Canton claimed the Sectional Title with a 11-25, 25-21, 22-25, and 17-25 over visiting Melrose. They made more plays and deserved to win.
Canton won the opening stanza with a dominant 25-11 performance. Melrose fell behind 6-1, forcing a Coach Scott Celli timeout. Melrose couldn't find their footing against the host Bulldogs.
Melrose opened the second set up 3-0 only to see a reversal of fortune to 3-6. But Melrose rallied to lead 7-6. There was a lot of trading points leading to a deadlock at 14.
A Jaggers kill got Melrose up 16-15 with Sabine Wenzel doubling down at 17-15. But Canton tripled up until Sadie knotted the score at 18. A Canton service error leveled at 20. Leah aced to go up 21-20 and Canton took a timeout.
But Melrose got a mini-run to 24-20 and won 25-21 on a Canton setting error.
In the third, after an even start, Melrose led 10-7 before teams exchanged points. Melrose went up 12-8 but the Bulldogs responded to even at twelve. Canton got a controversial point when it appearing they blocked it out. Canton then went up 18-13 to a timeout. Canton went up 23-13 but Melrose fought back to force a timeout at 23-18. Melrose got the score to 24-22 when Canton took another timeout and won the set 25-22.
It wasn't effort but skill-related early Canton 11-6 lead. Melrose got within one but Canton went back up 16-12. Time out. Melrose to 16-14 trail then a service error. Canton leading 20-15 with dominant play, finishing with a 25-17 win.
MVB notes: Melrose returned to the final eight looking for a semifinal berth for the third consecutive season. From 2003-2005 and 2009-2012 Melrose had at least three consecutive semifinals appearances. But a third straight was not to be.
Melrose continually wound up "playing uphill" with an inability to score enough points in the face of superior blocking from Canton.
No comments:
Post a Comment