Playday

Libero Serve Receive highlights

Melrose played a series of scrimmages, Friday against Newton North, a perennial Division I power and Saturday in a round robin "playday" at Medway.

At Medway, Melrose played a number of top Central and Western Massachusetts teams, including Hopkinton, Frontier, Medway, Westborough, Medfield, and Franklin.

Coaches Celli and Wall had the opportunity to review their veteran and younger players against a variety of competition, and assess areas of strength and opportunities for improvement. They also had to account for the limited practice time while getting the team ready for the regular season.

The team played with great enthusiasm and obviously will look to become more consistent with more practice. Considering the early season scrimmage, the Lady Raiders had relatively few service errors. They can spend this week refining the serve-receive-pass game and hitting consistency while they build toward their opener against Lexington. The ability to dig and pass the first pass cannot be understated to initiate the offensive attack.

For the team to go deep into the playoffs, they'll need to work to develop a constant 'attack' mentality, keeping opponents on the defensive.

They scrimmage Andover Wednesday at 4:00.

Historically, Reading has posed the greatest challenge for Melrose as they seek to defend their Middlesex League title with Lexington next in line in the ML.