The Oglethorpe volleyball team fought hard all afternoon Saturday against Rhodes, but fell just short in a 5-set barn-burner, 3-2, at Dorough Field House.

Things started well for the Petrels in a marathon first set. Though they fell behind 5-2, they quickly came back to take an 8-7 lead. Rhodes, however, rallied to take leads of 13-8 and 18-11. That's when the Petrels started their big rally, though.

They ran off 11 of 14 points to come back and retake the lead, 22-21. From there, the two teams traded points for awhile. Oglethorpe had six set points to Rhodes' one, but nobody could convert to end the stanza. Finally, Oglethorpe earned a seventh set point when they went on top 31-30 and were able to close out the marathon set, 32-30.

The second set was an evenly matched back-and-forth affair, with the two squad trading points for a large majority of the set. It appeared as though Rhodes was beginning to pull away when they took an 18-14 lead, but Oglethorpe came right back with a 5-1 run to tie it back up, 19-19. Rhodes came back with a run of their own to pull to within a point of closing out the set, 24-20, but Oglethorpe came storming back and pulled to within one, 24-23. However, on their last set point, the Lynx finally finished the set, 25-23.

The third set did not start particularly well for the Oglethorpe squad. They fell behind early, 13-6, and then allowed a major run by the Lynx, including a 5-0 run in the middle of it, to put them at set point, 24-12. The Petrels eventually lost the set, 25-14, and found themselves down 2-1.

In the fourth set, Rhodes started with a 4-1 lead, but Oglethorpe tied it up, 4-4. Then, down 12-9, the Petrels put a huge run together and found themsevles ahead, 16-13. Rhodes countered to go up 21-19, but the Petrels roared back with a 6-1 run to close the set, 25-22, and force a fifth and deciding stanza.

Unfortunately, things did not go well for the home side in the fifth. Rhodes started out with a 7-0 advantage and the Petrels were never really in the set. Rhodes cruised home with a 15-5 fifth-set win.

Junior setter Anna Marie DiSalvo returned from injury to lead the Petrels with 34 assists and record 15 digs, as well. Meanwhile, junior libero Megan Makuck came back from an injury of her own to lead the team in digs with 16. Junior defensive specialist Kayley Earley contributed 11 digs, as did junior outside hitter McKenna Bondarenko. Bondarenko also led the squad with 18 kills.

The loss drops the Petrels to 4-13, 0-11 in SAA competition. The Petrels will return to Dorough Field House on Sunday to take on Hendrix at noon Eastern.