Updates post publication:
Melrose defeats Winchester 3-2 (Oct. 4)
Melrose defeats Lexington 3-1 (Oct. 6)
Melrose defeats Central Catholic 3-0 (Oct. 9)
Published October 6, 2023
State champion Frontier outplayed by Melrose
By JENNIFER GENTILE
MELROSE—The Melrose High volleyball team earned their most impressive win of the season and improved to 8-1 after a big 3-2 win over western Massachusetts rival, Frontier, who came to town as reigning state champions. Melrose finds themselves now among the top of the teams in Div. 2 in recently released power rankings.
Melrose prevailed in gripping sets of 26-24, 23-25, 27-25, 26-14 and 15-6.
It was a monster performance offensively for Melrose as three hitters tallied double digit kills with senior captain Sadie Jaggers leading the pack with 20, sophomore Sabine Wentzel a huge 18 and an impressive 10 from middle hitter Sofia Papatsoris. Junior captain setter Leah Fowke had a giant 39 assists and senior captain libero Grace Gentile powered her way to 18 digs and 17 serve receives.
Serving was also a strength for Melrose and they earned 65 serving points behind the work of Maggie Turner (19 serve receives), Leah Fowke, Gigi Albuja (18 serve receives) and Sadie Jaggers.
The final point was a wild one, a fifth set winning point that saw Melrose libero Grace Gentile hit a behind-the-back free ball from out of bounds territory that landed in front of Frontier’s net for the final kill of the game, causing Melrose jubilation on court.
Melrose remains at the top of the Middlesex League with Belmont and a surging Wakefield, and sits high up in Power Ranking, 3rd in the MIAA’s initial ranking last week.
It’s a great time to be a MVB player and Frontier were longtime rivals with whom Melrose shares 2 hour traveling duties. It was a well attended event on Saturday that saw Melrose take a close first set victory after ties of 3-3, 13-13 and 21-21 behind solid serving from Maggie Turner and the hitting of Jaggers, along with kills from Sofia Papatsoris, Manon Marchais (7 kills) and Sabine Wentzel, whose blocking thwarted much of Frontiers kill attempts.
Set two went Frontiers way, mostly due to service errors on Melrose’s part, and despite some solid hitting from Marchais, Abby Dennison, Wentzel and Jaggers. Melrose lost the set 25-23.
Melrose would retake the third set to lead 2-1 behind the hitting of Papatrosis, Wentzel and great serving from Maggie Turner. As the two teams stretched beyond 25 points, a Sabine Wentzel bullet sealed the deal for the set win. Set four saw Frontier fight back, thanks in particular to their serving and the 26-24 Melrose loss forced a fifth set. In this last frame of the game, Melrose was in total control. Sadie Jaggers opened with a kill, Grace Gentile served up two aces. Abby Dennison and Manon Marchais both had nice, cross court kills, and a Leah Fowke ball dump at setter put Melrose up 14-6. From there, libero Gentile hunted down a ball out of play, hit the behind-the-back-free ball that stunned fans as it landed in front of Frontier hitters.
A wild ending for a “wild west” of a game.
Melrose is embarking on a competitive stretch of schedule with a visit to Winchester on Wednesday (post deadline) and then will host Lexington on Friday at 5:30 p.m.
They will celebrate Senior Night on Thursday, Oct. 12 at home at 6:30 p.m.