Game 2 Highlights and Commentary

The regular season transforms Melrose from "evaluation" mode to "execution" with ongoing evaluation.

Teams learn about themselves and about making adjustments during "live" play.

Melrose's initial lineup has senior Sabine Wenzel flanked by two sophomores (Sadie Smith and Elise Marchais) and a trio of freshmen (Alisa Dautovic, Adriana Santoriello, and Dani DiGiorgio). Every day is a learning experience for the youngsters.

Melrose opened with an outside attack by Sabine off of great passes from Adriana and Sadie. The best way to watch is to toggle back and forth between the 'thumbnail' and the full screen video highlight. 

 

The first set was fairly evenly played early. It's not all about height. Right side Elise Marchais capitalizes on an overpass to put Melrose up 13-9. 

 

Do the math. Maggie Shoemaker attacks from the middle and goes the Pythagorean "long way" to the corner for a winner. 

Melrose scored often with the serve. At 21-18, Adriana earned an ace and forced a Wakefield timeout. After the TO, she dropped in a second ace. That sequence put the brakes on any Wakefield comeback. 

Melrose opened the second set with a 3-2 lead on this long rally and Sabine smash. 

Wakefield fought to an 8-11 lead before Melrose rallied with a trio of points including this Santoriello tip. 

Melrose trailed 16-18 but stayed poised...leading to a rally to even the score at 21. Watch the end of the set with these MHS-TV sequences. Sabine kills and an excellent service run from Alisa Dautovic ("Dot V") sparked the rally. 

 

Wakefield started set three with a 4-5 edge when Maggie evened the score with middle craft. 

At 13-11 Melrose started to pull away. Sabine delivered a kill to make it

14-11. A Santoriello kill widened the lead to 17-11 and Wakefield was on the wrong side of Momentum City. This was close to a knockout blow. 

Commentary: Game 2 proved to be another excellent team win, spearheaded by another monster game from Sabine, fluid setting from sophomore Sadie Smith, and improved serving from the roster leading to a lot of service points. 

Elise Marchais was sneaky good at right side and the frosh trio of Dani, Alisa, and Adriana along with Anna Burns held up well on serve receive. 

Coach Scott Celli explained that the team is playing with poise and confidence beyond their collective experience at this point. There's a lot of room for growth and Melrose faces more iron in Reading and Burlington next week.