Spikers (8-0) earn a share of ML Freedom title
Published April 16, 2021
By JENNIFER GENTILE
MELROSE—It was all the more fitting that the most intense competition of the season should come on Senior Night for the Melrose Red Raider volleyball team, who remains unbeaten at 8-0 following a 3-1 win over Wakefield (6-3) on Tuesday night, April 13, at the Melrose Middle School. The night was dedicated to honoring outgoing seniors Sofia Centrella, Eva Haralabatos, captain Emily Hudson and Grace Sanderson.
By staying flawless in record, Melrose has clinched another share of the Middlesex Freedom League and enters into the upcoming ML tournament, due to start on Monday, as a favorite. But before this, they’re poised to rematch Wakefield on the road on Saturday. Burlington remains the only team in the ML Freedom that can capture a slice of the title should Melrose drop their regular season finale against Wakefield.
Melrose delivered a tireless offensive onslaught over the night, with four Red Raiders delivering double digit kills to the defensively-skilled Warrior team. Junior Elena Soukos and sophomore captain Chloe Gentile were a brutal 1-2 punch with 14 and 13 kills respectively. Senior captain Emily Hudson and senior Eva Haralabatos rose to the occasion on Senior Night, with Harabalabos earning 30 assists and Emily Hudson with ten, well-timed kills along with her sister, junior Abby Hudson, who had ten powerful kills as well.
Melrose knew the competition would be as tough as what they faced last week against Burlington. The new Wakefield coach is Melrose’s own Kayla Wayland, a MHS alum 2012 and member of the MHS state champion volleyball team. During this first year as Warrior coach, she brought her 2012 MHS teammates, Jill MacInnes and Cassidy Barbaro, to the coaching staff. Already, the coaches have lifted Wakefield to a best-ever record of 6-3, marking a nice turnaround for the program.
Sure enough, Wakefield pushed Melrose to the limit in two of the four sets, while the Red Raiders took comfortable leads in the other two sets. In set one Melrose saw a quick lead established thanks to hitting from Emily Hudson, Elena Soukos, and Chloe Gentile. A series of aces and service points by Soukos, and some sloppy Wakefield play, helped Melrose take the 25-16 first set victory.
Set two proved to be the most decisive for Melrose and it was quite the dog fight. Melrose rolled out to a quick lead behind three kills from Gia Vlajkovic before Wakefield tied it up at 5. Emily Hudson delivered a key block kill that kept Melrose up 8-6 and Abby Hudson was strong on the service line, helping Melrose maintain a lead of 10-7. Wakefield would tie it up again at 12 a piece but a terrific service run by Elena Soukos, complete with aces and service points, plus some solid blocks at the net by Abby Hudson and Chloe Gentile, helped keep Melrose up 17-13. Undeterred, Wakefield steamrolled back off the work of Maddy Seabury and Mia Desruisseaux to tie it 17, 18-18, 19-19 and 20-20. Seabury added another kill to give Wakefield their first lead of the game, 21-20, getting the Wakefield crowd on their feet. With Abby Hudson serving, Melrose let cool heads prevail up front as both Elena Soukos and Chloe Gentile delivered four straight kills and blocks at the net to stun the Warriors in a 25-21 set loss.
However, Wakefield was hot and proved it in the next set, which they took in extra, 26-24. Despite key hitting from Soukos (3 kills in the set) and Gentile (6 kills in the set) Wakefield came back after ties at points 6, 7, 12, 19 and 20. Once the Warriors earned back the serve, they found holes on the floor in Melrose’s back row that let them escape with the set win, 26-24.
But Melrose was undeterred in set 4. Both teams duked out points, tied at 2 and 8 behind solid hitting from Melrose’s Emily Hudson. Melrose found an edge when Soukos scored twice in a row and Gentile nailed an overpass kill. Melrose showed some solid serving by Eva Haralabatos who had earned a well-timed ace, while sisters Abby and Emily Hudson took care of the rest, pounding away as Melrose took a large 21-12. Saving best for last was senior Grace Sanderson who delivered a series of kills that ended the set in Melrose victory 25-14.
After the game, Melrose coach Scott Celli acknowledged the dogfight. “Wakefield’s been good all year and they ran the middle early with their #16 [Seabury]. But we did a lot of things right, got the 3-1 win, secured the W. But I was happy we got pushed tonight, we haven’t had much adversity all year so it was a good test for us. Wakefield deserved to win game three, but we learned from it and you saw what happened in game 4. Our hitters came out big tonight. We almost have too many of them,” he chuckles.
For Wakefield coach Kayla Wyland, being back in Melrose was a bit surreal, but in a very enjoyable way. Being rival to her old high school choice is certainly memorable. “Hats off to Melrose, they are always a super strong team,” says Wyland. “I’m really proud of my girls for persevering and getting a game off them. They showed a lot of maturity with an ability to overcome when down in score.”
Being back in her old gymnasium has brought out the best in Wyland, and her team. She said about her old coach, “I learned so much from Mr. Celli over the years and he’s always doing all the right things with those girls. So, we were happy to give them a good match.”
The game comes on the heels of Melrose’s 3-0 shutout over Watertown on the road last Friday night. Leading scoring for Melrose was sophomore Chloe Gentile with 8 kills. Eva Haralabatos and Emma Desmond had 20 assists and 7 assists respectively. In libero duties, Grace Gentile led with 8 digs and junior captain Autumn Whelan had 5.
Melrose will face Wakefield on the road on noon on Saturday for one more regular season game before the commencement of the ML playoffs. Fans can watch live at www.wcatv.org or visit the WCATV YouTube page for live streaming. Next week, the playoffs will combine Middlesex Large and Small competition. Melrose, along with undefeated Winchester, will be considered a favorite going in.
Play in games are expected on Monday with games likely taking place Tuesday, Thursday and a championship on Saturday. Look for more live streaming information on our social media pages and in next week’s edition.
Middlesex League Standings
Melrose 8-0
Winchester 8-0
Burlington 6-1
Wakefield 6-3
Belmont 5-3
Arlington 3-3
Lexington 3-3
Woburn 3-5
Watertown 0-4
Wilmington 0-6
Stoneham 0-6
Reading 0-8
