The Oglethorpe volleyball team fell Saturday afternoon in a pair of home matches, dropping an SAA contest to Rhodes 3-0 before falling to non-conference opponent Covenant 3-0 in the final match of the day. The results dropped the Stormy Petrels to 8-17 on the season overall and 2-10 in SAA play.

In the first match of the day, the Petrels took on a Rhodes team that defeated them 3-2 in Memphis, Tennessee, earlier in the season. The visiting Lynx slowly built an 8-5 advantage to begin the first set, then extended that to 11-7. A 3-point run from the Petrels brought them back to within a single point, 14-13, but Rhodes started to pull away with an 8-1 run that extended their advantage to 22-14. The Lynx put the set away from there, winning it 25-14.
 
Rhodes pushed out to a 4-2 lead to start the second set, but the Petrels came back with five consecutive points to build a 7-4 edge of their own. The two teams then traded runs, leading to an 11-9 lead for the Petrels. Rhodes responded again with a 9-2 run, though, taking a 17-13 lead as the set went into the latter stages. Oglethorpe went on a 3-1 mini-run to cut the lead to 18-17, but the Lynx later came back with a 4-point run to attain set point at 24-19. The home side was able to cut the Rhodes lead to three with back-to-back points, but the visitors then put it away 25-21.

The Lynx started off well in the third set, also, jumping out to a 4-0 advantage. The two teams traded points for a period after that and then the Petrels went on a big 10-3 run to turn the stanza in their favor, 13-10. However, Rhodes responded with a 13-1 spurt, all but putting the set away. Oglethorpe came back with a 4-1 run to get close, but Rhodes put the set away, 25-18, and won the match, 3-0.

Junior setter Jordan Jones finished the match with 13 assists and 11 digs. Sophomore outside hitter Santreece Stephens finished off eight kills while sophomore defensive specialist Alex Prots led the team with 12 digs. 

"It took us a little while to get settled into the Rhodes match today," said Oglethorpe head coach Richie Tang. "The point that we talked about with the team is that we have to be able to score offensively. We had 109 total attacks and only 22 kills. I challenged our hitters to produce more on the attacking front. Our defense does a great job, but our attack needs to be better at scoring." 

In the second match of the day against in-state opponent Covenant, the Petrels got off to a very good start. They outscored the visiting Scots 6-0 to begin the set and then, after a 4-1 run by the visitors made the score 7-4, embarked on a 10-4 run to push out to a 19-10 advantage. Covenant began their comeback from there, though, going on a 13-4 run to turn the set on its head, tying the score at 23-23. The Petrels attained set point at 24-23 and, after the Scots tied it back up, went ahead again 25-24. However, Covenant ran off three straight points after that to take the set, 27-25. In all, the Scots finished the stanza on a 17-6 stretch.

Covenant wound up taking control of the match in the second set, but not before Oglethorpe got off to a good start, taking a 5-1 lead. Covenant answered back with a huge run, though, outscoring the Petrels 16-4 over the next stretch to take a 17-9 lead. Two more 4-point runs by the Scots gave them the set, 25-13, and a 2-0 lead in the match.

The third set went back and forth early on, with Oglethorpe and Covenant trading points and finding themselves tied 8-8. A 4-point run by the Petrels gave them a 12-8 lead and they extended that stretch out to 6-1, stretching their edge to 14-9. The Scots responded with nine consecutive points and pushed that advantage out with a run that totaled 13-2. Down 23-17 in the third set, the Petrels scored three points to pull to within four, 24-20. Covenant finished it off from there, though, closing out the set 25-20 and the match 3-0.

Junior middle hitter Kaitlyn Woodruff led the Petrels with 11 kills and a .333 hitting percentage. Jones totaled 23 assists in the match against Covenant, while sophomore libero Anna Rash led the team with 13 digs.

"I thought we came out playing really well against Covenant, a team that won the USA South Athletic Conference last year and is in first place in that league this year," said Tang. "We led by as many as nine points in the first set, but we have to be able to finish the job. I really liked our pace against a solid opponent."

"I know that we can play with anyone on our schedule, but we need to get healthy," Tang concluded. "We're going on fall break this week, and it will be a beneficial three days off for us to rest and recover."

The Petrels will next be in action on Wednesday night, when they welcome in-state opponent Wesleyan to Dorough Field House at 7 p.m. After that, Birmingham-Southern and Millsaps will be in town next weekend for the final two SAA contests of the regular season.