Melrose traveled to always competitive Burlington and notched its first ML12 win with a 25-21, 24-26, 25-22, 25-20 win. The win evens Melrose's record at 1-1 for the young season.
Over the past six seasons in the ML12, Burlington has finished 3-3-4-3-3-3, a perennial upper first division club. They don't beat themselves and force you to score on them.
It wasn't easy. Burlington has some strong servers and persistent defense and they are always especially tough at home.
Melrose won the first set behind the exceptional hitting of junior Elise Marchais, who probably had at least seven kills. It was a team confidence builder as Melrose earned points down the stretch.
Burlington responded in set two as Melrose wrestled with inconsistency primarily off serve receive. Melrose had their chances but Burlington fired home two late aces to secure the set.
In the third set Melrose blazed to 15-3 and 21-9 edges before a late Burlington service run narrowed the gap. Set three was the Adriana Set as Adriana Santoriello lit up the scoresheet. Sophomore Alisa Dautovic, a superior defender and passer, also returned to action after injury.
The fourth set was closer than advertised as Burlington held a 14-10 edge into a Melrose timeout. A confluence of forces - hitting by Adriana and sophomore Amelie Johnson, blocking by Sabrina McArt and stellar setting by Sadie Smith powered the offense.
The back line of Anna Burns, Gen Overlan, Danni DiGiorgio, Adriana/Alisa all played solid defense, especially in the decisive stanza.
Maggie Shoemaker saw fulltime action as a middle and solidly served as well.
With an early season "must win," Coach Scott Celli shortened the rotation a bit as Melrose "put out the fire."
Melrose Volleyball Notes:
Three Up
It might be unfair to limit it to three as it was a team victory.
1) Adriana Santoriello - had a career-best 26 kills, played all-around until she got a defensive break from Alisa, and was "feeling it" offensively, appropriately calling for the ball outside.
2) Amelie Johnson - the sophomore southpaw had her career game - attacking, blocking, and defending. I'd estimate her for at least 13 kills, a heavy load for a young player with limited varsity experience.
3) Elise Marchais/Sadie Smith - Elise carried the team in the opening frame and Sadie must have had over 40 assists with a yeoman performance. Hopefully, she got a post-game pumpkin cookie.
Today's win threw up a roadblock against a possible 0-2 start, beat a solid team, and boosts the team's confidence in their ability to close out sets.
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