Must get past Arlington Catholic to advance to final

Published in the November 10, 2017 edition

THE MELROSE High girls’ volleyball team will fight Arlington Catholic on Wednesday (post deadline) for the right to advance to the Div. 2 North title game. (Steve Karampalas photo)

BY JENNIFER GENTILE

The Melrose Lady Raider volleyball team edged closer to a Div. 2 North title game after back-to-back playoff wins over Whittier Tech and West Roxbury High this week. At press time they are slated to host Arlington Catholic in the Div. 2 North Seminals at home on Wednesday. It is a rematch for both teams, as Melrose beat the Cougars 3-0 on Sept. 29. 

It’s been a quiet start to playoffs in terms of competition, but it has given Melrose a chance to include their underclassmen in their post season run, including a very talented sophomore class, who on Monday, got their feet wet in the third set of Melrose’s win over West Roxbury in sets of 25-3, 25-11 and 25-12. That includes some up front work by Claire Abuja and serving from Nicole Abbott and Caroline Kiernan and Sam Dewey. Leading on offense was Melrose’s Saoirse Connolly who had a massive 13 kills (12 in one set) along with Emma Randolph with 7 and Erin Torpey with 5. 

Scott Celli spoke after the game about their victory. “Our regular season has helped us for matches like this. We play really well at home.”

Melrose’s strength so far in playoffs has been the quality of their serving. That is something Celli acknowledged. “Right now Lydia Lombardo has been huge at the service line for us. The last three matches she’s been great. Senior night she had 24 points, 14 and 15 the match prior, and what she did here tonight. It gets us going. And our defense doesn’t rest while she delivers ace after ace, so I was glad to see that.”

Hitting, meanwhile, has an abundance of riches for Melrose with Lombardo, Connolly and Emma Randolph delivering heavy artillery, but players like Erin Torpey, newcomer Emily Hudson and Grace Davis are being relied on add to the kills. For Celli, it’s a nice problem to have. “We have a lot of hitters and it’s huge for us. We work hard on hitting in practice and we make sure Lily [setter] has options. Lily is smart and find the open people out there and tonight Saoirse had 12 kills in one set, which might be an all time record.”

He noted the value of having underclassmen start in the third set. “I wanted to get some kids in there and get some tourney experience, and it will help them next year to have that experience behind them.”

Now, the only thing that stands behind Melrose and return visit to the Div. 2 North title game is old foe Arlington Catholic. While the talented Cougars are a battle-tested group, Celli likes his chances. “When we have a big matchup we play up to another level,” he says. “I try to focus on us, because when we play to our capabilities we can compete and beat anyone.”

First round: Melrose topped Whittier Tech, 3-0

In the opening round of playoffs on Nov. 2, Melrose dominated Whittier Tech 25-1, 25-7, 25-19 for a 3-0 win. They were led in offense by Emma Randolph, Erin Torpey and Saoirse Connolly, who all had 7 kills each. Melrose simply clobbered the Wildcats in set one, 25-1 and was equally as dominating in the set two. Lydia Fitzgerald started the set on a nice service run and Lydia Lombardo brought home the kills to help Melrose run away with leads of 10-3 and 15-5.

Lombardo then got on the service line and tallied points with Erin Torpey and Emma Randolph closing the game out with kills for a 25-7 victory. Melrose used set three as an opportunity to get their underclassmen in the game, and saw Emma Randolph and Saoirse Connolly pound some kills. Among the highlights in the set were solid serving from Claire Albuja (including an ace) Nicole Abbott, Mary Kate Mahoney and Marie Maher. Whittier battled to their most competitive selves in set three but Melrose remained ahead game, set, match, 25-19.

As always, fans are encouraged to visit www.miaa.net for up to date playoff information.