The Oglethorpe volleyball team had an eventful tri-match Sunday at Dorough Field House, picking up their first SAA win of the season in a 3-2 thriller against Sewanee in the day's first match and taking a set off of No. 3 Emory in the final match.

The first match against Sewanee went five sets and had a bit of everything. The Stormy Petrels eventually prevailed 25-10, 24-26, 25-19, 21-25, 15-12. Senior outside hitter McKenna Bondarenko led the team with 18 kills and also contributed 18 digs while fellow senior outside hitter Anna Marie DiSalvo came up with 15 kills and a team-high 32 digs to go with four service aces. Freshman setter Katie Stewart collected 47 assists on the match and pulled 15 digs, as well. Senior libero Megan Makuck contributed 29 digs while senior middle blocker Lisa Inglis collected 13 kills. 

In the first set, the Petrels blitzed the visiting Tigers, making it look easy in the process. They ran out to a 5-0 lead, then went on a huge run, embarking on a 15-2 spurt to esentially put the set away, 22-6. Sewanee got it back to 23-10, but the Petrels came up with back-to-back points to end the set, 25-10.

In the second, it looked as though the Petrels might cruise to victory for awhile. They built an early 5-1 lead and, though Sewanee made comebacks to tie the score, 9-9, and then take a 12-11 lead, the Petrels reeled off four straight points for a 15-12 advantage. The Tigers again came back to tie it, 17-17, but it seemed as though Oglethorpe had taken control with four straight points after that. They had a 21-17 lead. Sewanee had other ideas, though, and went on a 9-3 run to close the set, tying the score at a set apiece.

The Petrels restored order in the third set. They came back from a very early deficit to take the lead, 11-8. However, Sewanee ran off five of six points to retake the lead, 13-12. Oglethorpe had an answer, however, running off three straight. Though Sewanee re-tied the score, 15-15, Oglethorpe began a dominating run of play that put the set away. They went on a 10-4 run to close the stanza, eventually emerging with a 2-1 lead in the match.

Sewanee came back in the fourth, however. After falling behind 5-2 early in the set, they turned it upside-down by winning 10 of the next 12 points and taking a 12-7 lead. The Petrels slowly fought their way back, going on a 7-3 run to pull to within a single point, 17-16. However, Sewanee pushed it back out with a three-point run of their own. The Petrels got back to within one a couple more times, the latest occurrence coming at 22-21. They never tied it, though, and Sewanee scored the final three points of the set to kill it off, 25-21.

That set up the fifth and final set, which unfolded like the entire match had to that point. Oglethorpe got off to an early lead, taking a 6-3 advantage and extending it to 11-6 in the winner-take-all final set. However, Sewanee came back, running off six points in a row to briefly take the lead, 12-11. Just when it looked like the Petrels might be in trouble, though, they did not allow Sewanee another point. They ran off four consecutive points to finish off the set, 15-11, and the match, 3-2.

In the final match of the day, the Petrels took on No. 3 Emory, marking the first time since 2003 that the crosstown rivals had played a volleyball match. It also marked the first time since 2011 that the Stormy Petrels volleyball team had faced off against a nationally-ranked opponent. The highly-ranked Eagles prevailed, but the Petrels didn't go down without a fight, falling 25-15, 24-26, 25-16, 25-12. Bondarenko led the team with 13 kills, while Stewart passed out 31 assists and Makuck recorded 20 digs. DiSalvo collected 11 kills and 13 digs, for her part.

In the first set, Emory jumped out to a quick 7-2 lead, but the Petrels were able to knock it back down to three, 10-7. The Eagles went on a quick 5-1 run, though, building their lead to 15-8. The Petrels made one more push to get back into the set against their highly-ranked opponents, going on a 4-1 run to pull the score back to 18-14. However, Emory finished the set after that, going on a 7-1 spurt that gave them a 25-15 first-set win.

The Petrels bounced back in the second, though. Despite an early 5-1 Emory lead, the Petrels fought back to take an 8-7 lead with a 7-2 run. Emory built their lead up to as much as 20-16, but the Petrels had an answer, embarking on an impressive 6-2 run to tie the score, 22-22. From there, the Petrels continued their run. After Emory went up 24-23 and obtained a set point, the Petrels scored the final three points of the set, tying it and then winning it, 26-24, knotting the match.

Emory started restoring order a bit in the third, though. They went ahead, 9-4, and though the Petrels got back to within three points several times, they could get no closer. Up 15-12, the Eagles went on the run that would close out the set, reeling off a 10-4 spurt to take the third set, 25-16.

After that, Oglethorpe seemed to run out of gas a bit in the fourth. They immediately fell behind 4-0 and, after coming back with back-to-back points, Emory exploded. The Eagles' 14-1 run essentially put the match away, as they led 18-3. Oglethorpe had a nice little comeback in them, a 6-1 run that pulled them to within ten, 19-9, but the damage was done, and Emory cruised home after that.

With today's results, the Petrels are now 11-9 overall, 1-4 in SAA play. The day saw the Petrels pick up their first SAA win since 2012 in a year where they've already more than doubled their win total from the 2013 season. 

With a stretch of nine consecutive home matches complete, the Petrels will now go back on the road. They'll play their next six matches away from home, five of those being true road matches. They'll next take the court Friday in Conway, Ark., where they'll take on SAA opponent Hendrix at 4 p.m. Eastern before taking on Rust in a neutral-site match to complete the tri-match at 6 p.m. Eastern.