The Oglethorpe volleyball team suffered a tough day Saturday in Alabama, falling 3-0 in a pair of matches to the Birmingham-Southern Panthers. The Stormy Petrels lost the first match 25-20, 25-16, 25-15 before falling 25-16, 25-18, 25-21 in the second match.

The Petrels were competitive in the early-going of the opening match. After Birmingham-Southern used an 8-2 run to push out to a 15-9 lead in the first set, the Petrels responded with a 5-0 stretch of their own to pull to within a point, 15-14. The teams went back and forth for a few points, but a 5-1 BSC run gave them a 24-19 lead and all but clinched the first set. The visitors would not get close in the two remaining sets.

In the second match, the Panthers dominated the first two sets. They pulled away early in the first set and used a 10-1 run to turn what had been a two-point Petrel lead into a 25-18 victory in the second. The Petrels took an early lead in the third set, though, and carried that to a 14-11 advantage. Birmingham-Southern bounced back to take a one-point lead, but Oglethorpe led 17-16 a few points later. The home side finished on a 9-4 run, though, to put the match away.

Junior setter Grace Holder and sophomore setter Melanie Davis combined for 26 assists in the second match, Holder collecting 16 and Davis coming up with 10. 

The Petrels will be back in action on Saturday, when they host Rhodes for a doubleheader at Dorough Field House.