By Ben Shanahan

Special to the Sentinel-Tribune

PEMBERVILLE — Eastwood volleyball swept Evergreen in three straight sets, 25-15, 25-20, 25-12, Wednesday to continue their successful 21-3 season and advance to the Division III district tournament.

The Vikings see their season end at 11-12, while the Eagles have had their eyes set on a deep playoff run ever since their regular season ended by finishing second to Lake (17-6) in the Northern Buckeye Conference. The Eagles were ranked 20th in the final state coaches poll.

The Eagles were able to defeat the Flyers, who are D-II in the tournament, once in four sets, and coach Sarah Frank believes her team is very capable of making noise in the tournament.

“It feels really good. We are really excited right now. The girls are excited about the tournament, and we are happy with our start,” said Eastwood coach Sarah Frank.

Two of Eastwood’s losses came in the NBC during a competitive race that saw the championship come down to the last week of the season with Lake (13-1 conference) edging out the Eagles (12-2) by one game.

“We are still very proud of our season,” Frank said. “Lake took first place in the conference. They were a really competitive team.

“We were happy to take a match off of them towards the end of the year, which was a big accomplishment for us.

“We were very proud of our overall record, but now our focus is moving into districts, finishing as high as we can, and hopefully moving on further after that,” Frank continued.

Fueling that dominant regular season by the Eagles was a plethora of talent from all over the court, which also showed up in the Eagles first tournament game with senior Nadia Miller garnering five blocks and 13 kills and junior Lilly Mullholand getting 10 kills and four blocks.

Senior Kyrie Henline and junior Joelle Jared had two acces apiece, junior Addie Hartman had four blocks, and senior Paige Hoodlebrink had 31 assists. Defensively, Jared had 17 digs, Henline had 12 digs, and Hoodlebrink had 11 digs.

“We knew we had a lot of really great returning seniors — Nadia Miller, Paige Hoodlebrink, and Joelle Jared — all coming back and being starters for us,” Frank said.

“We also had some standout juniors returning from last year on varsity. Lilly Mullholand was actually an outsider for us last year, and now she is a middle, and she has absolutely excelled there.

“We also have Kylie Henline and Addie Hartman returning in our lineup, so lots of returners helped us big time,” added Frank.

On the season, freshman Mackenna Miller leads the team in kills with 305, Nadia Miller has 241, Mullholand has 214 and Hartman has 161. Junior Jersey Schumaker leads the team with 37 aces and Jared and Henline have 30 each.

Mullholand has 85 blocks, including 13 solo, and Nadia Miller has 60 blocks, including 12 solo. Hoodlebrink has 768 assists, averaging 9.4 per set, and Jared leads the team in digs with 239, Henline has 194 and Hoodlebrink has 181.

One positive for Eastwood’s quest for the title was to open the tournament on their home court, giving the seniors one more time to play in front of hometown fans.

They went 12-1 in all year on the home court, last losing to Lake on September 5. It was an advantage that Frank was happy to see the community and her seniors get this postseason.

“Playing at home was awesome because we do have five seniors, and I was happy for them to get two extra matches off here,” Frank said.

“We also have a great community of parents and fans, so it is always fun to play at home, and they have always shown up for us and made it all the more fun.”

The Eagles will take on Swanton (18-7) in a district semifinal at Otsego on Monday at 7:15 p.m., as both teams look for a district title and to extend both teams’ seasons.

The Eastwood-Swanton winner will take on the Fairview (22-2)-Tinora (19-5) winner at 6 p.m. on Wednesday at Otsego for the right to advance to the regional tournament. Fairview, ranked 18th in the state, is the top seed in the district and Eastwood is second.