Melrose regroups in bid for 1st banner
Girls volleyball off to 8-0 start
 | Melrose High School's Hannah Brickley, a team captain, spikes the ball during a game at Watertown High last week. (yoon s. byun/globe staff) |
There is no state championship banner hanging in the gym, yet, but look at the impact the Melrose High girls' volleyball program is having on area youth. The team's annual summer camp attracted 153 local youngsters, who no doubt are following the lead of a group of players that are determined to dominate again.
Melrose varsity cocaptains Hannah Brickley, Kelly O'Neill, and Colleen Hanscom pulled their teammates, including 16 incoming freshmen, out of bed twice a week this summer for 9 a.m. workouts without members of their coaching staff present. Apparently, going 22-0 before losing to Central Catholic, 3-1, in last season's Division 2 North final left a bad taste in their mouths.
"When it came to tryouts the coaches were really impressed," said Hanscom, a junior setter with 153 assists this season. The freshmen "had already picked everything up."
"This past week two freshmen [middle hitter] Alyssa DiRaffaele and [outside hitter] Jill Slabacheski moved up to varsity."
O'Neil, the lone senior, worried about the maturity level of her teammates coming into the season but has since realized how grounded the junior class is, noting that Melrose was 8-0 at midweek.
"It's nice to know it will still carry on," the defensive specialist said.
"There's a lot of younger kids with great talent so we should be good for years to come."
The junior class is led by Brickley, who leads the team with 83 kills this year. The 5-foot-9-inch middle hitter was also a force to be reckoned with last season, collecting 216 kills on her way to being named to the Division 2 all-state team. That honor was no consolation to the ultimate prize, which has eluded Melrose. Despite going 18-5 in 2006 and 21-1 in 2005, the Red Raiders have never won a state title. In 2005, they lost to Medfield in the championship.
"We just haven't won the big one yet but we're doing OK," head coach Scott Celli said. "We always have really talented, athletic kids in the program."
Brickley said last year's final loss was more devastating to the four seniors than anyone because her class knew they could regroup for two more runs. Still, she can relate to the New England Patriots perfect season ending Super Bowl loss last season, even though Melrose was still two matches away from the state championship when it fell.
"You work so hard, you've done so good and then you lose it," she said.
"The game we lost wasn't the state championship but it was still a big game. It was devastating at first but after we looked back at it, it was a good learning experience."
Celli said losing to Central Catholic in the playoffs last year made the team mentally stronger.
Tactically, he said the coaches realized they had to move their tallest players to the front lines and become bigger hitters at the net.
"We noticed we had trouble with [net play] in that game," Celli said of the Central Catholic match. "We've learned a lot defensively and did some mixing and matching to free people up to be in better positions. The biggest thing we take out of it is learning how big the game was last year and what it takes to improve our game so if we get back to that game this year we'll know what we have to do to come out on top.
"It was a great year for us. Don't get me wrong, you like to win that match but it was a pretty good year for us."
But before the Red Raiders can even think about advancing to the state championship they have a giant item on their to-do list: Slaying Division 1 power Barnstable on Oct. 23.
"They lost one game in Massachusetts in the last seven years," Celli said. "That being said, that would be a tall task for us."
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