ATLANTA-- Brianna Ali provided the clinching point moments before Alexis Salgueiro added another win tally, and Oglethorpe's women's tennis team defeated Covenant 6-3 to open the 2022 season Saturday.

The Stormy Petrels led 4-3 with Ali and Salgueiro left to finish. Needing only one of them to win, neither of them disappointed. Ali lost the first game of her second set before running off the next six to secure her victory, and the team's. Salgueiro rallied from a close first-set loss to win the next two.

Other victors for the Petrels included Sydney Dattilo, Lily Allyene and Alyssa Merletti across Nos. 2, 3 and 4, all in close matches. Dattilo won the first before dropping the middle set in a close tiebreak, finally winning in the third. Allyene bounced back from losing the first set to win the second and third. Merletti won a lopsided tiebreak in the opening set, which paved the way for an easy second set.

As it turned out, Merletti was the only Petrel to win both her matches as Covenant started the day by taking two of the three doubles. Merletti paired with Izzy Forster for an 8-3 victory at No. 1 doubles. 

"I am really pleased with how well we played today," said Head Coach Paul Danielson. "We had hard matches on every line, and both teams just kept fighting."

Up next, Oglethorpe hits the road for the next three matches, first traveling to Huntingdon on Friday, Feb. 25. The Petrels will be home again on Friday, March 11, for Belhaven.