Dress Rehearsal

Melrose faced a solid North Andover team, likely to compete against the Andovers and Centrals of the Merrimac Valley Conference. And the Lady Raiders acquitted themselves well, with every member of the team having their moments and the locals proving themselves at least the current equals of the Knights. Most encouraging was watching the team improve even during the course of the scrimmage.

The most important jobs assigned to coaches are teaching, encouragement, and leadership...all qualities that the coaching staff has amply proven. The least important? Great coaches don't assign "labels", the tags that call players 'soft' or 'quitter' or 'underachiever'. You never want to judge players or teams based on inadequate sample size. Many of the jobs are out there to be won.

What we know is that Melrose returns its deepest back row. Jill MacInnes is arguably Melrose's best back row player ever with both skill and physical play. After Jill, Melrose has a host of talented back row players including Cassidy Barbaro, Maave Moriarty, Annalisa DeBari, Alyssa Abbott, and Amanda Cain. Marissa Cataldo has a 'swing' role between the back and the front.

Allie Nolan has settled in at setter. Nolan has a bit more size and power than some of Melrose's previous playmakers. She can set, block, and adds a legitimate hitting dimension to the position.

The front row will be a work in progress, with few returnees. Stephanie Crovo, Meri Lessing, and Ashley Harding have some experience, but are being pushed hard by sophomore Hannah Mulcahy, and freshmen Victoria Crovo, and Cat Torpey. The group showed better blocking than anticipated in today's scrimmage, and their collective hitting progress will determine the 2013 legacy. It's far too early to speculate who will emerge as the top group, but all have the talent and opportunity to become contributors. It will be fascinating to watch the development of the attackers.