WILSON, N.C. – The Randolph-Macon men's volleyball team opened their season against a Division II opponent in Barton College on Friday night. The Yellow Jackets got on the board with their first win with a 3-1 victory over the Bulldogs.

The Basics:

Score: Randolph-Macon 3, Barton 1 (25-15, 25-17, 21-25, 25-19)

Location/Venue: Wilson, N.C./Barton College/Wilson Gymnasium

Records: Randolph-Macon (1-0, 0-0 ODAC), Barton (0-3, 0-0 CC)

How it Happened:

• The Yellow Jackets clicked early, as a Gio DeLuca (Glen Allen, Va./Glen Allen) kill capped off a 4-0 run to begin set one. R-MC opened a 10-4 lead before a 3-1 BC run would cut the lead to four. R-MC earned five of the next six points to extend the lead to eight and ended the set on a 7-3 run to take the first set, 25-15.
• R-MC picked up the first two points on kills by Jarrett Carrano (Beaverdam, Va./Patrick Henry) and Ian Wagenhauser (Glen Allen, Va./Deep Run) but Barton came back to immediately tie it up. Neither team could build a lead but a Wagenhauser kill began a 8-4 run for the Yellow Jackets to pad their lead. A BC attack error got the lead out to eight for R-MC who eventually finished out the frame, taking the second set 25-17 to take a commanding 2-0 lead.
• This time it was Barton who sparked early, building a 4-1 lead to begin the third set. The Yellow Jackets tied it up and went back and forth with the Bulldogs before a 7-2 BC run put R-MC on their heels. The Lemon and Black responded with a 6-2 run of their own to bring the lead down to two, but Barton survived by picking up four of the final six points in the set to take set three, 25-21.
• The fourth set was a battle, as neither team could build a lead and the set was tied seven different times. The last tie was at 18 a side before R-MC would go on a 5-0 run with Carrano capping it off with a kill to create a comfortable lead. Carrano earned the final three points for R-MC, with two kills and an ace to end the match as R-MC would win the set 25-19 and the match 3-1.

By the Numbers:

• R-MC was led by 15 kills by Wagenhauser and Kolby Gibson (Bumpass, Va./Louisa) each, with Gibson only having four errors and a hitting percentage of .344. Wagenhauser also had six blocks, two of which were solo.
• Gio DeLuca made his presence felt with six kills on a .462 hitting percentage and had six blocks at the net as well.
• The Freshman Kody Rogan (Chesapeake, Va./Hickory) was spectacular, setting his teammates up with 30 assists. He was coupled by Cade Terrell (Glen Allen, Va./Deep Run) who had 17 assists on the night.
• Brooks Cowart (Glen Allen, Va./Glen Allen) had 15 digs in the season opener.
• R-MC won their season opener for the third time in the program's five-year history. Head coach Christian Taylor has now won the season opener in both years at the helm.

Up Next:

Randolph-Macon will be back in action on Friday, Jan. 27 for day one of the Misericordia Invitational as R-MC will play two matches. First against Nazareth at 6:00 p.m. and then against Baldwin Wallace directly after at 8:00 p.m.