Melrose Volleyball 2008 Underway

The Melrose Lady Raiders open the new volleyball season with tryouts beginning last week. Melrose has made five consecutive appearances in the Division II North finals with extraordinary success.

Melrose comes off one of its most successful seasons ever, having finished 22-1 including a spectacular victory over previous State Finalist Arlington Catholic and a pair of wins over archrival Reading.

Coaches Scott Celli, Steve Wall, and the Lady Raiders have enjoyed spectacular success both as a team and individually over recent seasons.
Melrose has averaged 20 wins during the past 6 seasons, and over 21 during the past five seasons. This has led to four Middlesex League titles, three Division II North titles, and one berth in the State Championship in 2005 when Melrose lost a five game final to Medfield.

In addition to team success, Melrose has had four All-Scholastic players and three All-State players, most recently Hannah Brickley who earned All-State honors last season as well as being named All-Scholastic by the Boston Herald.

Melrose returns a strong core lineup, with Hannah Brickley at Middle Hitter, Laura Irwin at Outside Hitter, Colleen Hanscom at setter, and experienced defenders in Kelly O'Neill and Jess Farr. Melrose has a number of strong candidates to fill the other Middle Hitter and Opposite positions, including AnnMarie Wiesen, Siena Mamayek, and Athena Ziavras. Junior Alex Harlow also returns to compete for time in the back row.

A number of young players continue to compete for positions on the varsity and junior varsity. A large number of freshmen also are competing for positions in the program.

Successful recruitment of athletic, dedicated young players has been a key to the continuing success of the program. Other big contributions have been a winning tradition, a broad overlap with the basketball program, remarkable community support, and consistent coaching.

Tricaptains for the 2008 season include senior Kelly O'Neill and Juniors Hannah Brickley and Colleen Hanscom.

Here is a video with selected highlight stills from last season.

The Middlesex League continues to expand, with Winchester adding a team this season. This adds the potential for longer-term competitiveness, but expansion teams suffer from inexperience. The traditional competition for the ML title comes from Reading and Lexington, both of whom have had superior height and solid coaching.

Melrose travels to Central Mass next Saturday for an annual play day featuring many of the top area teams and some teams from outside the area as well.