The Oglethorpe volleyball team fell in its SAA opener Saturday against Millsaps at the Hangar Dome in Jackson, Mississippi, 3-0. The result drops the Stormy Petrels to 2-7 on the season, 0-1 in SAA play.

The match got off to a slow start for the Petrels, as the homestanding Majors won the opening set 25-2. In the second set, though, the Petrels settled in and were much more competitive. They pushed out to an early 10-6 lead early in the stanza, but the Majors answered with a 13-2 run of their own to turn the set around and take a 19-12 lead. The Petrels did not go away, though, as they came back with a run themselves, going on a 7-3 spurt to pull to within just three, 23-20. Millsaps finished off the final two points, though, and took the set 25-20.

In the third set, the Petrels looked to stay alive but fell behind 6-0 early. Though they were behind the eight-ball, they answered with a 9-3 run to tie the score, 9-9. However, Millsaps took over from there, as they finished on a 16-1 run to take the third set 25-10.

Sophomore libero Gianna Zitello led the team with nine digs on the day while freshman defensive specialist Anna Rash added seven digs of her own. Freshman setter Hannah Masiongale passed out six assists and freshman outside hitter MaryAnn Smith led the squad with four kills.

"That's certainly not how we expected to come out of the gate for our first conference match of the year," said Head Coach Richie Tang. "It is a bit disappointing to have that kind of performance in the first set. We showed our youth today a little bit, but I strongly feel that we have a very talented team and we're still figuring out our strengths and how to best utilize them. We are experiencing some growing pains but this is sometimes part of changing a program's culture." 

The Petrels will be right back in action on Sunday when they'll continue SAA play. They'll make a stop in Birmingham, Alabama, on their way back to Atlanta to take on Birmingham-Southern at noon Eastern.