Lady Raiders Sting Hornets, Go 10-0

In 1967, after a lengthy road trip, the Boston Red Sox returned to Logan Airport to a hero's welcome. Ken Coleman crooned in 'The Impossible Dream", "Look at 'em go, 10 in a row, and now our kids are second." Well, the Lady Raiders reeled off their tenth consecutive win with a hard fought donnybrook at North Reading. North Reading has been among the top teams in Division III, including a trip to the State Finals within the past several seasons.

Melrose now stands at 10-0, 6-0 Middlesex League after topping the Hornets, who came in at 7-2, among the leaders in the Cape Ann League.

North Reading won the opening game 25-14, breaking open a 12-12 match, simply overpowering Melrose.

But after regrouping between games, Melrose licked their wounds early in Game 2, trailing 12-6. But a massive 13-1 run, behind service runs from Gina Ciccone and Nicole Glavin brought the Lady Raiders a 19-13 lead. During that time Nicole had three aces. Melrose finished strong to take the contest 25-20 and level the score.

In Game 3, the teams traded runs, with the game tied at 6 and 9, before Melrose opened up a 16-11 lead. Hannah Brickley and Leslie Hirschfeld unofficially each came up big with a quartet of kills, but North Reading closed to within 16-15, with the teams ultimately knotted again at 21 and 22. Finally Melrose closed it out with North Reading struggling under the pressure, and Glavin and Hirschfeld delivering closing kills.

Game 4 saw the Hornets sting first, opening up a 9-2 lead as they defended their house. The lead went to 12-5 before Melrose turned the momentum around, getting it to a manageable 14-12 deficit, before yet another stirring comeback got Melrose up 19-16. Hannah had a big 6 point service run en route, and added another four kills in the process.

Melrose went to an insurmountable 24-18 run, before a stirring North Reading comeback gave the home team a 25-24 lead before the red and white staved off defeat with a pair of points, including a Brickley kill. Finally, with the game locked at 26, Melrose was able to deliver the knockout punch and put the Hornets down for good.

According to local fans, the match was a real barn burner, the most hotly contested play of the season, as the team learns how to prevail in the big games.

Lady Raider Notes: The team will next be in action Friday at Lexington. The MMTV camera, capably manned by the Volleyball Boosters captured the game, and will likely also be filming Friday's battle. Lexington is one of the stronger teams in the league and gets plenty of respect from Coaches Celli and Wall as the team continues their road trip.