LUCKEY – It wasn’t supposed to happen this quickly, but Eastwood’s volleyball team has climbed to the top
of the Suburban Lakes League.
The Eagles, fourth-place finishers a year ago, clinched a share of the SLL title Thursday with a 25-14,
19-25, 25-18, 25-20 win over Lake, sharing the league honors with Otsego at 11-1.
Eastwood split its two meetings with Otsego winning in five games at home Sept. 17 before dropping a
three-game match Tuesday in Tontogany. [SEE
PHOTO GALLERY]
Katie Dewyre is the only senior for the Eagles, who adapted quickly to changes in their offensive system
under new coach Jeff Beck, who brought a 70-29 record from four years at the helm of Perrysburg.
"When I first came here, the first thing I thought of was changing the offense around," said
Beck. "I thought there was going to be a learning curve, but because they caught on really fast,
wins came from that and the confidence was gaining. All of a sudden we just started winning and it
wasn’t expected by anyone, including myself."
That offense, a 5-1 quick tempo set that features a lot of jump setting, was headed all year by junior
captain Katie Primeau, who had 40 assists against Lake.
Courtney Rolf added 18 kills and Whitney Hoodlebrink had 16 for the Eagles, 19-3 overall. Eastwood is
ranked 19th in the state in Division II.
Lake fell to 12-11 and 6-6 in the SLL.
"A win is a win," said Beck. "We were flat and didn’t quite play to our potential, but we
kept plugging away and I always tell the girls, I don’t care if you win in five, or in four, three is
nice, but a win is a win and we share this title."
After falling behind 3-1 in Game 1, the Eagles rallied to take 11 of the next 14 points to pull out to a
12-6 lead. Lake rallied within 15-12 before the Eagles went on a 10-2 run to close out the game.
In Game 2, the Flyers won 13 of the first 20 points and held on the rest of the way for their six-point
win. Three blocks by Carly Huston keyed a five-point Lake run late in the game as it pulled out to a
23-17 lead.
"It’s happened to us a lot this year," said Beck. "We’ll dominate the first game and the
second game we just start resting and the girls don’t understand that teams change."
Lake came out strong again in Game 3, leading 4-1 before Eastwood started to take charge for the rest of
the match. The Eagles out-scored the Flyers 24-14 in the game, with six kills each coming from Rolf and
Hoodlebrink.
Eastwood dominated the final game, leading by as much as seven points on the way to clinching its first
SLL title since 2005. The Flyers, a young team with three seniors and six juniors, will look to build on
what was a positive season after years of hardship.
"My girls are young, so I anticipate we’ll get it together and be a little more consistent next
season," said Lake coach Melissa Conley. "We have come a long way this season, though, and I
don’t want to take anything away from what we’ve accomplished."
Lake was paced by six kills and 11 digs from Kaysie Brittenham. Also finishing with 11 digs was Rachel
Duncan, while McKenzie Whiteman had eight assists.
Up next for the Eagles is a date with the winner of Defiance and Wauseon in sectional play, where the
Eagles earned a No. 1 seed.
"With a win in sectionals, we’d have a 20-win season and I don’t think anyone around here thought
about that happening," said Beck. "So we have new goals to play for and we want to go farther
in the state tournament than last season."