The Newton North Tigers will head out on the road to face off against the Melrose Red Raiders at 6:00 p.m. on Friday.
Newton North is probably headed into the matchup with a chip on their shoulder considering Brookline just ended the team's 31-game winning streak dating back to last season on Tuesday. They fell 3-1 to the Warriors. The loss put an end to the Tigers' undefeated start to the season.
The 3-1 doesn't really show just how close this match was: all the sets Newton North lost were decided by three points or less. The match finished with set scores of 25-22, 26-24, 24-26, 25-23.
Meanwhile, Melrose entered their tilt with Watertown on Thursday with six consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with seven. They blew past the Raiders 3-0.
The 3-0 score doesn't show just how dominant Melrose was: they took every set by at least ten points. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 25-4, 25-15, 25-14.
Melrose can attribute much of their success to Leah Fowke, who had four kills, three digs, and 18 assists. Fowke is on a roll when it comes to assists, as she's now posted 17 or more in the last 12 games she's played dating back to last season. The team also got some help courtesy of Maggie Turner, who had 11 digs.
Having lost for the first time this season, Newton North fell to 17-1. As for Melrose, their victory was their tenth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 17-2.
Everything went Newton North's way against Melrose in their previous matchup back in October of 2023, as Newton North made off with a 3-0 win. The rematch might be a little tougher for Newton North since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
