Pop Goes the Volleyball Season

Although I'm something of the Melrose volleyball historian going back to 2002, I don't know where the Tootsie Pop tradition began.

Suffice it to say, dentists everywhere smile broadly at tradition.

Speaking of tradition, the first full week of practice fills up with scrimmages, today's against solid Chelmsford and Lynnfield squads at the Middle School gymnasium.

Scrimmages help bring players up to competitive game speed, allow coaches to assess players and combinations under pressure, and consolidate strengths and discover weaknesses to be improved.

My initial observations follow, tempered by recognizing that the team still has had relatively little practice:

• Personnel. Of the ten Melrose teams I have seen, this has the highest OVERALL level of volleyball talent, through the fifteenth player on the roster. It would be very premature to say that the top six or eight players were the best, but reasonable to say that the overall quality of whichever players are reserves has never been higher. The coaches have plenty of talent to choose from. To quote the great John Wooden, "it's not who starts that counts, it's who finishes."
• One area that I felt needed to improve was service. The players definitely served with greater overall proficiency. 
• Serve-receive is always an important part of defensive development. Lynnfield gave Melrose a good test, and the players performed at a very consistent level early in the preseason. 
• The level of communication between the bench and the defense impressed. The defense read deep balls better with good help from the sideline. 
• There will be a spirited competition at many positions. Many players have a chance to separate themselves from the pack at a variety of positions. Players who can develop as secondary and tertiary attack options will be critical to the overall offense. 

Tomorrow the team travels to Medway for the Medway Play Date. Generally, some top teams like Lincoln-Sudbury, Fairhaven, Chelmsford, Medway, and others compete.