In the opener of a four of five homestand, Melrose played crisp, decisive volleyball in a 25-18, 25-22, 25-18 sweep over a good Woburn club.
The win raises Melrose's record to 11-5 and provides some momentum and confidence headed into Saturday's home match against undefeated Duxbury.
Melrose got off to a quick 9-2 lead over the visitors with solid play and dominant attacking and defending from middles Sabine Wenzel and Emme Boyer. Woburn didn't quit, controlling the latter half of the frame.
The second set saw Woburn jump to a quick 7-0 lead but Melrose responded as freshman outside hitter Adriana Santoriello put together a handful of kills. Woburn hung around and kept the set competitive.
Despite another slow start (2-5), Melrose played its best volleyball in the third set with both solid defense and diversified offense, led by Sabine. In particular, the defensive coverage of attacks was improved.
For the entirety of the match Melrose had few service errors and made more quality decisions, not attacking low probability chances, keeping play alive and resetting the defense.
Also, Melrose showed resilience in stopping Woburn from getting big runs, with Anna Burns especially strong in handling some missiles from Woburn's top server.
Melrose Notes: Three factors made a difference - overall consistency, solid decision-making, and focus to limit Woburn's momentum.
Sabine probably had 17-20 kills and Adriana added 8-9 with good hitting percentage after the first set. As usual Sadie Smith was the other half of the offensive Dynamic Duo.
Volleyball fans will get a chance to see 15-0 Duxbury at 2:30 Saturday. With two games pending before Melrose, Duxbury has won 45 sets and lost 3.
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