9 - 2. Melrose Outlasts Stubborn Rockets, 3-0

Melrose-Reading contests are seldom easy. Today's Melrose win was no exception as the Lady Raiders defeated the Rockets 26-24, 27-25, 25-19. 

Melrose played with a lot of enthusiasm and played timely defense en route to the straight set win. 

In the first set, Melrose and Reading traded points early with ties at 4 and 6 before Melrose opened up a 13-9 lead. Five Reading service errors during the set proved costly. 

The teams were tied at 17 when Melrose went up 22-18 and 24-20 seemingly to have the match under control. But Reading tied it at 24, only to see a Crovo kill put Melrose up, followed by an attack error by Reading. Melrose was error-free at the service line that set. 

The second set had a similar feel with a lot of counterpunching. The set was even at 1, 2, 4, 7, 9, and 12. Melrose opened an 18-14 lead, extended to 23-17 only to see Reading fight back to another tie at 24 before once again Melrose captured the final two points. 

Reading came back strongly in the third set, initially trailing 6-3 only to go on an 11-5 run to lead 14-11. Reading continued their edge to 17-13 where a key service error hurt them and reversed the momentum as Melrose tied it at 17. But Reading could only two more points along the way and Melrose got the win. 

The V-Rex, Victoria Crovo led the way with fourteen kills, many of the block-kill variety and Lydia Lombardo had a critical eight. Kaitlyn MacInnes had a strong day in the back row and Katie Donovan had a strong back row performance as well. 

Melrose pitched a shutout at the service line, going error free. 

ML standings.