The Old Rochester Regional Debate Team competed with more than 300 students from the Eastern Massachusetts Debate League on Wednesday at a tournament that took up almost every room on the Bulldogs’ campus.

The debate was the first time students have tested their arguments on this year’s topic – China and U.S. relations.

Jacob Spevack, a captain on the ORR team, said the theme is pretty broad this year and makes it more of a challenge for the negative debaters. Operating in groups of two, each debate has two affirmative debaters who come with a prepared argument and two negative debaters who must respond without any advance knowledge of their opposition’s stance.

“From a negative standpoint, not knowing what your specific plan is going to be, it’s a little bit stressful,” said Spevack, who is part of a negative team with fellow captain Josh Lerman.

Spevack, a senior, has been on the debate team since his freshman year and said it’s helped him become a better public speaker.

Plus, he enjoys debating on the fly.

“You’re never going to see the same two people in a debate, and that’s kind of fun,” he said.

This year, there are 18 schools, a number that has almost doubled in the past five years, said ORR Coach Colin Everett, who also organizes the league.

Everett helps his students to learn the art of debate as well as guiding them in their approaches to the topic.

“Mr. Everett has been incredibly dedicated when it comes to that,” Spevack said.

In his final year at ORR, Spevack said he’d like to see his team make it to the top 10 as a pair and also to be one of the top 10 speakers. After winning both debates at the first tourney, they’re off to a good start.

“We work very well together,” Spevack said. “It’s crazy how often we’re thinking the exact same thing.”

Wednesday’s event was just the first of nine tournaments for the league, and there won’t be a winner until the top affirmative and negative pairs, based on points collected during the season, face off at the final competition in the winter.