EATON — Eaton’s volleyball program hit two big milestones last week as senior Olivia Baumann recorded her 1,000th career kill, and head coach Parker Fields reached 200 career wins.
Eaton won all three matches last week to improve to 9-2 overall and 5-1 in the Southwestern Buckeye League.
The Eagles opened the week with a 25-14, 25-5, 25-16 win over visiting Greenville for Fields’s 200th win.
On Tuesday, Baumann reached her milestone in a 25-6, 25-5, 25-2 win over visiting Middletown Madison.
Eaton closed out the week with a sweep of host Brookville 25-19, 25-21, 25-23 on Thursday.
“Congratulations to Liv on reaching such an impressive milestone. What’s impressive about it, is that she did this and still hits at a high percentage,” Fields said. “We have always relied on her to carry a large percentage of the offensive load, and she has consistently performed at a high level. People game plan for her, they change their defense and blocking schemes for her and she has always found a way to score around those changes.”
Fields said Baumann’s teammates get credit for helping her reach this milestone.
“A lot of credit should also go to her teammates. We have a group of effective passers that allow (setter) Bailey (Jerdon) to get her the ball,” Fields said. “Bailey makes a lot of the decisions when it comes to what we run, offensively. When we need kills or when Liv is running hot, Bailey has always found a way to get her that ball. Again, we are very proud of Liv and this accomplishment. This is a milestone the whole program can feel good about.”
Fields also said his record would’nt be what it is without the help of his assistant coaches and the players he’s had come through the program.
“It says a lot about the quality of the kids I’ve had the luxury of coaching over the years. We’ve been blessed at both Eaton and (National) Trail to coach some really good volleyball players,” Fields said. “G (Gerald Cornett) and Micki have been with us the whole time at Eaton, and a lot of the credit goes to them. Without having them coach in our program, things would look different. I love the sport and I love to see kids succeed. I think that when you coach with enthusiasm and show that you have a love and passion for the game, it resonates with the kids. I’ve been lucky to have kids that want to work hard, get better everyday, play as a team, and win ball games-it’s important to them.”
Eaton was scheduled to host Valley View on Tuesday, Sept. 20 and will travel to Carlisle on Thursday.
The Eagles will then travel to unbeaten Preble Shawnee on Monday, Sept. 26.
