Game 1: Reading 3 Melrose 0

All opinions expressed in the blog are solely my own. The blog is not an official publication of any City of Melrose organization. 

Melrose traveled to Reading, one of the preseason ML12 favorites and came away on the short end of a 24-26, 23-25, 24-26 defeat. 

Coach Scott Celli noted that he was "pleased but not satisfied." 

Reading had solid hitting power and good defense and maintained credibility from its preseason #19 ranking. 

Confucius has been credited with the following:

“By three methods we may learn wisdom: first, by reflection, which is noblest; second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third, by experience, which is bitterest.”

Chalk today's match up to experience. 

Melrose had its chances and couldn't make enough plays down the stretch to earn a set win. 

Melrose did a lot of good things - mostly maintaining aggressiveness, played solid defense, and largely served well. 

Three up

Adriana Santoriello played solid volleyball from an all-six status as she filled her usual outside slot and defended well. 

Sadie Smith had a challenging day running down serve receives against dynamic Reading serves. She delivered a trio of kills off of second ball attacks. 

Maggie Shoemaker, a senior, came in during the third set and served well and gave a good accounting for herself. 

Melrose played highly competitive volleyball against a top ML team. I'm not a big fan of "good loss" but that's a reasonable facsimile. 

Melrose Notes:

Amelie Johnson had a starting RS position with Ella Friedlaender recovering from illness. With the score 23-24 in the third, Amelie delivered a big kill to send the set to extra points. 

Lorena Contin got her first varsity start as a middle. The sophomore comes from the same group that went to the Indianapolis Volleyball Nationals. 

Melrose traveled well, including some alumni parents such as Ryan Wenzel (Sabine) and Gary and Leah Fowke (Leah). 

Melrose has several players recovering from injury or illness in addition to Ella - Alisa Dautovic and Leila Kiggundu. 

Melrose returns to play on Thursday with a road match at Burlington.