Dreams Deferred, Fairhaven Gets 1st Trip to Finals, 3-1

Melrose went to the state semifinals for the fifth time in eight years, and came away empty-handed thanks to a monstrous effort by Fairhaven junior middle hitter Kara Charette, who should be a candidate for Division 2 Player of the Year. Charette must have had 30 kills, en route to a 25-18, 25-22, 21-25, 25-20 win at Newton South. The victory propels the Blue Devils into the State Championship game for the first time.

Melrose finishes a splendid season 21-3, with seven of its top eight players returning, injured players Amanda Commito and Brittany Adelman returning to full strength, and Athena Ziavras finishes a magnificent career.

Melrose got off to a characteristically slow start in game one, trailing 3-0 before the Lady Raiders responded with a pair of points. Fairhaven took the offensive behind a cluster of smashes from Charette. Melrose struggled under the burden of playing defense and scuffled at returning the jump serves of numerous Fairhaven servers. After closing to 9-7, Melrose never got closer than four, and could (unofficially) muster only five kills, four from Athena.

Set two proved to be opportunity lost, as Melrose controlled most of the game. After trailing 3-2, the Lady Raiders blew open the set with 10-4, 12-5, and 17-8 leads. But with the game at 19-11, the South champions got Charette back to the front and they made a stirring comeback to tie the game and 20 and 21. With the score tied at 21, a Fairhaven serve appeared to land several inches long, but it was called good giving Fairhaven the lead. Then with the score 23-21 Devils, a rotation error gave Melrose a comeback shot, but Fairhaven closed it out 25-22. Melrose had more offense, but still managed only half a dozen kills, led the three for Rachel Johnson.

Melrose could have gone quietly into the night after the disheartening collapse in set two. But the young Lady Raiders battled back, giving the Devils a headache behind a flurry of late kills. The game was tied at 1, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16, and 17, before Melrose pulled away with three Jill Slabacheski kills forcing the action to win 25-21. Melrose had double digit kills for the stanza, with three apiece for Athena, Jill, and Sarah McGowan, who through games three and four played her best volleyball of the season.

Fairhaven controlled the action for much of the fourth game, leading 2-1, 5-2, 11-5, and 16-8. Melrose responded to 18-13, but a costly service error put the Devils within 6 points of the finals. Melrose again rallied, closing to 20-16 and 22-20, with three Ziavras kills, and five by McGowan, with Slabacheski wiping the double block on the strong side. But Fairhaven simply had too much power, and appropriately, a Charette kill ended Melrose's season.

Game Analysis: Fairhaven may have come in with four losses, but they parlayed the power of Charette, with solid contributions from Kelsey Perron-Sovik and Kayli Moniz in particular to consistent and powerful offense. Melrose actually blocked fairly well, led by Rachel and Sarah, but the South champions had more powerful serves, better overall defense, and generally controlled Melrose at the net. Melrose couldn't carry aggressive play often enough because the Devils kept them on their heels with both the topspin jump serves and power from the middle.

Melrose's quest to return to the state championship gets deferred, not denied...with the team full of young players who will compete for the opportunity to represent Melrose next season.