By Nicholas Huenefeld

Special to the Sentinel-Tribune

TONTOGANY — The Eastwood volleyball team racked up 18 aces, while Lilly Mullholand’s big second set helped the Eagles produce an 18-25, 25-22, 25-18, 25-13 win over Otsego on Tuesday.

It was the NBC opener for both teams and the fourth match in six days for Eastwood (4-1, 1-0). They’ll make it five in eight days against Fostoria on Thursday.

After losing the season opener against Tinora, the Eagles have reeled off four straight victories, all in come-from-behind fashion. On top of that, those four went at least four sets, including two that went the distance.

“I would say we came out a little flat, but we had a really intense match last night,” Eastwood head coach Sarah Frank said. “We were trying to come back and bring the same level of energy and discipline, but it just took us a second to kind of lock in.

“Once we did, I feel like we were really efficient in running the offense quickly. We scored a lot at the serve receive line and were really disciplined defensively, too.”

Otsego (0-3) trailed 6-1 to open the match, but surged forward as back-to-back aces from Molly Kramer gave the Knights a 13-11 lead. They never trailed again in the opening frame, leading by as many as seven twice.

The Knights had six aces as a team in the first set, but finished with just three more in the last three frames, including none in the fourth.

A big reason for Eastwood’s improved play was Mullholand, who racked up seven of her eight kills in the second set.

Mullholand opened the set with a tip-shot kill from the right side before adding a solo block. Mackenna Miller terminated from the left side on the ensuing point, and Ivy Schrader’s back-to-back aces had Eastwood up 5-0.

“I really just think there’s a lot about the mental game in volleyball and focusing on the next play,” Mullholand said. “A lot of it comes with my teammates and the passes they’re giving me and the sets that I’m getting. It’s not just a one-person thing. I think they really helped me out with that.”

A kill and back-to-back aces from Mullholand made it 8-2 as the Eagles eventually led 20-14 following another kill from Miller.

The Knights responded as the third kill of the set from Kortny Rollins pulled her team within one late.

Back-to-back kills from Mullholand, however, gave Eastwood three set points, and Miller used the second one to finish off the frame on a left-side termination.

“They got on a service run and we got down, but I thought we did well getting out of that,” Otsego assistant coach Jordan Young said. “I told them you’re making yourself work a little too hard, but they did a nice job fighting back and trying to stay in the game. We just wanted to think forward and focus on serve-receive.”

Schrader picked up two more aces early in the third set to give Eastwood another 5-0 start, and Miller played a large role moments later to put the set out of reach.

With Eastwood ahead 8-4, Addie Hartman had a kill and then teamed up with Braily Moenter for a block. Miller added an ace, and Moenter’s skip-set kill from the middle made it an eight-point margin.

A short time later, another ace from Miller and a double block from Moenter and Schrader completed an 8-0 run – the final seven of which came on Miller’s serve.

Otsego battled back within six late, but a left-side kill from Schrader finished off the set.

“We’re a very, very young team, so this is a little bit of a rebuilding year, but I think they all came out and played with very high energy,” Young said. “We graduated five seniors, so we have some freshmen and sophomores stepping up, and I’m excited to see them grow.”

A back-and-forth start to the fourth set saw Eastwood clinging to a 13-10 lead. A kill and a solo block from Mullholand on back-to-back points started a string of five straight points for the Eagles, who eventually closed the match on a 12-3 spurt.

Mullholand, who finished with five aces, had two more of those down the stretch, while Miller had two kills and an ace, as well.

“I think they only got one or two of her swings up,” Frank said of Mullholand’s performance. “She was essential for us scoring on that right side of the court.

“People don’t realize a lot of the time she’s solo blocking because our smaller setter plays front row, and for her to cover that much court and take away that many balls from the strong left side hitters on the other side of the court is very crucial for our team.”

Outside of their 18 points from the service line, Eastwood also benefited from a 23-4 advantage in runs to start each set – 6-1 in the first, 5-0 in the second and third and 7-3 in the fourth.

“We’ve been focused as a team on starting strong and finishing strong, because sometimes it’s easy in volleyball when you have four matches in a week to come out a little flat, so that’s been a goal for us as a team to come out and do our job efficiently and quickly,” Frank said.

Avery Carpenter (4), Kramer (3) and Vayda Schmidt (2) combined for Otsego’s nine aces.

Miller finished with another double-double for Eastwood, totaling 14 kills, 15 digs, three aces and two blocks. Kyrie Henline also added a double-double with 40 assists and 10 digs, while Schrader and Mackenzie Hady had 12 digs apiece.

“I thought Addie ran a great, really quick ball from the left side that not a lot of players would be able to hit,” Frank said.

Frank also said Eastwood decided to run Hady as a libero for the first time.

“I think she passed a 3.0, which is a perfect volleyball pass, on every single serve-receive pass and did not shank one dig,” she said. “All of her digs were two or three passes. They were great.”