Thursday, November 11, 2021

#5 Seed Melrose Excited to Travel to #4 Seed Billerica for Quarterfinal Tussle Tonight

Melrose is no stranger to deep playoff runs, including eight sectional championships and four trips to the State Finals including the 2012 Championship.

As Coach Scott Celli noted two months ago, key components include playing well, staying healthy, and having a little luck.

During the postseason, a premium on winning points arises as opposed to scoring. Teams are more consistent and aggressive offense with a minimum of three powerful hitters is essential. The emergence of Rachel Johnson as a third threat in the 2012 postseason put Melrose over the top. 

Melrose has the requisite hitters capable of delivering double digit kills including Elena Soukos and Abby Hudson outside and Chloe Gentile and Sadie Jaggers inside. Before moving to setter, Gia Vlajkovic had the same power hitting and adds blocking and a hitting threat at setter.

In Game Changer, Fergus Connolly emphasizes that analytics should have statistical meaning for outcomes. He might say for example that a "get me over" hit (free ball) should carry virtually no risk as it is unlikely to have any reward. Similarly, one could measure the attack efficiency of quick sets, back sets to opposite, slide attacks, and back row hitting relative to setting the outside. 

Years ago, during basketball tryouts, a little sixth grader came up to me before it started saying, "Hi, my name is Naomi, and I'm really excited to be here." She made the team. 

Be excited to be here and enjoy the moment. 


The Hall of Fame Committee will catch up on the numerals (2019, 2021... no season in 2020).


Billerica (green) versus Haverhill (white). 








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