PEMBERVILLE — When we say everybody got their job done, we mean everybody, as Eastwood played every member of the team during a 25-15, 25-12, 25-9 sweep over Rossford in a Division V district quarterfinal on the Eagles’ court Wednesday.
“It was the whole team — today we came in, we knew it was our last time playing in the gym this season game-wise,” said Eastwood’s 6-foot-3 Central Michigan University-bound senior Lilly Mullholand.
“We came in having a lot of fun, not really underestimating them because we knew they were going to bring their best because they had nothing to lose. We just came in with maximum energy, being there for each other, doing what we needed to do, and we got it done.”
Eastwood coach Sarah Frank added, “It was great. We have a lot of talented girls in the program, and I love to run our starting lineup, but we also like to get a lot of girls in.”
Mullholand, the all-time career leader in blocks at Eastwood, had 13 kills and two blocks and 6-0 sophomore MacKenna Miller had 14 kills, seven digs and an ace.
When Mullholand leaves Eastwood to play NCAA Division I volleyball in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, “Mack” Miller will be a big part of the Eastwood program’s future.
Two years apart in age, you can see the camaraderie between the duo on the court, high-fiving after either gets a kill or block.
“She’s one of my best friends on the court,” Mullholand said. “We have so much fun together just because we really feed off of our energy.
“Being a mentor to her, at practice I just make sure that she does not get down on herself because I was in her shoes once, being an underclassman on varsity, and I know how it can be a little stressful, so it’s just being there for her and giving her help when she needs it.”
Mullholand and Miller were not the only Eagles getting it done Wednesday — Frank said 5-11 senior Addie Hartman “served phenomenally”, scoring on five aces, plus Hartman had three kills, a block, and six digs.
Mylie Frantz, a 5-11 senior, had four kills and one block, 5-10 junior Ivy Schrader had five kills, one block, four digs, and one ace, and senior Adysen Might had five digs and an ace.
Eastwood (18-5), which has won 12 of 13 matches, advances to take on Genoa, a team the Eagles beat on two separate occasions.
The Eagles and Comets will meet in a district semifinal next Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Clay High School’s Harold Potter Field House in Oregon. The district final is set for Thursday at 6 p.m. at the same location.
Frank says the Comets can give opponents fits and will be geared up to pull off the upset. That doesn’t change how the Eagles prepare, however.
“They are always competitive,” Frank said. “I think that we’ll do the same thing that we always do — we prepare our game and then we also look at the tendencies that they are going to bring offensively and how we can defend those defensively.”
Rossford, which saw its season end at 5-16, got four blocks and three aces from senior middle hitter Sadie St. Mary and sophomore middle hitter Keaghan Mahaffey had three kills, a block and an ace.
