The Oglethorpe volleyball team found itself in a tough matchup against the Birmingham-Southern Panthers Sunday in Birmingham, Alabama, and the homestanding Panthers came up with a 3-0 victory, beating the Stormy Petrels 25-21, 25-15, 25-20. The loss dropped Oglethorpe to 7-9 on the season overall and 1-6 in SAA play. 

The two teams traded points for a time to start the opening set. A pair of 3-point runs, one by each team, brought the early score to 8-8. The Petrels extended that run to 11-4, building a 16-12 advantage. The Panthers began a comeback, though, going on a 5-1 run to tie the score, 17-17. The Petrels pushed back ahead with consecutive points, but Birmingham-Southern responded back with three in a row themselves, putting themselves ahead 20-19. Consecutive Oglethorpe points gave them a 21-20 lead, but the home side finished five consecutive points after that to win the set, 25-21.

The second set did not get started well for Oglethorpe, as they saw the Panthers begin the stanza on a 10-2 run to take a 12-5 lead. After consecutive points by the Petrels, Birmingham-Southern ran off five straight points again to take a 17-7 advantage. The two teams traded points for awhile after that and Oglethorpe got to within six, 20-14. However, the homestanding Panthers finished the set on a 5-1 run to win it, 25-15.

The Petrels responded by playing Birmingham-Southern tight early in the third set. They jumped out to a 3-0 lead before the Panthers responded with five points in a row. The Petrels came back to tie it at 6-6, but Birmingham-Southern extended a lead out to 10-6 with four consecutive points. The Petrels came back to within one, 13-12, but four straight Panther points made it 17-12 in their favor. With the score 20-15, the Petrels responded with five consecutive points to tie the score at 20-20. However, Birmingham-Southern came back with five straight points of their own to finish the set, 25-20. 

Junior setter Jordan Jones led the team with 14 assists while sophomore libero Anna Rash contributed 18 digs. Jones and sophomore outside hitter Santreece Stephens had two service aces apiece.

"We had a much better energy in today's match," said Oglethorpe head coach Richie Tang. "I thought our defense played well enough to pick up several more balls to allow our offense more opportunities.  We still need to work on finishing those attempts and BSC didn't make it easy for us."

The Petrels will next head to Mount Berry, Georgia, to take on in-state rival Berry at 7 p.m. After that, they'll travel to Sewanee, Tennessee, and Danville, Kentucky, to go against Sewanee and Centre, respectively, next weekend.