Melrose Moves to 17-1

Melrose hosted Lexington in an early game, because Lexington was being honored by the Ovarian Cancer Association for their fund-raising efforts (Volley for Molly). Kudos to the young ladies for their outstanding philanthropy.

Melrose beat the visitors 25-16, 25-14, and 25-8 to go undefeated in Middlesex League play. Lexington had a lot of height with middle hitters Emily Wiederhold and Dominique Serio, which definitely slowed down the Melrose offense.

Set one had ties at 1, 6, 8, and 10 before Melrose was able to pull away with a 8-1 run while setter Colleen Hanscom had extended service. Melrose cruised from there, outscoring Lexington 7-5 down the stretch despite outstanding play by Wiederhold. Melrose had only six kills during the game, led by Hannah Brickley and Colleen Hanscom with a pair apiece.

Set two opened similarly close with an early Melrose lead secondary to a pair of kills from Hannah and Athena Ziavras, and Lexington turned a 12-6 deficit into a 12-9 lead with strong play. Melrose then went on a 9-3 run to remove any doubt about the outcome. Strong hitting from Laura Irwin late iced the victory.

The final set saw 'doubles' action, with the Lady Raiders leading 2-1, 4-2, 6-3, 8-4, and 10-5 before Melrose expanded the margin with an 11-1 stretch. Melrose reserves got some quality time, with good work from all, especially setter Brooke Bell.

Congratulations again to the Lexington young ladies for their richly deserved recognition.

Coming events: Senior night comes Thursday, with pre-game festivities honoring the seniors at 4:45, before facing top twenty team Bishop Feehan at 5:30. Come out to the Middle School Gymnasium as we congratulate the seniors for their final regular season home game.

Perspective. We get it.Here is the volleyball universe, with the US high school volleyball contained inside the inner circle. And contained within the high school volleyball universe inner circle, we are the dot in the middle.

• We haven't won a state championship in any division.
  
• We haven't had any Massachusetts players of the year.
• We haven't had any division I college volleyball players.
• Maxpreps.com has ranked the local entry at 710. Maybe that's too high.
• We had 929 students enrolled at Melrose High School in 2008-2009.
  
• We don't have an all-season volleyball program.
  
• We don't have a dedicated volleyball facility, or even a dedicated volleyball court.
• Do I have to mention the weather?
  

That's alright. Because we have a community that is passionate about our volleyball team, that supports them at the games, and takes pride in what they have achieved as student-athletes with high academic achievement and regular success on the court. We celebrate what the young ladies have achieved, not worrying about what they have not.

There is always another mountain to be climbed.