SENIORS RUTH Breen (left) and Chloe Gentile (right) celebrated big milestones during Melrose’s last home game against Billerica.

Team fought hard, 3-1, to get to Elite 8 

By JENNIFER GENTILE

MELROSE—In terms of final home games for the six seniors on the 2022 Melrose High volleyball team, a sendoff like this couldn’t be sweeter.

It was about as exciting a game as possible for fans and players alike when No. 6 Melrose was faced with a rematch against Billerica in the Div. 2 Round of 16 at home at the MVMMS gym on November 9. Lots was at stake against last year’s Div. 2 Sectional rival No. 11 Billerica, only this time Melrose had a home advantage and pulled out all the stops to secure a 3-1 win over the talented Indian team, just a year after beating them for a Sectional trophy.

With the win, No. 6 seed Melrose (19-4) moved on to the Elite 8 to face No. 3 seed Duxbury, and history has repeated itself.  (see accompanying story)

It was a memorable occasion as Melrose celebrated two 500 milestones. Senior captain Chloe Gentile officially earned her 500th career kill and senior setter Ruth Breen reached 500 kills in her first season as starting setter. Both were critical in the win against a tough Billerica team who had great defense and a tough-to-penetrate middle hitter. Melrose took the game in four sets by scores of 25-20, 29-27, 23-25 and 25-23. Senior captain Gia Vlajkovic led in kills with 18 followed by junior captain Sadie Jaggers (11) and senior captain Chloe Gentile (10). Setter Ruth Breen had a very strong 33 assists.

MELROSE VOLLEYBALL prevailed in an excited 3-1 win that had fans celebrating on Nov. 9. The victory propelled Melrose to the Elite 8. (photo by Raj Das, edphotos.com)

While Melrose had an easier time in set one, set two was pushed to the final score of 29-27 thanks to pesky blocking from Billerica’s Aiden Arsenault, but kills from Vlajkovic, Gentile and Jaggers helped take the win. After dropping the third set, Melrose saw the game boil down to an excruciating fourth set with both teams swapping ties of 8-8, 14-14, 17-17. Melrose was aware that if they lost, a fifth set against a strong Indian team might not go their way. But down the stretch Melrose hung in. At point 22-22 Melrose senior Anna Shoemaker delivered a bomb and Chloe Gentile thwarted Billerica with a block kill followed by a hoop-like tip at the net to put Melrose up 24-23. With the game on the line, senior Ava McSorley served an ace, which ended things, 25-23.

Following the win, Melrose fans poured out to the floor to storm the court, much to the chagrin of MHS sports administrators (thinking the same thing Billerica officials were last year: “get off the court!”)

A proud Melrose head coach Scott Celli spoke of the critical fourth-set comeback that prevented a fifth set. “Wow, those last three points in that set —what Chloe did to clean up those last two points up, it was just textbook. An example of how we’ve played all year. We got those points at the right time.”

Fending off Billerica’s Arsenault was key, notes Celli. “Their middle was a beast and we just tried to keep hitting over and over to get the ball to fall in. They were tough, defensively they handled a lot of our balls. It was a good match against a good team.”

Melrose senior captain Gia Vlajkovic knows exactly how hard it was. “We knew they were strong last year,” she said. “But we came out thinking our season is not ending tonight.”

Prevailing from a 10-1 deficit in set 2 was key, according to junior captain Sadie Jaggers. “We came back 10-1 and worked to win those hard sets which is something we’ve done all season. We reminded ourselves we wanted it more.”

Earning her 500th kill against a ruthless front row was certainly hard and senior captain Chloe Gentile had to dig deep. “Their blocking was really a challenge and their defense was just as good,” she said. “But once I found the open spots on the floor, I had what I needed to get it done.”

Concludes Celli, “I’m glad in set four that we got more aggressive up front because you give up points when you are passive. We need to do that [on Friday] against one of the best teams [Duxbury] we’ve seen all year. We have to be ready for them.”