LYNN— After a postseason loss, it’s natural for coaches to scratch their heads and think about what they could’ve done differently. That wasn’t Classical volleyball coach Frank DeLuca’s reaction to Tuesday’s season-ending loss in the Division 2 North quarterfinal.
DeLuca’s Rams were simply outmatched in a 3-0 loss to Melrose on Classical’s home floor. But the defeat doesn’t put a damper on a season in which Classical recorded a program-best 19 wins and reached its goals.
“I told the girls after the last timeout to keep their heads high,” DeLuca said. “They got the most wins in school history, they got the first Northeastern Conference championship banner we’ve ever had and they made the state tournament. We accomplished all our goals in a row- NEC South championship, most wins, City Tournament and state tournament. I’m proud of them.
“Unfortunately I’m going to lose nine seniors but they did well. They gave it a lot of effort and they played hard. That’s all you can ask for.”
Pamela Diaz recorded 12 digs. Jean Gupton-Morrison led the Rams with four kills and Vanessa Oscar added three kills. Brooke Warren tallied seven service points with three aces.
A swift 4-1 lead in the opening set put No. 4 Classical right where it wanted to be. But No. 5 Melrose battled back to close the gap to 6-5, then grabbed a 10-7 lead. Down 17-10, Classical burned its first timeout. Melrose kept its momentum and finished the set with a 25-11 win.
“Once they started their offense, they were just too tall up front for us to match up with them,” DeLuca said. “They were the better team. But I thought we fought well. We didn’t quit. We were in there. We just had too many periods where we were inconsistent and we had some unforced errors. We could never stem the tide.”
Classical battled its way to a 5-5 tie to start the second set. Melrose started to distance itself with a 13-8 lead and it was all Red Raiders from there. With a string of five consecutive points, the Rams cut the deficit to 24-18 before Melrose took the set.
With two set victories in the bag, the Red Raiders didn’t leave any room for Classical to pick up steam. Melrose rode an early lead to a 25-14 win in the third set.
“Melrose is one of the better teams,” DeLuca said. “We knew that going in. We saw the film. We tried to do what we could to try to disrupt their offense. We were going to rely on our service game but they did better than we thought they would.”
Classical ends the season 19-3. DeLuca believes the program’s in good shape heading into next season.
“We have some girls that are returning,” DeLuca said. “I think we have three more who’ll be ready to step up and we’ll see what else we can get from there. Hopefully we can get a few more from the JV team.”