The Oglethorpe volleyball team remained winless in conference play with a 3-0 (28-26, 25-20, 25-14) defeat to Birmingham-Southern Saturday afternoon in Dorough Field House.

The Petrels matched the visiting Panthers evenly in the first set, going on a 4-1 run to take an early 10-7 lead. Birmingham-Southern came back to take an 18-17 lead, though, and from that point, the two teams traded point for the remainder of the set. Birmingham-Southern earned a set point at 24-23, but the Petrels came right back with two points of their own to take a 25-24 lead and earn a set point of their own. After the Panthers re-tied the score, Oglethorpe came back and gained a second set point, 26-25. However, Birmingham-Southern finished three straight points after that to take the set, 28-26.

In the second set, the Petrels fell behind 4-1, but then rallied to take a 6-5 advantage. They then ran off four straight points, including kills by junior outside hitter McKenna Bondarenko and sophomore outside hitter Erin Shelton and a service ace by Bondarenko, to take a 10-7 lead. But from that point, the Panthers took over the set, running off five straight points to take a 14-12 lead, then three more to extend their advantage to 17-14. Though the Petrels came back to pull to within a single point, 20-19, the Panthers five of the next six to take the set, 25-20.

In the third set, Birmingham-Southern got off to a 4-1 start, but saw the Petrels come back to tie the score, 5-5. However, from there, the Panthers pulled out to a 15-8 lead, then extended it to 19-11. Though Oglethorpe ran off three straight points of their own to pull to within 19-14, Birmingham-Southern finished the match off with six straight points of their own for the 25-14 win.

Junior setter Anna Marie DiSalvo recorded 23 of the team's 26 assists and added 11 digs on the afternoon.

With the loss, the Petrels fall to 5-15, 0-13 in SAA competion. They'll complete their conference regular season on Sunday, when they take on Millsaps at noon in Dorough Field House.