GROVE CITY, Pa. - Eastern Men's Volleyball began its weekend in western Pennsylvania with a three-set loss to Trine University on Friday evening. A slow start doomed the Eagles, as a tough first set set the tone for the match. Eastern hit just .148 for the match, including a negative percentage in the opening set. 

First-year outside hitter Kaodi Wokocha led the Eagles' offense and defense with 11 kills and nine digs, respectively, to go along with two aces, while sophomore Symir Byrd collected 10 terminations. First-year setters Ronan Landis and Aaron Birkmire finished with a combined 21 assists, and both Wokocha and senior Max Bagileo each finished with a pair of blocks. 

The Eagles recorded just five kills on 21 swings in a 25-12 loss in the opening set. The match was tight through the early and middle stages, but Trine pulled away with a 9-1 run to up 19-11. Eastern scored just one more point on a kill from Josiah Cash before Trine scored the final five points. Sophomore right-side hitter Connor Tucholski recorded three kills in the set.

After falling behind 4-2 early in the second set, the Eagles rallied, using a 4-0 run to take a 6-5 lead. Bajileo, Wokocha, and Byrd all recorded kills in Eastern's mini surge. However, following a Wokocha kill for Eastern's eighth point, the Thunder countered with six straight points to take a lead they would not relinquish. The Eagles would not draw any closer than four points as Trine won the second 25-16. 

Trine built a 6-2 lead early in the third set, but the Eagles made their push. Kills from Bagileo, Byrd and Wokocha cut the lead to one, and the Eagles eventually took a 10-8 lead on another termination from Wokocha and back-to-back Trine errors. Again, the Thunder went on a lengthy run, turning a 14-12 deficit into a 17-14 lead, before the Eagles countered with another three-point run later in the set to tie it at 21-21. The Eagles trailed 24-23 on kills from Wokocha and Byrd, but Trine scored the final point on an Eastern attack error to secure the victory. 

For the Thunder, Kevin Boncaro led the way with 16 kills, while Carter Steffgen and Johnson-Kuhao Ho'okano Pelekai each recorded eight. Ryan McDonald dished out 28 assists and led the defensive effort with nine digs.

Eastern (5-4) will be back in action for a pair of matches on Saturday. They will take on host Grove City at 10:00 am followed by Carlow at 2:00 pm.