TUPPERS PLAINS — The streak continues ... and in impressive fashion too.

The Eastern volleyball program advanced to its 14th consecutive district tournament on Thursday night following a resounding 25-8, 25-9, 25-7 triumph over visiting Miller during a Division IV sectional final match in Meigs County.

The second-seeded Lady Eagles (20-3) defeated the 10th-seeded Lady Falcons (3-20) for the third consecutive fall in the sectional final, extending the Green and White’s sectional title run to 14 straight years — which began back in 1996.

EHS also had little trouble in accomplishing that feat, establishing leads as much as 17, 16 and 18 points in each of the three games.

For Eastern coach Howie Caldwell, it was his seventh sectional title with this program in as many chances. But for the venerable mentor, it was about as good a start out of the postseason gate that one could ask for.

“The first tournament game is always different than the rest. It’s the first time you don’t wait on the junior varsity game to end and that breaks a routine,” Caldwell commented. “I think the kids were anxious to play this game and looking forward to getting after it. We made a few mistakes that we shouldn’t have made tonight, but all you are looking to do at this stage of the game is win and advance.

“The girls really raised their level of play as the night progressed and we definitely had some positives come out of this contest. It was a good night for this group of girls.”

Miller led briefly in Game 1 by scores of 1-0 and 2-1, then trailed the rest of the evening in each of three contests. The hosts countered that early 2-1 deficit with five straight points for a 6-2 edge, then gradually extended that lead out to 19-6.

Eastern took its biggest lead of Game 1 at 24-7 (17 points) before ultimately sealing the deal with a 25-8 decision.

The Lady Eagles stormed out to a 6-0 lead in Game 2 before establishing a comfortable 13-2 advantage. Both teams traded points out to a 16-5 margin before the hosts ran off five straight for a 21-5 edge.

Both teams traded four points the rest of the way, wrapping up the 25-9 outcome for a 2-0 match lead. Eastern led by 16 points on four different instances in Game 2.

EHS again took a 3-2 advantage early on in Game 3, then went on a 20-3 run for a 23-5 cushion. Miller rallied back to within 17 at 23-6 and 24-7, but the hosts sealed the match with the final point for a 25-7 win.

The Lady Eagles claimed their biggest lead of the night in that finale, going up by 18 points on three different occasions.

Lauren Cummings led the EHS service attack with 11 points, followed by Britney Morrison with 10 points. Karissa Connolly and Beverly Maxson both chipped in nine points, followed by Brenna Holter and Whitney Putman with six points apiece. Sami Cummins also added three points.

Kasey Turley led the net attack with 12 kills, followed by Jamie Swatzel with 10 kills. Both Turley and Swatzel also had team-highs of four blocks each.

Holter added six kills, Maxson had four kills and Morrison chipped in three kills. Connolly also had one kill and one block.

The victory allowed the Lady Eagles to eclipse the 20-win plateau this season, something that has occurred in this program four times over the past five years. It was also the fourth straight 20-win squad that has played for Caldwell at EHS.

“Someone told me a long time ago that when you have a team that has 20 wins, you’re pretty good,” Caldwell said. “We’ve really pushed this group this year, because we were really, really young when this season started. We started two sophomores and had a couple of inexperienced seniors that we were relying on to help get us where we are. This group is very close and they have really grown up together this fall. It’s been fun to see what this group has accomplished this year.”

And Caldwell, who is 11-1 in district competition over his previous six years as Eastern’s head coach, will be looking for this team to accomplish a lot more in Wellston next week at districts.

Then again, with wins at the Athens Invitational, a Tri-Valley Conference Hocking Division title and victories over the likes of Athens, Gallia Academy and Meigs — this team will likely be prepared for the tough road that lies ahead.

“This group really enjoys playing in big games,” Caldwell said. “They definitely don’t back down from competition and they have been tested by a lot of good teams this year. I’m pretty sure that these girls will be ready to get after it next week in the districts.”

The Lady Eagles will take on sixth-seeded Leesburg Fairfield in Wednesday’s district semifinal at Wellston after the Lady Lions defeated third-seeded Whiteoak in five games. That semifinal will take place approximately a half an hour after the completion of the Portsmouth Clay-South Webster match at 6 p.m.