Melrose faced Division 2 #9 ranked Woburn (3.17) and outlasted the Tanners at neutral site Winchester, 20-25, 22-25, 25-20, 25-21, and 15-10 to earn the consolation round win.
The win lifts Melrose's record to 15-4 headed into another tough road contest at Methuen on Friday, the final regular season match.
The match proved 'seasonally appropriate' as it informed "trick or treat" volleyball with Woburn dominating early and Melrose controlling the action late.
Woburn (13-6) features strong defense and solid attacking and has given Melrose fits this season.
Woburn controlled much of the first set as Melrose struggled with their size and blocking.
In the second set, Melrose started to turn the momentum, although the Tanners had enough of a lead to hold on with a set-ending ace.
Melrose Coach Scott Celli made a lineup change in the third set, bringing on more height with sophomore Lorena Contin who had played well in the Newburyport match.
Gradually, Melrose found their footing and made strategic changes as well to limit the Woburn offense. Meanwhile, sophomores Alisa Dautovic and Adriana Santoriello began finding the range with a variety of attacks from the pins.
In the fourth set, it was more of the same with solid defense from the back including Gen Overlan and Dani DiGiorgio, strong setting from Sadie Smith and key winners from Elise Marchais, forcing the fifth set tiebreaker.
Woburn led 2-0, 4-2, and 8-7 at the switch in the tiebreaker. But Melrose stayed in the fight, with key winners from Alisa and Adriana. Melrose edged out ahead 12-9 and Woburn scored to bring them within two. A Scott Celli timeout encouraged a service error and Alisa Dautovic closed out the scoring with strong serves.
Melrose notes: Arguably, this was the best comeback on the season, one noted for strong opposition as Melrose is among the leaders in the Division 2 Opponent Rating (strength of schedule).
The win reflected both solid team volleyball and resilience, coming back after having lost five sets this season to a quality Woburn team.
Three keys to the game were better defense down the stretch which throttled back opponent runs, serving that forced Woburn into out-of-system play, and moving the attack away from the middle where Woburn had fierce blocking.
Going into the final few days of the regular season, Melrose holds a narrow power ranking edge over Hingham, Longmeadow, Canton, and Barnstable.
As usual, Melrose was led by the all-around excellence of setter Sadie Smith, the quarterback of the offense and an exceptional defender.
Sadie had 46 assists, Adriana 21 kills, Alisa 15, and Elise 9.
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