WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - Eastern Men's Volleyball began its 2025 season on Saturday with a pair of matches at Wilkes University. The Eagles emerged victorious in their first match against host Wilkes, 3-1, before giving up a reverse sweep in a 3-2 loss to Elmira College in match two. Sophomore outside hitter Symir Byrd played a career match against Wilkes to lift the Eagles to victory, while first-year players Kaodi Wokocha and Ronan Landis each impressed in their debut weekend with Eastern. 

Byrd, who hails from Newark, Del., finished with a career-best 12 kills in the opener to lead the Eastern offense. He also paced the Eagles' defense with a career-best 13 digs. Byrd hit .242 in the win. Landis put forth an excellent collegiate debut with 28 assists, while Max Bushong and Wokocha finished with 12 and nine digs, respectively. The Eagles finished the match with 45 kills, good for a .250 hitting percentage, and recorded just 16 errors. 

The Eagles never trailed in the first set. Landis began the contest with a service ace, and back-to-back Wilkes errors followed by a kill from sophomore right side hitter Connor Tucholski put the Eagles ahead 4-2 in the early stages. Tucholski finished the match with eight kills. Tucholski and Byrd recorded back-to-back terminations to put the Eagles ahead 6-3, and kills from Byrd and Wokocha put the Eagles ahead 10-7 later in the set. 

The Colonels made their pushes. Wilkes cut the Eastern lead to 12-11, 14-13, 15-14, 17-16, and 20-19, but the Eagles always had an answer. With a 20-19 lead, the Eagles scored four straight points, three of which came on Wilkes' errors, and senior middle blocker Max Bagileo ended the set with a kill to give the Eagles the one-set lead. Bagileo, who hails from Laurel, Md., began his senior campaign with eight kills against the Colonels. 

The second set was one of runs. Eastern opened with four straight points and a 5-1 lead, before Wilkes surged back with four points of their own to tie it up at five. Kills from Byrd and Wokocha, together with another Wilkes error, put the Eagles up 8-5, and Eastern eventually pushed its advantage to 13-11. The Eagles then ripped off five straight points, which included back-to-back kills from Wokocha, to make it 18-11, and the Eagles seemed to be in control. Wilkes, however, made its push later in the set. 

With the Eagles leading 23-19, the Colonels scored five straight points of their own to turn their four-point deficit into a one-point, 24-23, lead. The Eagles were able to survive, closing out the set with three straight points to win 26-24. 

After dropping a closely contested third set, 25-23, the Eagles dominated the fourth set, 25-10, to win their first match of the season. Eastern used runs of nine, five, and four to secure the victory. 

The Eagles got off to a strong start in its second match of the day against Elmira, winning the first two sets, 25-23 and 25-21. Elmira took control from there with 25-21, 25-22, and 15-8 triumphs in the final three sets. The Eagles made their push in the fourth set, cutting the lead to 24-22 with another 5-0 run, but Elmira was able to close it out. The Soaring Eagles went on to score seven of the first nine points in the fifth set on their way to securing the reverse sweep. 

Wokocha had another strong showing against Elmira. The first-year outside hitter from Galloway, N.J. led the Eagles with 15 kills on 39 swings, good for a .205 hitting percentage. Byrd recorded another eight kills, while Tucholski added four. Landis orchestrated the offense with another 21 assists, while Byrd against led the defensive effort with 11 digs. 

Eastern (1-1) will be back in action this coming Tuesday on the road at Elizabethtown. The match is set to begin at 7:00 pm.