The Oglethorpe volleyball team got off to an excellent start Friday at Dorough Field House, as they defeated Wesleyan (Georgia) 3-0 and took down Brewton-Parker 3-1 on Day 1 of the inaugural Stormy Petrel Challenge. The Stormy Petrels made quick work of Wesleyan, 25-7, 25-9, 25-6, before outlasting Brewton-Parker, 25-18, 22-25, 25-12, 25-22.

The 3-1 victory over Brewton-Parker was largely dominated by the Petrels, but the visiting Barons were able to go on a couple of runs to test the home side. The Petrels were behind for much of the opening set, finding themselves behind by as many as four points, 14-10. However, they went on a big run to close out the set from that point, reeling off 11 of 15 points to take the opening stanza by seven.

It was the Petrels who jumped out to a big lead in the second set. They led by as much as 19-13 and held a 22-17 advantage late in the set. However, this time it was the Barons to go on a big late run, winning eight straight points to stun the Petrels and close out the set.

Oglethorpe bounced right back from that setback, though, putting together their best set of the match in the pivotal third. After falling behind 5-4, they went on a nine-of-10 stretch to take control of proceedings, 13-6. They pushed their lead out to as many as 10 points, 20-10, before finishing the set off with a flourish, 25-12.

This gave the Petrels the opportunity to close out the match in the fourth and they got off to an excellent start in that regard, building a huge lead which would carry them through for the victory. They built an edge as large as eight points, pushing out to advantages of 21-13 and 24-16. The Barons were able to go on a bit of a run, staving off six match points and making it 24-22. However, the Petrels were able to secure the point they needed and improve to 2-0 on the season.

Freshman outside hitter MaryAnn Smith led the team with 11 kills and sported an impressive .500 hitting percentage in the process. Freshman defensive specialist Delaney Findling led the team with 12 digs while freshman setter Hannah Masiongale dished out an impressive 38 assists. 

"Give Brewton-Parker a lot of credit for hanging in there and giving us problems down the stretch in the second and fourth sets," said Head Coach Richie Tang. "I thought we made some mistakes that kept them in the match, but regardless, it's great to get the win and it was good to get tested a little bit late in the day heading into Saturday's matchups."

The victory provided a solid capper to a great day for the Petrels, as they started off on Friday afternoon by dominating Wesleyan, 3-0. The Petrels did not allow the visiting Wolves double-digit points in any of the three sets. Oglethorpe also only allowed the Wolves to score consecutive points three times in the whole match, once in each set. The home team got five kills each from sophomore middle hitter Kaitlyn Woodruff (the team captain) and freshman right-side hitter Evan Furst. Masiongale also provided 18 assists, helping the Petrels to victory.

"Overall, I was very pleased with how we played on our first day out," said Tang. "We have 14 freshmen on our team, so today was largely about seeing how all the pieces fit together from our end. We tried a lot of different lineups out there today and we'll probably do the same tomorrow. I was pleased with the way our kids handled everything. We're going to start right off the bat tomorrow with a Benedictine team that played very well today, so we'll see how the kids handle that."

The Benedictine (Illinois) match will get started at noon on Saturday. The Petrels will then finish the tournament with a 4 p.m. match against in-state opponent LaGrange. Benedictine cruised through both Wesleyan and LaGrange in straight sets on Friday. LaGrange defeated Brewton-Parker in the other match of the day, also in straight sets.