Anna Ramlow repeats as All-Press, NBC top player

For the second straight year, Eastwood 5-foot-7 senior setter Anna Ramlow is the Northern Buckeye Conference and Alan Miller Jewelers All-Press Player of the Year.

Last year Ramlow was District 7 POY and a Division III All-Ohio selection and will likely be voted all-state again this year. This year, Ramlow shares the All-Press honor with Lake’s 5-11 sophomore outside hitter Taryn DeWese. Ramlow has not commited to playing collegiately yet.

“Anna is the heart and soul of our team,” Eastwood coach Jeff Beck said. “She lead us in assists this season. She also got her 1,000th assist for her career. She is a workhouse and carried this team on her back to a 19-3 season.”

As a junior, Ramlow played in all 72 of Eastwood’s sets, finishing with a team high 374 assists to go along with 70 kills, 13 aces, four blocks and 185 digs. She averaged 5.2 assists per set.

As a senior, she played in 72 of 73 sets, finishing with a team high 461 assists (6.4 per set), plus 90 kills, 23 aces, six blocks and 244 digs.

Ramlow is the type of competitor a coach loves to have — she would chase down every ball — guaranteed. 

“I just love competing,” Ramlow said. “Anything that gives me a chance to compete against other players, I love to do it and volleyball is one of those things. I feel like during practice and during games we are always competing, and I just love having the ‘go get the ball’ kind of mindset. The ball is always mine and competing is the main thing that I love about it.”

Eastwood finished their season 19-3 overall and 12-2 in the Northern Buckeye Conference, losing both times to league champion Lake (23-2, 14-0). In the final D-III state coaches’ poll, Eastwood was ranked 14th and Lake 11th. 

In non-league action, the Eagles swept Whitmer, Defiance, Bowling Green and Collins Western Reserve, and defeated Fairview and Ida (Mich.) in four sets.

“We’re not worried about how we win, or if it is close or if it’s a quick, easy fast week,” Beck said. “We just want to get the ‘W’ and we just do whatever we can to get the point. Sometimes it’s pretty and sometimes it’s ugly, but what we were doing seemed to be working.”

Beck had a versatile lineup with multiple players who could play any position.

“Most teams have one lineup and that is what it is,” Beck said. “We have literally five different lineups and my middles can play outside, and my outsides play middle. We just put people all over the court depending on the team we are playing. So, nobody has one position. We are just doing everything together.

“We really have worked on being a great team that works on controlling the first ball contact, so we have to pass well and play great defense and keep rallying and wearing down the other team.” 

There was one issue this year — the Eagles were without their top offensive weapon for nearly the entire year, but it may bode well for Eastwood’s future because others got playing time.

“The thing I am so excited about is our top offensive weapon last year was our 6-foot-3 (now senior) outside hitter Breanna Moenter and she was out for the year. She had a femur injury, so we haven’t had her at all, and the fact that we are ranked higher than we were last year and were still in the running, I think it shows a lot about how the girls have pulled together,” Beck said.

“Brenna had 317 kills last year and the next person on our team had 100, so that is like losing your top football player, basketball player, or major playmaker, so it said a lot about where our team was at.”

The three top offensive weapons turned out to be 5-10 sophomore middle hitter Nadia Miller, 5-10 junior middle/outside hitter Morgan McMillin and 5-9 senior outside hitter Kaitlyn Luidhardt.

Miller, who had 223 kills, 40 aces and 49 blocks, is a first team All-Press choice and Luidhardt and McMillin are second team. Luidhardt accumulated 174 kills, 117 digs, 17 aces and three blocks and McMillin put up 149 kills and 34 blocks.

Beck had two seniors heading up the back end of the court.

“Defensively, we have two very good defensive specialists that I think could be a libero for anybody in our league — Paige Contris and Alivia Schroeder,” Beck said.

Contris, with 321 digs, 35 aces and 40 assists, is second team All-Press and Schroeder, with 218 digs, 16 assists and a team high 60 aces, is honorable mention.

Eastwood lost in the district tournament to unranked Margaretta, 25-21, 23-25, 25-27, 25-19, 15-11. Margaretta lost to Huron in the district final, and then the Polar Bears defeated defending state champion Huron to advance to the regional tournament.

Among Eastwood’s returnees next year will be 6-foot-2 freshman Lilly Mulholland and 5-5 junior setter Hailey Hodulik. Hodulik had 107 digs, 191 assists and 38 aces.

Mulholland had 45 kills, 34 blocks and 12 digs in limited varsity playing time.

“We like her a lot,” Beck said. “She has been floating (between junior varsity and varsity) and, playing a lot of varsity, so there is some young talent that we have here coming up and progressing.