Melrose grinds toward the end of the regular season with a 25-8, 25-10, 25-15 home win over the Wilmington Wildcats. The win ups Melrose's record to 15-4, 15-0 in the Middlesex League.
Skill, athleticism, and size are key inputs to making plays. The theme for tonight's piece is athleticism.
Leah Fowke's serve set up a long first set run, keeping Wilmington on the defensive (video from MHS-TV).
The serve sets up Melrose after a great dig by Ava McSorley leading to Ruth Breen setting Gia Vlajkovic who "wipes the block" for a point.
Athleticism manifests in many ways. In basketball, there's a saying, "great offense is multiple actions."
That's true here. Chloe Gentile makes an athletic serve and Maggie Turner digs out a pass to Ruth who sets Gia. Wilmington makes a fine block and Turner keeps it alive. Notice how Gia's athleticism and skill allows her to make a rapid adjustment to the ball for a kill.
Improvement often defines team success.
Approach to the ball is critical. Note how Anna Shoemaker drifts back behind the 10 foot line to prepare her attack. She strikes the ball far enough behind the net and high enough to make a block less likely. That earns her a kill in the 25-10 second set.
Coaches cannot teach some skills.
Ava serves and Wilmington gets a good attack. Chloe gets a fingertip on the block. In a remarkable sequence, Gia, Ruth, and Gia again get "chicken wing" saves leading to an unexpected gift at an unexpected time.
Young players are progressing.
Sophomore Caroline Higonenq shows promise as an all-around player. In this sequence, she gets a solid attack from the outside.
Melrose notes: Melrose looked like a good bet to finish the regular season power rankings at #4 in D2. But Dartmouth topped Barnstable 3-0 to send a monkey wrench into that projection. There's a chance that they spring ahead of Melrose in the final rankings, depending on their final game result against Old Rochester.
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