By Nicholas Huenefeld
Special to the Sentinel-Tribune
PEMBERVILLE — Mackenna Miller’s strong performance down the stretch helped lead the Eastwood volleyball team to a 26-24, 28-30, 16-25, 25-15, 15-11 win in come-from-behind fashion over Whitmer on Monday.
The victory, which gave Eastwood (3-1) its third-straight win entering a league matchup at Otsego on Tuesday, was played inside a gym with no air conditioning and a 90-plus degree temperature outside, which added to the challenge for each team.
“I would say it was gritty,” Eastwood head coach Sarah Frank said of the win. “It wasn’t perfect. It wasn’t always pretty. But they really grinded it out and did what we needed to do.
“At points where our discipline lacked because of the heat, because of the rigor of that match, I felt like they picked it up and used energy and their volleyball IQ to kind of push through. But Whitmer is a very competitive opponent, so they didn’t make it easy.”
Miller finished with 22 kills and 20 digs for the Eagles, while Lilly Mullholand had 14 kills and four blocks. Kyrie Henline distributed 47 assists and racked up 19 digs. Ivy Schrader chipped in 13 digs and five kills, while Addie Hartman had nine digs, four kills and four blocks.
“(Miller) is a very positive player, and she brings that positive energy and pep to the other girls,” Frank said. “And all-around just those big blocks from Lily and a couple kills from Addie Hartman, that really revved our team up and just kept them going.”
After cruising to a 25-16 victory in the third set to take a 2-1 lead in the match, Whitmer jumped out to an 11-7 lead and had a 13-12 advantage after back-to-back kills in the fourth.
Schrader tied it up with a kill before Mullholand added a solo block and a termination of her own for a 15-13 lead. After a Whitmer attack sailed out of bounds, Miller took over.
The 6-0 sophomore outside hitter smashed home an overpass to force a timeout from Whitmer. Out of the break, she smacked another overpass, added a pair of left-side kills and contributed another overpass termination for a 21-13 lead.
“We really started communicating a lot more,” Miller said. “We picked up our defense and our swings, and we just brought more energy to the game.”
Another errant attack from Whitmer and a left-side kill from Miller pushed the lead to 10 and completed an 11-0 run that featured six kills from Miller.
The visiting Panthers responded with back-to-back kills but had an attack error on the next point. Miller took advantage with her eighth kill of the set to force a fifth set.
“Once we started talking about trends we were seeing in serve receive and also just better feet, so warming up that footwork and moving to the ball better, communicating more in the back of the court, we had an easier time after that,” Frank said.
Despite terminations from Miller and Mullholand, Eastwood trailed 5-3 in the early part of the final set. Miller, however, capped a 4-0 run for the Eagles with an ace that forced a timeout.
A double block from Braily Moenter and Hartman made it 8-6, and a kill from Schrader made it 9-7, but Whitmer evened it up at 10 apiece.
Eastwood responded with a 5-1 run to close the match, though.
A tip-shot kill from Mullholand made it 11-10, and Miller’s 22nd termination finished off the match moments later.
Frank was happy with her team’s tenacity when all was said and done.
“There’s play and fundamentals that were good, but just the continue to go, the continue to get up, the continue to go out and take it, and just the really aggressive play in really high-intensity situations (helped carry us),” she said.
In the opening set, Eastwood held 6-1 and 22-16 leads, but Whitmer reeled off eight straight points for a pair of set points. A service error and attack error from the Panthers erased those before a termination from Miller and a back-row smash from Schrader capped a thrilling opener.
Whitmer bounced back and controlled the early part of the second set, holding several six-point advantages before taking a 24-20 lead.
Miller, however, had a kill, which was followed by three-consecutive Whitmer attack errors to tie it at 24 apiece. After exchanging points, a solo stuff from Mullholand gave Eastwood a set point, but it was erased on an attack error.
Another solo block from Mullholand presented another set point, but a Whitmer termination and block gave them a set point, which was erased by a back-row kill from Miller. The Panthers then tacked on back-to-back kills to even the match.
