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Coach John Fleming’s girls volleyball team (6-0) has been nothing short of sensational in the early going this year.
The Red & Black have had six matches so far, and have been perfect in all of them. They specifically had wins over Wilmington, Arlington, Stoneham, Woburn, Melrose and Lexington, all by 3-0 final scores.
The Winchester girls opened up the home season against the Wilmington Wildcats at the McCall Middle School on Sept. 3.
Julia Campo led the way with six aces, while both Bella Comes and Hazel Lovins chipped in with five each.
“It was nice to see everyone get an opportunity to play, and make the most of it,” said Fleming. “Nora (Harstad), Libby (Melkonian) and Liv (Thompson) all had multiple kills. Overall, it was just a great way to start the season.”
Winchester was then at Arlington to face the Spy Ponders on Sept. 5.
“It was a good road win,” said Fleming. “I thought we slowed down their top hitters, but as a team they blocked well, and were also scrappy. But for us, Johanna (Melhorn) was terrific in the middle with four aces and 14 kills [to pace the attack].”
Lovins was close behind Melhorn with 12 kills. Kaiyal Kumaran and Campo did a nice job splitting the libero duties to help lead their teammates to another win, according to Fleming. Defne Mergen accounted for 30 assists.
The Red & Black were still on the road, when they visited Woburn to go up against the Tanners on Sept. 11.
“Woburn is well-coached, and they gave us a tough time,” said Fleming, “but I think our girls did a nice job of digging deep, when we fell behind in the first set. We played better as the match progressed, which was nice to see.”
Mergen was the leader of the pack in this match with 6 aces and 27 assists. Lovins produced 14 kills, followed by Melhorn with nine and Maddie Crooks with seven. Campo was credited with nine digs.
Melrose was next up to square off against the Winchester girls at the McCall School on Sept. 16.
“Melrose has been one of the top teams in the state over the years, but our serving was too much for them in this match,” said Fleming. “Those serves really disrupted their offense.”
Fleming said that having four girls with four-plus aces against a good team like Melrose is very impressive. Crooks led the way with five aces, followed by Karen Huai, Melhorn and Mergen with four each. Lovins and Melhorn were the leaders in kills with 19 and 11, respectively.
The Winchester girls closed out last week against Lexington on Sept. 18. They have since been on a well-deserved break, savoring these dominating wins, while also getting ready for Reading this week at home on Sept. 25.
Fleming had this to say about Lexington: “They fought really hard, and were really good defensively, but Hazel (Lovins) had her best hitting performance of the year with 20 kills, while Maddie (Crooks) had a great run of serves in this match to help give us another win.”
Karen Huai (4 kills), Crooks (7 aces, 10 digs) and Kumaran (6 digs) also contributed to another convincing triumph, before the midseason break.
After the aforementioned Reading matchup, non-league Brookline comes to McCall on Friday (Sept. 26) to face the Red & Black in a non-league matchup, starting at 5:30 p.m. They will then hit the road for Belmont on Monday (Sept. 29) to go up against the Marauders, before heading to the Cape to meet up with non-league Barnstable the very next day. Both matches will also begin at 5:30 p.m.
The team will remain on the road to close out another week, while beginning a new month against host Wakefield on Friday (Oct. 3) at 6 p.m.
