Beat Wayland, G. Lawrence to face Lynnfield
Published November 9, 2018
By JENNIFER GENTILE
MELROSE—The Melrose Lady Raider volleyball team has advanced to the Div. 2 North Semifinals after a thrilling 3-0 victory over Wayland on Tuesday, Nov. 6 at a raucous Melrose Middle School gym. In a virtual point-to-point battle that lasted nearly two hours, Melrose prevailed in sets of 25-18, 28-26 and 25-23 to improve to 15-7 and punch their ticket to the Div. 2 North Semis, where they were slated to take on Lynnfield on Thursday (post-deadline) at Stoneham High, with the winner advancing to the D2 North Finals on Saturday at Tewksbury High (to face the winner of Burlington and Arlington Catholic.)
The stakes are high for the Lady Raiders but when it comes to playoffs, Melrose is in their comfort zone.
After the game, coach Scott Celli lauded his team and the competition. “Wayland was battle-tested all year—we saw them beat Danvers, who was an 18-2 team. We wanted to attack from the outside and we got plenty of kills there. And we served really well. I’m proud of our effort. We’re playing good volleyball at the right time of the season.”
Melrose’s Emma Randolph led the night with 20 kills, virtually untouchable in her outside hitting. Said Celli, “She was a difference maker for us. Almost unblockable from the outside. She didn’t miss many today.” To date, Randolph leads Melrose in kills with 287, second best in Div. 2.
Moving Randolph to outside has not only unleashed a myriad of kills for the hard-hitting junior, but has opened up an advantage with junior Claire Albuja in the middle. Albuja had several well-timed kills on Tuesday that changed the tide of games. Said Celli, “Moving Emma freed up Claire to use in the middle to become a blocker, and tonight, wow, she got huge points for us in game three.” Albuja and teammates Emily Hudson and Erin Torpey combined for 21 kills.
THEY’RE ON to Sectionals. The Melrose High volleyball team are one win away from a D2 North appearance after beating Wayland on Tuesday, 3-0. (Steve Karampalas)
One could argue the theme over the season for Melrose has been “growth,” and no more was that evident than in the work of junior Nicole Abbott in libero. The Middlesex Freedom League MVP displayed beautiful defensive work that left nothing to the floor. “We just come to expect that from Nicole,” quipped her coach. “She’s the league MVP for a reason.”
Other strong defensive efforts came from Erin Torpey, Mary Kate Mahoney and Autumn Whelan, who had a statement game as setter, playing tirelessly with 32 assists. Emily Hudson was an equal threat up front, damaging Wayland blockers with big moment kills.
Set one for Melrose was about as gripping as it could be. Melrose played their most energized self, exchanging ties at points 3 and 10 before taking larger leads, thanks to digs by Erin Torpey and power hitting from Emma Randolph and Emily Hudson. Claire Albuja had back-to-back kills at point 22 and Emma Randolph had an ace to help seal the deal 25-18.
Set two was a barnburner, going extra points in an eventual Melrose 28-26 win. Melrose battled back from deficits of 4-0 and 12-7 thanks to strong serving from Caroline Keirnan and a massive offensive run by Emma Randolph and Emily Hudson, who knocked in six combined kills to make it a 23-21 game, Wayland. The two teams exchanged ties at 23, 24, 25 and 26 until Melrose’s Randolph hit the game-winner off a beautiful dig by Erin Torpey.
According to junior captain Emma Randolph, battling back wasn’t easy but it worked, thanks to some encouragement from one junior captain on the squad. “Nicole [Abbott] brought us in a huddle when we were down in set 2 and said, take a deep breath, we’re getting this next point from here. It really helped.”
“Falling behind has been sort of our Achilles heel this season,” agreed Celli. “But we recovered from that tonight. I think that is a sign our maturity that I hope goes a long way for us.”
Having taken a lead of 2-0, set three was more of an easy path, though Wayland made it tricky with a final set score of 25-23. Over the night Wayland’s Ava Tang was a threat on the service line and up front and she helped Wayland tie it up 14-14. But Melrose’s Claire Albuja had back-to-back kills that tied it, 20-20, and some quality block kills by Emily Hudson helped seal the deal, 25-23.
A 3-0 sweep is exactly what Melrose is expected to do in playoff time, notes Celli. “At this point of the season, this is the type of volleyball I expect this team to play. It took a while, maybe a little longer than we anticipated, but we are where we need to be.”
Randolph noted Melrose’s resiliency. “Tonight we worked so hard swinging out there, and even if we missed, it didn’t cost us because we bounced back.”
While the packed house in the stands celebrated, players piled on to the court to celebrate beating a formidable opponent. Now they await Lynnfield, a historically tough team who has only recently made their foray into the Div. 2 field. The winner punches their ticket to the Div. 2 North final on Saturday at Tewksbury High, where they will most certainly face Arlington Catholic (19-1).
But Coach Celli is taking it one game—and set—at a time. “We’re happy to win tonight, and we are going in to win on Thursday night.”
Round one was a “Classic”: Melrose 3, L. Classical, 1
The Lady Raiders picked up a first-round win on Thursday, Nov. 1 with a 3-1 victory over #6 seed Lynn Classical (17-4) at St. Mary’s of Lynn in sets of 25-12, 23-25, 25-15 and 25-15. Junior attacker Emma Randolph led with 21 kills while key hitting also came from Emily Hudson (10), Erin Torpey (9) and Claire Abuja (5). Melrose also enjoyed strong serving from MaryKate Mahoney, Emily Hudson and Autumn Whelan.
Classical came into the match enjoying one of their best seasons to date and higher seeded with a 17-4 record. But it was a fresh slate against Melrose, and while they saw some solid hitting by Maggie McHale and good serves from Pamela Diaz and Amber Crayton they were not able to hang in against Melrose’s heavy hitting from Randolph.
The Rams took a quick lead in set one but Melrose hit seven straight points to take a 10-6 lead they never lost and an eventual 25-12 set win. Melrose fell in the second set after letting Classical take an early 11-1 lead and while Melrose battled back 24-23, Classical pulled off the 25-23 set win.
Melrose, however, wouldn’t make that mistake again and won two consecutive sets to finish the job. Melrose took a big lead of 20-11 early in the third set for a final 25-15 win. Then they coasted to a 25-15 win in set four for a final 3-1 win.
