in matches played from the #3 singles slot to earn her spot on the All-Tournament Team. On Friday, O'Dell dispatched Mary Elizabeth O'Leary of Millsaps 6-0, 6-1 and on Saturday, she defeated Margaret Edwards of Austin, 6-0, 6-2.
 
Colvard, of Chickamauga, Georgia, went 2-0 in matches played from the #2 singles slot to earn her spot on the All-Tournament Team. On Friday, Colvard stuffed Mimi Nyguen of Millsaps 6-0, 6-0 and on Saturday, she topped Megan McCarty of Austin 4-6, 6-3, 1-0.

Despite getting swept in the doubles competition, Oglethorpe rallied to split the singles matches with Austin. The Petrels got wins from the #1 singles slot with Sarah Beth Britt (1-6, 6-2, 10-5), the #3 singles slot with Molly Colvard (4-6, 6-3, 10-6) and the #6 singles slot with Lauren Heusel (6-2, 6-2).
 
Oglethorpe finishes the season at 6-9 overall and the Lady Netters, with plenty of returning players, have much to be optimistic about entering next year.

The men opened with a razor thin defeat to Sewanee by the score of 6-3 that was not indicative of exactly how close this match was. The Petrels bounced back, however, to knock off Centre, 8-1 setting up a showdown for 5th place with the winner of Colorado College and Southwestern. The 5th place match will be held at 12:30 p.m. eastern on Sunday.
 
The women were topped by Colorado College in their opening match but recovered to sweep Millsaps in their second match. The Lady Netters are set to face Austin at 4:00 p.m. today with a chance to grab 9th place in the always tough SCAC.

For the second consecutive day Molly Colvard clinched a match for Oglethorpe, this time by blanking Southeastern's Mandy Summers 6-0, 6-0 from the #3 singles slot.
 
Despite the match being clinched, drama did unfold in the #4 singles match as Alison Burt staved off a match point from Nicolle Cotton and rallied to win (6-2, 2-6, 1-0)  in a tiebreaker.
 
With the win Oglethorpe is now 4-4 on the season and will get set to host regionally ranked Birmingham-Southern at 2:30 p.m. this Friday.

Head coach Peter Howell has been pleased with the women's progress so far this season and playing stout competition will only lift the Petrel's game as they progress through the spring season.
 
The women are now 2-4 on the young season and must regroup for four home tennis matches this week: today versus LaGrange at 3:00 p.m., tomorrow versus Southeastern at 3:00 p.m., Friday versus Birmingham-Southern at 2:30 p.m. and Saturday versus Mississippi College at 10:00 a.m.

On Friday, the women swept the doubles competition over Spelman to spring the team to victory when they won two clutch singles matches. Sarah Beth Britt, playing out of the #1 singles slot, gutted out a 7-5, 7-6 (4) win over Spelman's Veronica Smith and Kimberly O'Dell, playing from the #4 singles slot, won 6-2, 4-6, 1-0 over Gabrielle Pingue to secure the win.
 
On Saturday, the netters fell by the narrowest of margins as O'Dell was topped in two critical matches, falling 9-8 (6) in doubles with Alison Burt and losing an equally tight singles match 6-1, 3-6, 3-6 to Reinhardt's Kristie Spivey.
 
With the decisions, the Petrels are now 2-1 on the season and will get set to face Piedmont College this Friday at 3:00 p.m. on Howell Courts.

The women's team opened their season by sweeping the doubles portion of their match with Millsaps. It marked the first time in seven years that the women swept a copnference opponent in doubles matches. Freshman Jayme Danielson clinched the match for the women in a come from behind (6-7, 6-1, 6-2) win.

After splitting their doubles matches 2-1 against the Majors, the men put Millsaps away on the singles courts with Luka Cerenko clinching the match with a 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 victory.
 
Both teams are back in action this Saturday when they square off with Reinhardt on their home courts at 2:00 p.m.

Cerenko advanced to the quarterfinals after he defeated NC Wesleyan Alexey Rumeyantsev 6-2,6-3 and then Xavier Ruiz of Averet 6-1,6-3. In the 16’s he defeated Jonas Schwartz of Emory 7-6,6-0. (Schwartz had defeated #8 seed Charles Boyd of Sewanee) 7-6,6-0. In the Quarter Finals he played #2 seed  Mark Boren of Emory who won the event last year.
 
Luka started a bit nervous and Boren was a machine and let the firat set go 6-0 after being down double break at 4-0. He regroup the second set and played very tough, patient , excellent tennis. He was broken at 5 all, but broke back to force a tiebreaker with a solid well  played game. Unfortunately, a few unforced errors together with some sterling play from Boren were too much and he lost 7-3 in the breaker. Luka was the only non Emory player in the quarterfinals and got futher than any other player in the SCAC Conference.

Sophomore Felix Mann had a great win in defeating #3 seed Chas Dunn of Mississippi College. Felix lost the first set 4-6 but rallied to win the second 6-4. The third set was a war with Felix coming out on top 6-4. This avenged his loss to Dunn 6-2,6-0 in this tournament last year. The 2 ½ Hr. win was costly as Felix cramped up in his second match and had to retire vs. Chris Jordan of Emory in the second set.

