The Oglethorpe volleyball team split a pair of matches at the Lynchburg College Invitational in Virginia for the second straight day, beating Randolph 3-0 in their first match of the morning before falling to Maryville (Tennessee) 3-1 in their second match. The results moved the Stormy Petrels to 5-3 on the season.

In the first match of the day, the Stormy Petrels played very well in their 3-set sweep over Randolph. Down 7-3 early in the first set against  the WildCats, the Petrels embarked on an 8-1 run to take an 11-8 lead. Four straight Randolph points gave them the lead back, 12-11, but the Petrels answered back with five straight of their own. Randolph again came back to tie it 18-18, but the Petrels finished the set in emphatic fashion. They went on a 7-point run to close out the stanza, 25-18.

In the second set, the WildCats took an early 5-4 advantage. The Petrels ran off six consecutive points from there, though, building a 10-5 advantage. Randolph came back to within 11-9 and, after the two teams traded mini-runs, the Petrels still led by two, 17-15. They extended that to 23-16 with a 6-1 run later in the set and closed it out from there, winning 25-20.

The third set was highly competitive, but the Petrels came away with the victory in the end. They jumped out to a 10-4 lead and extended that all the way out to 17-10. However, the WildCats answered with an 11-3 run to take a 22-21 lead of their own late in the set. From there, the two teams went back and forth. The set was tied both 25-25 and 26-26 before the Petrels won consecutive points to close out the set 28-26 and the match 3-0.

Junior setter Jordan Jones led the team with 17 assists while freshman setter/defensive specialist Brianna Hernandez added 12. Sophomore libero Anna Rash led the team with 13 digs while sophomore middle hitter Ashlee Tolbert led Oglethorpe with nine kills. Rash was named to the Lynchburg College Invitational all-tournament team for her efforts.

"This was a very competitive match overall," said Oglethorpe head coach Richie Tang. "The impressive close-out set was the third, when we were able to dig back from a point down to win 28-26. Lexi Grams really stepped up when she was called upon, as did Alex Prots."

Maryville came back from a set down to beat the Petrels in the second match of the day. The Petrels took the first set 25-16 before falling in three straight sets after that.

The Petrels played very well in the first set. They pushed out to an early 15-10 lead in the stanza. Maryville came back with a three-point run to make it 15-13, but the Petrels answered with an 8-1 run to build a 23-14 lead. From there, they won two of the next three points to win the first set 25-16.

The second set was a back-and-forth affair. The Scots jumped out to an 11-6 lead early in the set, but Oglethorpe responded with a big run to tie the score 11-11, then build a 20-18 lead. However, Maryville finished on a 7-2 run to take the set 25-22.

In the third, the Petrels jumped out to a 5-0 lead and still led 12-8 later in the set. However, Maryville responded with a huge 11-point run,  turning a 4-point deficit into a 19-12 lead. Five straight Oglethorpe points cut the Maryville lead to 19-17, but the Scots eventually put the set away 25-21.
 
Up 2-1, the Scots put the match away in the fourth, securing a win in their third straight set.

"We have such great respect for Maryville, because we know they are very well-coached and their players compete," said Tang. "I was very happy with our first set. We passed very well and our defense made extra plays to put our offense in a great spot. The turning point was the third set, when we were up 12-8 and Maryville ran off 11 straight points. We continued to fight hard, but that's a tough spot to recover from."

"I knew coming in that we would face some strong teams in this tournament," Tang continued. "We competed in every point, though, and saw a handful of kids step up when we needed them. I'm confident about our program as we head into conference play next week."

The Petrels will return home on Wednesday for their SAA opener against Berry at 7 p.m. from Dorough Field House. After that, they'll hit the road again next weekend to take on Rhodes and Hendrix in their first full weekend of SAA play.