Tippi Hedren Would Be Proud, Melrose 3-1

Melrose hosted the Falcons, from Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, and 'The Birds' made it a difficult afternoon en route to a 3-1 victory. Cambridge came in 6-3

Melrose had a major adjustment to make with their biggest gun, Athena Ziavras, on the shelf with an injury. Sarah McGowan started in her place outside, and defensive specialist Maggie Moriarty rotated in as server and defensive specialist for Rachel Johnson.

Cambridge scored the first pair of points for the match as a harbinger of things to come. The Falcons showed both defensive intensity and competence, frustrating Melrose's short game, while Melrose struggled with attack errors.

Melrose managed to tie the score at 3, but Cambridge opened up a 10-5 lead and then had a seven point run to bring it to 17-5. Melrose righted the ship with a 15-7 rally, but the final point of the set went into the net, and "The Birds" had left a mark. Melrose unofficially had only four kills in the set. The crowd at the Middle School was stunned but not disheartened and showed enthusiastic support from then out.

Game two showed Melrose come out with a purpose, and the purpose was to separate Cambridge from any idea of victory. The team played with high skill and energy early and Melrose went out 10-0 and 17-1, and wrapped a 25-2 rout. Sarah McGowan got it in gear with four kills and Brooke Bell was immense with deception and a trio of kills.

The third stanza saw some erratic play and a deficiency of 'crispness'. Rachel Johnson dominated the set for Melrose with five kills and several blocks. Maggie Moriarty had a lengthy service run and solid back-row defense. The game was even at 5, before Melrose opened it up to 17-7 with a 12-2 run. Melrose closed out the set 25-12, marred by three service errors.

So, you might think that Melrose had it figured out, running out to a 7-3 and 11-6 lead. Later Melrose would open the advantage to a doubled 14-7. But the Falcons kept pecking away, finally evening the score at 20. Just as it seemed that shades of the first game returned, Melrose reasserted itself with some strong serves from tri-captain Alyssa DiRaffaele and some terrific hitting from tri-captain Jill Slabacheski to close out the game 25-20. Alyssa had three kills, Rachel three, and Jill had a pair.

Game analysis: The simplest answer comes from the intersection of the disruptive loss of senior Athena Ziavras and the very solid play of several of the Falcons, Brigitte Boursiquot (5), Kayla Adams-Sena (11), and setter Lydia Vital (3). Absent Athena, Melrose was totally out of sync in the first game, and just as almost everything went wrong for the Lady Raiders, the visitors made some terrific plays. Dick Collis and I recollected the Senior Night match in 2005 versus North Andover as a most worthy comparison.

Melrose roared back in the second game, played consistent volleyball in game three, and muddled through game four before putting on a strong finishing kick. The contest showed the consequences of lineup changes and the importance of maintaining flexibility and discipline. The positives that emerged were both victory and willingness to keep hitting, even when the wheels came off the rails in the Hitchcock-like drama.