Melrose Sizzles, Rockets Fizzle 3-0

The Melrose Lady Raiders volleyball team notched their fifth consecutive victory, thrashing the Reading Lady Rockets 3-0 at the Veterans Middle School Gym. Reading came in 3-1, undefeated in Middlesex League play, with a lone defeat to Methuen.

Since 2002, every Middlesex League title has belonged to either Melrose or Reading (2006). The pair shared the crown in 2004 before Melrose won the rubber game in the D2 North semis.

Melrose has its best team since 2005 and they reinforced their claim to ML superiority with the blend of improved passing, better back row defense, and dynamic serving as they simply overwhelmed the visitors.

Game one saw Melrose go up 4-0 and they never looked back. Reading struggled to return serve and couldn't mount any offense as Melrose threw a blitzkrieg at the Rocket back row. The result...a 25-5 rout from which the visitors never recovered.

Melrose continued to make a statement in game two, blasting out to a 10-1 lead before Reading could mount a counterattack. Crisp passing and the combination of Colleen Hanscom to Hannah Brickley set up some beautiful attacks for Melrose. When the smoke cleared, Melrose emerged with a 25-11 triumph, including long service runs from Hannah, Laura Irwin, and sophomore Jill Slabacheski.

Game three saw Reading playing their best volleyball of the day, but not nearly good enough, as the back row defense of Jess Farr, Alex Harlow, and Amanda Commito, along with contributions from Hannah and Laura simply stymied the Rockets. Reading knotted the game at five, before a 13-1 Melrose run drained the dinitrogen tetroxide from the Rocket tanks. Melrose called off the dogs and put a 25-13 victory in the book.

The implication of the combined 75-29 victory became crystal clear; the Middlesex League title runs through Melrose.