ST. DAVIDS, Pa.— In the team's season-opener, Eastern University Men's Volleyball (1-0) showed some moments of promise but came up short in a three set loss to the visiting Randolph Macon College Yellow Jackets (1-0). Connor Tucholski led the Eagles with seven kills and a pair of blocks, and first-year middle hitter Landon Mattiace finished with six kills and six blocks.

In the opening set, the Eagles hit a solid .375, but the Yellow Jackets showed why they were receiving votes in the AVCA Pre-Season poll with an impressive .480 hitting percentage. While the Eastern offense was solid, the Eagles missed on six service attempts and did not record a block on the way to a 25-16 loss in the opener. Mattiace recorded a kill on all four of his swings in the set.

Early in the second set, Eastern found its block and was able to slow the Randolph-Macon attack. The Eagles took a 14-13 lead when Colby Arvesen and Mattiace combined on a block and added another point when Mattiace put away an overpass. That lead, however, was short-lived. The Yellow Jackets scored 12 of the final 15 points of the set to go up 2-0 with a 25-18 win. Eastern hit just .115 in the set.

The Eagles had six blocks in the final set, but Randolph-Macon countered that with super-aggressive and accurate serving. The Yellow Jackets pounded out four third-set aces and had the Eagles out of system as much as they were in on the way to a 25-17 win.

The Eagles will have a day to recover before heading to Wilkes University for a tri-match on Sunday. The Eagles will play the host Colonels and the Golden Flyers of Nazareth University.