Eagles girls volleyball dramatic run ends just short of regionals

Press Sports Editor
sports@presspublications.com

It wasn’t quite the ending the Eastwood girls volleyball team was looking for, but, regardless, it was a pretty special run.
The Eagles, playing without head coach Sarah Frank for brief periods during the latter stages of the season due to her giving birth to twins, fell one spot short of the Division III regional tournament, falling 3-2 to Sherwood Fairview and losing the final set by just three points, 15-12.
Eastwood actually led, 12-10, in the final set following back-to-back blocks from Lilly Mullholand, but a service error and then an Apache ace tied the score.
The Apaches tacked on a kill from Kelly Crites to force a timeout. On the ensuing point, Eastwood let the serve go believing it would sail long, but it landed in the back right corner for an ace, and Crites followed with a kill for the win.
It is the fourth consecutive season in which the Eagles have won a sectional title but failed to get over the hump of winning a district championship.
“We finished as the runner-up in the Northern Buckeye Conference, sectional champions and district runner-up. I’m very proud of the team and all their hard work. It’s an amazing group of girls with an even more amazing work ethic and team chemistry,” said Frank. “We had a great and exciting run; the girls were very focused and driven to get to district finals. Even though that game didn’t go as planned, they fought extremely hard and played a great match.” Fairview won the first set, 27-25, lost the second, 25-22, won the third, 25-20, and lost the fourth, 25-18, to set up the fifth and final frame.
Frank talked about the job assistant coach Hannah Hodulik did filling in for her in the district final.
“I missed the second matchup with Otsego and the district finals due to pregnancy,” said Frank. “Hannah is an essential part of our staff and scouting efforts. She took our game plan to both games and executed perfectly despite challenging circumstances.”
The Eagles finished the season 22-4 and 12-2 in the NBC, handing Lake their only defeat in the conference.
Before facing Fairview, Eastwood won each of its three previous matches in straight sets, defeating Swanton in the district semifinals and Evergreen and Elmwood before that.
It is the third time in four years the Eagles advanced to the district finals.
The loss to the Apaches, which Eastwood beat in three sets earlier in the season, was the final match for Joelle Jared, Paige Hoodlebrink, Nadia Miller, Jersey Schumaker and Claire Edelbrock.
The rest of the team included Mullholand, Kyrie Henline, Addie Hartman, Mallory Sanberg, Nadia Miller, MacKenna Miller, Braily Moenter, Ivy Schrader and Mylie Frantz.
“Nadia Miller was our all-around, go-to-girl offensively and defensively. She was able to run extremely quick routes out of the middle better than any high school athlete I’ve ever seen. Paige Hoodlebrink ran our offense beyond efficiently, earning over 1,000 career assists this season,” said Frank. “MacKenna Miller led our team in kills and is the most talented freshman I’ve ever seen in the league. Lilly Mullholand transitioned to middle this year and was a blocking powerhouse for us, as well as a major offensive weapon. Addie Hartman ran ridiculously quick sets on the outside and scored for us often and Mylie Frantz also came in clutch with some major right-side blocks. Joelle Jared was a serve-receive powerhouse, and our offense could not have run without her excelling there and in defense. Kyrie Henline stepped up in middle back for us and picked up impossible balls consistently. Jersey Schumaker brought us many aces and touch serves, and Claire Edelbrock was a great asset to us both in the front and back row throughout the season.”
One of the highlights of the season was handing the Flyers their only league loss of the season, 3-1, on Sept. 28. It was a competitive match, one that saw the Eagles go ahead, 1-0, after winning the first set, 25-19, before losing the second set, 28-26. But Eastwood rebounded to win the final two sets, 25-23 and 25-20.
MacKenna Miller had 18 kills to lead the Eagles, got 13 kills from junior Addie Hartman, 11 kills and seven blocks from junior Lilly Mullholand, and 10 kills and seven digs from senior Nadia Miller.
Jared, the libero, topped the defense with 24 digs, and Hoodlebrink had 51 assists in the win.
The Eagles won a tight first set which was tied at 13-13 before they outscored the Flyers, 12-6, down the stretch to grab a 1-0 lead in the match.
Eastwood raced out to a 6-0 lead and led 10-4 in the second set before the Flyers regrouped and found some momentum. Lake never led in the second set until going up 24-23 on the second of back-to-back service aces by Lucy Boos, and after the teams were tied at 24, 25, and 26, Lake capped things with a kill from Taryn DeWese and a Nadia Miller attack that sailed long.
The Eagles rallied from an 8-4 deficit in the third set to win, 25-23, and, with the Flyers leading 16-15 in the fourth set, went on a 10-4 run to close out the match.
For the season, MacKenna Miller led with 305 kills, followed by Nadia Miller (241) and Mullholand (214), Hoodlebrink finished with 768 assists, Jared led the way with 239 kills and Henline and Hoodlebrink had 194 and 181 kills, respectively.
“The future of the program is bright and the best is yet to come,” said Frank. “We are ready to take a league and district title next year.”