It’s that grit and determination her old teammates and some new players described as they prepared to “Volley for Molly,’’ using Lexington’s game last Friday against Reading Memorial High School as a fund-raiser to promote awareness of the often fatal disease.

“Every time I’m stressed out, I just think about Molly and her strength,’’ said team member Mary Rossi, 16.

With donations coming in before the game buzzer sounded, the game tickets and other donations netted about $10,000, said Jane Bergin, coach of the Lexington Minutemen volleyball team. It was such a success that the raffle tickets will be sold again at tomorrow’s 4 p.m. home matchup against Melrose High’s varsity.

As Eisenberg receives care at her home in Walnut Creek, Calif., where her family moved after she graduated in 2008, Volley for Molly has drawn support in Lexington and beyond.

Posters about the event were plastered around the center of town. One of this year’s captains, Meaghan Murphy, said that as she was putting up a poster, passersby thrust money into her hand for the cause. A Facebook message received hundreds of responses.

“I’ve never had any group of kids work so hard on a service project,’’ Bergin said, adding that she received an e-mail from Holyoke High School saying a volleyball team there would hold a fund-raiser in Eisenberg’s honor as well.

Bergin said Eisenberg was a stand-out player, the first on the team to play the then-new position of libero, a defensive specialist who is allowed to substitute for anybody in the back row. “It’s your gutsiest player,’’ Bergin said.

“That position personified who Molly was,’’ Bergin continued. “She brought enthusiasm and concern to the court, yet she was still tenacious and still wanted others to do well. She was a catalyst for enthusiasm.’’

In 2007 and 2008, the Lexington High team won the sportsmanship award given by the North Shore Volleyball League, before the program was merged into the Middlesex League, and Eisenberg “was singled out for her specific role in that award,’’ Bergin said.

Eisenberg also participated in student council and drama, and for several summers volunteered for the Lexplorations program, working with elementary school children in drama, sports, and art, said her mother, Karen Large.

After graduation, Eisenberg enrolled at the University of Oregon, planning to study anthropology or sociology. But after only a week of college, she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, had surgery, and went home to receive chemotherapy, Large said.

At first doctors gave her a good prognosis, but findings of remaining cancer led to more treatment. After spending a week in Lexington visiting friends this summer, Eisenberg flew home for more surgery, and doctors found the cancer had spread, Large said.

Throughout her ordeal, Eisenberg has been an inspiration, said her mother. “She continues to put on a brave face and has great spirit and humor, which have always been her trademark.’’

Doctors are recommending that Eisenberg receive hospice care, her mother said.

Specialists say ovarian cancer is the deadliest of all gynecological cancers and the fifth leading cause of cancer deaths among American women, according to the Ovarian Cancer National Alliance, based in Washington, D.C. Early detection greatly increases the chances of survival.

The disease is rare in young women, “but it can happen at any age,’’ said Georgi Morales, the alliance’s spokeswoman.

Lexington High’s volleyball coach said that as she and the team were deciding to launch the fund-raiser, they discovered that September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month. The team played in uniforms dyed in teal, the color that advocates ask to be worn to promote awareness about the disease.

Last Friday’s game attracted a standing-room-only crowd, Bergin said. Though Reading won, 3 games to 2, the Lexington team still experienced the flush of victory for having brought out more than 700 supporters of the cause - a turnout that Bergin called “amazing.’’

After a game against Winchester last month, several teammates talked about what Volley for Molly meant to them.

Murphy, 18, recalled that she and Eisenberg looked so much alike their parents would get them mixed up on the court during games. “I would call her ‘Big Me,’ and I was ‘Mini Me,’ ’’ she said.

Now Murphy plays libero, and wears her friend’s old number, 9.

“To be filling her shoes as captain is unbelievable,’’ Murphy said. “Just trying to live up to her standards is special.’’

Murphy said she has stayed in touch with Eisenberg through e-mail, learning that her mentor still wears the team sweatshirt.

Cocaptain Emily Wiederhold, 17, said she feels a sense of urgency about informing the public about ovarian cancer. “We don’t want that to happen to anyone else,’’ she said. “We’d like people to catch it early.’’

Though Molly Eisenberg couldn’t be at courtside last Friday, her mother wrote for the game program what the community’s efforts have meant to them.

“Molly and her family would not have been able to endure this year of chemotherapy, surgery, and affliction without the amazing support of friends and family in Lexington,’’ Large wrote.

All donations will go to organizations supporting ovarian cancer awareness. To learn more about ovarian cancer, go to a coalition’s website, www.ovariancancerawareness.org.

Connie Paige can be reached at connie_paige@yahoo.com.