Its four-wicket win against Wellington in a one-day match at Molyneux Park on Sunday was a reasonable start to the one-day campaign and came as a "huge relief", Otago captain Craig Cumming said after the match.
The Volts had a miserable run in the HRV Cup.
They opened with five consecutive losses and then had two weeks to dwell on their form as poor weather forced their next four games to be abandoned.
Otago completed its tournament with a three-wicket loss to Wellington in Queenstown.
For a team which has built a reputation as a formidable limited-overs unit, the campaign was a big disappointment.
The win against Wellington, though, may be just the tonic Otago needs, Cumming said.
"I thought our attitude was fantastic and we showed that in the field," he explained
"The two or three wickets we got during the middle period was due to our fielding. To me, that shows that we are putting into practice what we've been talking about. It was nice to get the result and it makes it a lot easier to get up and go to training."
While Otago was happy to get back in the winner's circle, it was an unconvincing performance.
Chasing 233 for the win, the Volts slumped to 45 for five.
Cumming rescued his team with a fine knock.
But, aside from his innings, the top order was thoroughly underwhelming.
And in the field, Otago conceded 107 runs from the last 10 overs to let Wellington back into the match, so there is plenty to work on before today's match against Canterbury at Queenstown Events Centre.
"I thought we did a lot of good things as well," Cumming responded.
"[The last 10 overs] were not ideal but in saying that we bowled well during the first 40. We definitely need to get better if we want to do well in this competition. But from overs 25 to 40 we were outstanding."
As far as the batting goes, Cumming accepted some of his team-mates would be disappointed with how they got out but defended their positive intent.
Neil Broom played a reckless pull shot when his side needed him to cast anchor and occupy the crease for a period. And Nathan McCullum charged down the wicket straight past the first delivery he faced.
"You have to remember the game is about scoring runs. If you create momentum that is what wins you the game.
"Guys can look at their decision-making but the reality is you have to be able to dictate terms and score the runs."
While Otago did lose too many wickets it still got through and won, he said.
Canterbury opened its campaign with a two-wicket loss to Central Districts.
The captain, Peter Fulton, scored 104 from 116 deliveries to help his side reach 255.
But Mathew Sinclair helped anchor Central's side's successful chase with an undefeated 67 and Doug Bracewell chipped in with a hard-hit 46 from 43 deliveries. Both sides have made two forced changes.
Otago will be without James McMillan (muscle strain) and Warren McSkimming, who is unavailable for personal reasons, and Ryan McCone and Brandon Hiini replace Ryan Burson and Richard Sherlock, who are injured, in the Canterbury side.
Otago v Wellington
Queenstown, today
Otago: Aaron Redmond, Michael Bracewell, Neil Broom, Craig Cumming (captain), Darren Broom, Nathan McCullum, Ian Butler, Derek de Boorder, Neil Wagner, Nick Beard, Craig Smith, Sam Wells.
Canterbury: Rob Nicol, Michael Papps, Peter Fulton (captain), Dean Brownlie, Shanan Stewart, Tom Latham, Andrew Ellis, Carl Frauenstein, Todd Astle, Ryan McCone, Hamish Bennett, Brandon Hiini.
