Game 7: Melrose 3 Bishop Fenwick 0

Melrose traveled to Peabody to face once-beaten Bishop Fenwick, and departed with a hard fought three set win to remain undefeated at 7-0.

Fenwick Coach Adam DeBaggis, who coached Melrose's Brooke Bell, Jen Cain, and Sarah McGowan at the Bay State Games, had his team ready and able.



Fenwick went with a heavily strong-side oriented attack early, forging a quick 6-2 lead in set one. But Melrose had other ideas with a five point run behind a McGowan service run. Melrose took the lead for good at 9-7, and the Crusaders never got closer than one, although battling Melrose to a 25-22 set.

McGowan dominated the first set with eight of Melrose's dozen kills. For Sarah, it was one of the most dominant hitting performances in Melrose history. Melrose had a solitary service error in the frame.

In the second set, Fenwick again came out strong, leading 6-3. But the Lady Raiders rallied behind more McGowan magic and Rachel Johnson's best game since Central Catholic last year. Rachel repeatedly stuffed Crusader attacks and came up with four kills of her own, a couple of the thunderous variety.

Fenwick led as late as 9-8, but Melrose then had a mini-run to score eight of the next nine points to go up 16-10.  Melrose expanded the lead to 21-12 and closed out the set 25-18.

Meanwhile McGowan continued to hammer away adding another five kills. The back row including Amanda Commito, Jill MacInnes, Allie Nolan, Jen Cain, and at times McGowan passed extremely well, giving Brooke Bell to setup another dozen kills.


After a pair of hard-fought sets, Fenwick had to feel like Motley Crue.

But they didn't go away easily in the third set, despite Melrose jumping out to a 6-3 lead. Jen Cain warmed up her formidable shooting arm in the third set, becoming the chaos co-conspirator for Melrose. Leading 8-5, Melrose then hammered home three of the next four Melrose points to keep Fenwick from seizing momentum.

Melrose expanded the lead collectively with some key contributions from Rachel and Kayla Wyland, whose length frustrated the Fenwick hitters. Kayla also dropped in a couple of her specialty attacks from the weak side.

Melrose kept fighting off Crusader attacks as the home team battled back from 20-14 and 23-19 deficits to pull within two at 24-22. Melrose abetted the Crusader battle with four final set service errors.

McGowan continued her siege with another seven kills and Cain delivered four including the coup de grace as she delivered a wonderful blow from far off the net to avoid the block and tear the back row asunder.

Unofficially, Melrose added fourteen more kills in the final set.

Game analysis: From an entertainment standpoint, the volleyball was terrific today. Bishop Fenwick played terrific defense as the athletic and well-coached Crusaders fought off savage Melrose attacks. The keys for Melrose were superior passing and refusal to 'go soft' as they punished the Fenwick back row until the final point.