KETTERING — Parker Fields knew his Eaton volleyball team was going to face a tall challenge when it’s faced off with Roger Bacon in a Division II district final on Saturday, Oct. 29.
The Eagles, making their first district final appearance since 2015, played with the Spartans but came up short, falling 25-14, 25-20, 25-19 at Trent Arena.
“When we found out we were going to play them we knew it was going to be a challenge,” Fields said. “It’s one of the most storied programs in the state. We wanted to come here and compete and I felt like had we played our very best I thought we had a chance.”
Eaton reached the game by knocking out another state power in No. 2 seed Fenwick 25-27, 25-20, 25-22, 25-13 in a district semifinal match on Tuesday, Oct. 25 at Lebanon High School.
“But I’m really happy that we came out and competed with them,” Field said of the Spartans. “We competed all three sets. I think the difference in the match today was blocking. I think both teams served tough at one another. I thought we attacked the ball really well, especially from the pins, it kind of threw them off. And I think that’s what kept us in the game, just our pin attacking and our tough serving.”
Fields said once Roger Bacon recognized they had an advantage of the front line his team struggled.
“They did a really good job of splitting our block. When they recognized that we weren’t getting over and they’d hit that seem and when a team that athletic and that fast hits your block seem it’s going to be really hard to beat them,” Fields said. “Honestly, it wasn’t us. It was Bacon keeping our block honest because they passed the ball in a way they had three options across the front, and with how quick they are it kind of kept us guessing the whole match. But I’m happy we competed.”
Eaton opened the match with a 5-1 lead and was up 9-5 before Roger Bacon began taking control.
The Spartans rattled off 14 of the next 16 points to take a 19-11 lead.
In the second set, Eaton fell behind 12-4 and 14-6 before rallying to get within 19-18.
In set three, Eaton held a 12-11 lead before the Spartans scored five straight to take the lead for good.
Fields, whose team finished the season 19-6 overall and won its third Southwestern Buckeye League title in four seasons, achieved its goals.
“This year we expected to go through our league and the expectations I think at that point in time were met,” he said. “I would have really liked to have seen, what I thought was going to be the most important week of the year, with Ellie (Wilson) and see how we kind of stacked up that week. But I felt like that week they fought and fought through adversity and kind of struggled that the first half of that week and then they and then they turned it around.”
Fields said this year’s team was up to the challenge almost every time they took the floor.
“This is a team that fights it and then to be able to go into a sectional and beat a state power and beat them pretty handily shows a lot for where we are as a program and the of type of kids that we have, they’re competitors,” he said.
The Eagles will graduate seven seniors who all have made contributions to the program – Olivia Baumann, Bailey Jerdon, Lily Shepherd, Elise Hewitt, Paige Pitsinger, Cate Clabaugh and Samantha Witte.
“This group of seniors means a lot to the program. I’d have to go back and look but I would say they’re probably win wise, probably the winningest group of seniors,” Fields said. “They’ve won almost 80 matches.”
