Game 6: Tale of Two Cities Melrose 3 Stoneham 1

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..."

Melrose traveled to Stoneham and stayed undefeated in Middlesex League play, winning 25-13, 28-30,27-25, and 25-16.

The afternoon had an inauspicious start with Stoneham's big front line getting them off to a 3-0 lead before Melrose battled back to get even at nine, thanks to an Alyssa Abbott service run. After trailing 9-7, Melrose went off to a 13-1 run, and it looked like Easy Street. But much of the damage was self-inflicted for Stoneham, as Melrose had only six kills (two apiece for Annalisa DeBari and Marissa Cataldo). A seemingly prosaic 25-13 set win ensued.

But set two was an affair to remember for the Spartans. Again they came out quickly with their big front row rotation, leading 4-2. Melrose rallied to lead 6-4 behind a Maave Moriarty service run, but the teams battled to ties at 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13 before Melrose went up 15-13. Then Stoneham went on an impressive 11-3 run to take an "insurmountable" 24-18 edge. Then the roof fell in for the hosts, with Melrose tallying seven consecutive points highlighted by a pair of Meri Lessing kills to go up 25-24, with their first of three set points. But Melrose couldn't apply the finishing stroke and Stoneham hammered home the final three points to take the set 30-28.

Meri had five kills for the set, Cat Torpey two, and Marissa added another pair. Three service error proved costly for Melrose.

Set three saw another donnybrook. After a 3-3 tie Melrose took leads of 7-3 and 16-10, with a variety of players doing damage, two kills apiece for Victoria Crovo and Annalisa. But instead of extending the lead, Melrose may have lost the aggressiveness edge, and Stoneham fought their way back, trailing 19-14 only to run off five to tie at 19. But freshman Crovo was huge down the stretch with a pair of kills, abetted by help from Marissa and Meri as ties at 20 through 24 then led to Melrose fighting off a set point at 25, before winning three at the end including a Cassidy Barbaro ace.

For the set, Melrose had a nearly catastrophic five service errors, and Victoria had five kills, Meri three, with a pair for Marissa and Annalisa among twelve.

But set four returned to more pedestrian action. There were ties at 1 through 4, but Melrose went on an 8-1 run to lead 12-5 and boosted it to 15-6. Meri's three early kills were critical.

The lead ballooned to 21-9 before another Stoneham comeback brought it to 23-16 as the Spartans went on a 7-2 rally. But Melrose closed it out with a pair of points including Victoria's finale at 25. Meri led with five kills, Victoria had three, and Annalisa a pair among a dozen for Melrose.

Game notes: Stoneham deserved credit for playing effectively for much of the afternoon. Melrose had "sun" problems in set three, as the strong side of their court was affected from about the midway portion of the third set near the net. You don't see players at the scorer's table wearing 'shades' too often in an indoor volleyball game.

Melrose Coach Scott Celli continues to experiment with different combinations. Hannah Mulcahy was out with illness and Stephanie Crovo remains sidelined with a leg injury. Amanda Cain was in for awhile at setter, and we hear that Allie Nolan has been working at opposite as well as setter with Maave Moriarty at setter in practice. Ashley Harding has shared the opposite spot with freshman Cat Torpey. At this point, the overall coordination and communication is improving but not at optimal levels. As a long-time observer, I expect that roles are anything but carved in stone based on the quality and consistency of play over a half dozen outings.

Legendary hoop coach Don Meyer has a saying, "it's not who you play, it's how you play that matters." Melrose has done enough to stand at 5-1, but has a lot of volleyball ahead of them.