Junior transfer Scott McRee had a good win over Centre’s #1 Ben Newstadt 6-3,6-7,6-1. He then played ok but lost to #4 seed Chris Goodwin of Emory 6-3,6-3. Fr Bryan Bailey also won his first round match defeating Sewanee’s Michael House 6-1,6-1. Unfortunately, he then played #1 seed Michael Goodwin of Emory losing 6-3,6-1.

Other notables were sophomore Ross Beall & Scott McRee winning the doubles consolation beating teams from Mississippi College, Millsaps and Rhodes. Sophomore Lawrence Sweatman got to the semi finals of the consolation in the “B” draw and he teamed with Ricky Pomales to get to the semi finals of the “B” draw double. They came back from a 2-7 deficit to beat Methodist 9-7.

  
 

On the women's side, senior Katie Kuhn of Sterling Heights, Michigan was voted Most Outstanding Player. Katie played at the extremely tough #1 singles slot all season long and acquitted herself well against the top competitors in the SCAC.
 
Sophomore Alison Burt of Spring, Texas was voted by her peers as the Most Improved Player for the 2007-2008 season. Burt, also a star on the volleyball court, joined the team this season and actually climbed the ladder all the way up to where she competed a combined seven times at the #2 or #3 singles slot. Additionally, Alison compiled a solid 5-3 record while playing doubles with Jamie Dillon.
 
The Stormiest Petrel Award yielded a tie between freshman Molly Colvard of Chickamauga, Georgia and senior Jamie Dillon of Lake Mary, Florida. Colvard joined the team this year and displayed a fiery spirit in racking up a splendid 5-2 overall record playing out of the #3 singles slot. Dillon, another dual sport star (she played soccer at OU for four seasons), had a stellar season, going 9-7 as a singles player and 10-6 in doubles competition for a season record of 17-13.
 
On the men's side, junior Luca Cerenko of Atlanta was voted Most Outstanding Player for the 2007-2008 season. Cerenko posted an incredible 12-2 record in singles competition including a perfect 11-0 from the #2 and #3 positions. In addition to his singles exploits, Luca combined with Felix Mann and Alex Lindburg to record a 9-2 record in doubles play.
 
Senior Brick Faucette of Powder Springs, Georgia was voted Most Inproved Player. Faucette, a four year player who competed in a whopping 82 matches while wearing the Oglethorpe black and gold, battled all season long at the #1 singles slot facing stout competiton. Brick and freshman Ross Beall combined to post a 7-3 record in doubles competition.
 
The Stormiest Petrel award was earned by freshman Lawrence Sweatman of Memphis, Tennessee. Sweatman showed great dedication throughout the season on the practice courts and when called upon to compete in a match was always ready to play. Lawrence won all three of the singles matches he competed in this season and combined with Brad White to win his only doubles match for a perfect 4-0 record in games played this season.

On Friday, the match turned against the Petrels in the #2 doubles competition when Molly Colvard and Ashley Cooper were narrowly defeated 8-6 to give the Warriors a 2-1 points advantage heading into singles play. The injury bug then bit the Petrel Netters as both Colvard and Kimberly O'Dell had to retire from their matches, Colvard actually doing so while leading.
 
On Saturday, the Netters went down again by the narrow score of 6-3 to Austin College. The Petrels fell behind 3-0 in doubles play as the combination of Jamie Dillon and Alison Burt fell 8-5. Oglethorpe went on to split the singles competition but it was not enough to overcome the Kangaroos. Katie Kuhn, Ashley Cooper and Jamie Dillon all recorded singles victories in Saturday's season-ending loss.
 
The Petrel Netters finish the season with a 6-12 record but will look to continue to improve around the strength of upstart underclassmen Molly Colvard, Alison Burt and Kimberly O'Dell.

On the women's side, the ladies played an extremely tough match on Saturday against the #7 ranked Sewanee Tigers and fell by a 9-0 margin. The #3 doubles combination of Jamie Dillon and Alison Burt nearly won their match before falling and Abby Hammond nearly staged an upset in her singles match before going down, 7-5, 6-4. Otherwise the #7 ranked Tigers were too tough to tame.
 
On Sunday, the women played their most copmpetitive conference match of the season against a stout Centre College squad before succombing, 8-1. Freshman Molly Colvard battled through a shoulder injury forcing her to serve underhanded and nearly won a grueling three hour match before falling 6-4 in the decisive third set. With the loss, the women finish their season at 6-11 with six of their losses coming against ranked opponents.
 
The men struggled on Saturday against blustery wind conditions and a highly regarded Sewanee Tiger team before eventually losing, 9-0. Despite the lobsided point margin, many of the matches were extremely close as Brick Faucette lost his singles match 6-4, 6-4 and Felix Mann went down by a count of 7-6, 6-4.
 
The men bounced back in a big way on Sunday, trouncing the Centre College Colonels, 9-0. Brick Faucette managed to exact a little revenge in the team sweep by defeating an opponent in Doug Arnold who had previously topped Faucette in the fall ITA's. Both Gabe Henderson and Felix Mann won three-set thrillers and Ross Beall, Alex Lindburg and Brad White all won easily to help end the season on a high note.
 
With the win, the men pushed their record to 10-6 on the season with each of their 6 losses coming to teams ranked just ahead of Oglethorpe on the national and regional scene. The Netters will also finish the season ranked #16 in the Atlantic South Region, their highest ranking at season end in the modern era. The Petrels will now turn their focus to the SCAC Spring Sports Festival where they await word on their first round seeding.