The Oglethorpe volleyball team found themselves in a difficult matchup Saturday afternoon, as they took on Birmingham-Southern, a team that was 20-3 coming in and received votes in the latest national coaches' poll, The visiting Panthers proved to be too much for the Stormy Petrels on the day, defeating them 3-0 at the Schmidt Center.

The opening set was back and forth for the early portion, with Birmingham-Southern taking a 7-4 lead before the Petrels fought back to tie it 9-9. However, the Panthers would go on a run from there, outscoring Oglethorpe 9-1 during the next stretch to take an 18-10 lead. The Petrels went on a 4-1 run to push the BSC edge back down to five, 19-14, but the visitors finished off the set after that, ending on a 6-1 run to take it 25-15.

The second set started off similarly to the first, as Birmingham-Southern took a 4-1 lead but saw the Petrels come back to even it up, 6-6. However, the Panthers again pushed into the lead with a 7-1 run. That served as part of a larger 12-4 stretch that saw the visitors take an 18-10 lead. BSC then finished the set on a 7-3 run to win it 25-15.

The third set was competitive throughout. The visitors built another small early lead, but the Petrels again fought back, this time to take a 10-9 lead of their own. Birmingham-Southern ran off three-of-four points to retake the lead, 13-11, but the Petrels won four straight points of their own to build a 16-13 edge. A 6-1 BSC run put them back ahead, 20-18, though. The Petrels cut the Panthers' lead to one a couple times, but the visitors finished on a 4-1 run to close out the 25-20 victory.

Freshman outside hitter Santreece Stephens led the team with nine kills while fellow freshman outside hitter MaryAnn Smith and sophomore middle hitter Kaitlyn Woodruff finished with six each. Freshman setter Hannah Masiongale passed out 21 assists while freshman libero Savannah Grove pulled a team-high 10 digs.

"I like how we started the first set," said Head Coach Richie Tang. "We were point-for-point with a quality BSC team. The difference is the fact that they had the better of the point runs all afternoon long. I thought we did well with what we talked about doing in terms of our scouting and preparation. We had several critical attack and service errors in the first set that didn't help our cause, though. During BSC's point runs, our passing struggled and we got out of our system several times, making getting the ball to our best hitters increasingly difficult. I really like the way we played in the third set because our players adjusted well, but in tight situations like that, any unforced errors are magnified. We're still a team that continues to battle, and every practice and match we get is important for our growth as a team."

The Petrels will be in action once again from the Schmidt Center Sunday for their final SAA match of the regular season, as they'll take on Millsaps at 2 p.m. After that, the Petrels have a midweek road match at Wesleyan (Georgia) before the final tri-match of the season on Saturday, when the team welcomes Fisk and Piedmont.