Gritty, Grinding Win Over Lexington Keeps Melrose Atop ML

Melrose outlasted Lexington by making plays down the stretch on the road to remain unbeaten in ML play. Lexington had a pair of stars in Senior Olivia Goddard and sophomore Nikita Selivan who kept Lexington in the game.

Set one was back and forth with Lexington out 3-0, Melrose rallying to lead 8-4, but with ties at 10, 11, and 14. From there Lexington rallied to go up 21-15, only to see Melrose come back to within one at 22-21 until the Minutemen captured the final three points.

Meri Lessing had four kills and Annalisa DeBari three in the set.

The second set saw ties at 1, 2, 3, and 5 before Lex took the lead 10-6 and 17-11. But Melrose went on an 8-1 run to lead 19-18, only to see the home team regain the lead at 22-19. But a Scott Celli timeout erased the Lexington momentum, and service errors and defensive errors befell the home team, along with a pair of DeBari aces and a Victoria Crovo kill as Melrose won the last six points to win 25-22.

Victoria had a trio of kills and Meri a pair.

Set three was similarly close with Melrose leading 9-5 before Lex battled back to close to 9-7. At Melrose 14-9, Lexington won seven of the next 9 points to square it a 16, with ties forthcoming at 19, 20, and 21, only to see Melrose take four of the final five points with an impetus from Lessing kills. Meri and Victoria each notched three kills and Melrose survived three service errors.

Melrose trailed early 4-2 in set four before going 11-4 to lead 13-8. Lexington got as close as 19-16 and 20-17, but Victoria dominated with six fourth set kills (thirteen total) as Melrose won the final set 25-20.

Game notes: I watched the game on tape and was impressed with the quality of the overall play, and Melrose's resilience in winning the final three sets with persistence as much as talent. Lexington made a number of terrific plays but Melrose found answers, with spectacular back row play led by Jill MacInnes who had one of her top two games ever (comparable to last year's Westborough match). Melrose used its experience in big games to make plays when it mattered.