Dreams Delayed, Not Denied...Melrose Falls to Marlboro 3-1

Dreams may come or go, but unachieved they do not disappear. The elusive state championship remains as Melrose battled hard but couldn't make enough plays and fell to Marlboro before a capacity crowd 25-22, 23-25, 13-25, and 20-25.

Melrose played its best volleyball of the year in the first set. The girls attacked and defended relentlessly, and the overconfident Marlboro Panthers seemed ripe for the taking. Melrose trailed early 2-0, only to rebound to 4-2 behind Jill Slabacheski and Sarah McGowan attacks.

Gradually, Melrose extended the lead, with aggressive blocking from Rachel Johnson and power offense from Sarah, as Melrose extended its leads to 9-5, 16-9, and 21-14. But Marlboro gathered steam behind the outstanding libero play of Vanessa Pascal and Taylor Fearing's brilliant setting to draw within 21-19, only to have a service error. Melrose finally clinched the first set as Marlboro errors proved costly.

Melrose amassed fourteen kills in the set, including six for Sarah, four for Jen Cain, and a trio from Rachel. It was on like Donkey Kong.

The second set was a back and forth contest, with ties at 1, 2, 3, and four before Melrose went up 9-5. But Alexa Fearing started to hammer away, and because of Melrose's blocking impact, Marlboro went to a back row attack style, which gave Melrose problems, and Marlboro a big run to go up 14-10. The Lady Raiders chipped away, but struggled to score, relying more on defense waiting for Marlboro errors. With Melrose trailing 21-19, a net serve proved costly, particularly when Melrose then rallied to go up 23-22 on Slabacheski and Johnson kills. But when crunch time came, Melrose couldn't make plays and the Panthers won the final three points of the set. Marlboro recovered from being dazed and confused and basically won the match there, surviving being punched out and on the ropes.

Melrose had just eight kills unofficially for the set, three for Rachel a pair for Sarah, and one each from setter Brooke Bell, Jen, and Jill.

Set three was all Marlboro, with attacks from Melissa Scott, Laura Silverman, and Fearing, while Pascal swallowed up everything in the back row like "Jaws".
Melrose trailed 6-3 after going out to a 3-1 advantage, and then fell behind 12-4, and 16-6 before the Lady Raiders were able to stop the bleeding. Overall, Melrose simply couldn't generate offense, and the team couldn't sustain the defense against Marlboro attacks. Melrose never got closer than 21-13 and it looked grim.

Melrose got nine kills for the set, including four from Jill and a pair from Sarah, but it was the worst set of the season for Melrose.

Literally playing for the season, the team regrouped and went ahead 3-1, only to see ties at 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, and 18 before Marlboro ran up to 21-18. Melrose got a pretty Bell push kill to the deep left corner, and a McGowan kill brought it to 22-20, only to have a Marlboro attack bring the Panthers within two points of victory at 23-20. On the ensuing play, Melrose was called for a phantom double hit, with the ball not spinning a whit. The game ended quietly for Melrose as Panther fans swarmed onto the court, preventing the traditional post game handshakes from occurring for minutes.

Melrose had thirteen kills during the comeback effort, including five more for Sarah, three for Rachel, and a pair apiece for Brooke and Jen.

Game analysis: Melrose won the first set with outstanding defense and aggressive offense. To say the defense was spectacular would be an understatement. Everyone was effective, but Jen Cain was exceptional. But Marlboro found adjustments (back row attacking) that opened up the defense and limited the impact of blocks from Rachel Johnson and Kayla Wyland in particular, and Melrose couldn't finish set two. The Lady Raiders battled valiantly in the final set, but couldn't catch a break when it counted as Marlboro simply made a few more plays when it mattered, although Marlboro departs knowing that Melrose earned their respect. Melrose did a lot of good things, but that isn't enough when competing for a state title.

Melrose will return their seven juniors and sophomore defensive specialist Jill MacInnes. A healthy taste of success only increases the appetite for the prize.