Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
The Eastwood volleyball team, led by fifth-year head coach Sarah Frank, will once again be highlighted by one of the top players in program history as Mack Miller returns for her senior campaign.
A Division I commit to Robert Morris University, Miller was a Second Team All-Ohio selection last year. She is believed to be one of just two players in program history, along with Katelyn Meyer, to eclipse 1,000 career kills, which she achieved last year against Otsego.
Miller enters her final season as a three-time all-conference selection, including a pair of first team honors. She has 1,322 kills, which is 161 shy of eclipsing Meyer’s record of 1,482, and she needs just 258 digs to become a 1,000/1,000 player.
But it’s not just Miller leading the Eagles. She is one of four key seniors on the team along with reigning Honorable Mention All-NBC selection Vanessa Evans and Maya Schmeltz.
“Maya had a great development season club-wise,” Frank said. “I expect a lot out of her in the front row. She'll be really an effective scorer for us.”
Macey White, who will get a full season after having to sit out the second half of last year after transferring from Perrysburg, is the final senior returning. Frank said that a lot will be expected from her after averaging five digs per set last year.
“The senior class as a whole, I'm really expecting a lot of player-led matches from them,” Frank said. “I expect us coaches to be there to facilitate and reroute them when we need to, helping those seniors when they're not able to do that themselves. These girls have been in my program for four years now, and all of them have a lot of great leadership qualities, so I expect all of them to focus more on the other players and helping the younger players develop than their own game.”
Several other key returners are back, including Second Team All-NBC sophomore setter Olivia Riter. As a rookie, she broke the program’s single-season and single-match assist records in a 5-1 offense.
Juniors Stella Chlebowski, Lyla Meter and Addyson Leppelmeier are all back as defensive specialists.
“Those three have been a really big part of our defense all summer,” Frank said. “I'm really happy with how hard they’ve worked. They're going to do a lot of good things in the back of the court for us.”
Jaedyn Richards and Juliet Brown, who are a pair of 5-11 freshman middle hitters, should also see time on the court.
“Jaedyn has been great at stepping into a varsity level hitting role and has been really great for us in the front of the court,” Frank said. “Juliet has been in the middle and on the right side for us as we go through some different lineup ideas. They've just been super eager and worked hard. They're going to have a big freshman year. They're very talented.”
Frank, who led Eastwood to 18 wins last year and a regional semifinal appearance, is 79-21 in four seasons, which gives her a shot at a 100th win this year. The Eagles also moved from Division V to IV.
“It will be a challenge district-wise, but the schools that we had in our DV district are volleyball powerhouses,” Frank said. “We had Ottawa-Glandorf, Hilliard, Archbold, Willard, Liberty-Benton. It was just such a competitive bracket. We know it will still be a challenge, but we were already in a really tough spot with some really strong volleyball schools anyways.”
Eastwood will have to replace a group of four seniors, including First Team All-NBC selection Ivy Schrader, Honorable Mention All-NBC honoree Braily Moenter, Whitley Lubash and Kyleigh McNulty.
“We’re going to be a really aggressive serving team,” she said. “That's always the goal of our program, and the girls have been working really hard in that area. Our ball control looks really strong overall. We have some really young hitters, but we have some also really experienced hitters. We're going to have a lot of offensive weapons this season.”
Eastwood will look to compete for its first NBC title since 2020, which they shared with Lake. Since then, the Flyers have won five more league titles with the Eagles finishing second each of those years.
“I'm already really excited about the culture in the gym,” Frank said. “It's a really fun group. You don't always have freshmen on the varsity court, but we have a good amount of underclassmen in really essential roles. We also have a good amount of seniors in really essential roles, so it's been really fun to kind of see those seniors mentoring those younger girls who are taking on big roles for us.”
