UNION CITY — A strong start quickly unraveled during the Youngsville volleyball team’s 3-0 season-opening loss to Union City on Tuesday.

Youngsville played a tough opening game before falling 25-22, while games two and three were lost by counts of 25-8 and 25-15.

The Eagles (0-1) gave the Bears all they wanted and more in an opening game that featured 12 ties throughout a back-and-forth battle. Youngsville led 21-19 before the Bears rallied to tie things up and eventually escape with a narrow Game 1 win.

“We came out with a good attitude and aggression, but eventually we beat ourselves tonight,” said Youngsville coach Hannah Bulard. “We’d get about five points down and seemed to give up. I have the highest expectations for these girls due to their athletic ability, but they need to start believing in themselves as well. We have to learn to take control of a game.”

Union City scored the first eight points of its Game 2 win and jumped to an 11-1 lead in Game 3 before closing things out.

Madilynn Johnson led the Eagles with five assists and four digs, Alyssa Gentz had eight digs and Rachael Lucks added five digs. Marli Rectenwald finished with three digs and Riley Robinault collected three blocks.

Despite the loss, Bulard saw some things that left her optimistic for the remainder of the season.

“Our passing has improved so much from the scrimmage last week, but we could not execute tonight,” added Bulard. “There were a lot of good digs and kills tonight — great things to build off of as we move forward.”

Youngsville returns to action Thursday when it visits county foe Eisenhower for their region opener.