Burlington Volleyball On Track For Best Season in Program History

For the first time in program history the girls varsity volleyball team looks poised to earn a postseason tournament birth.

“We finished 4-16 last year,” said Burlington coach Carolyn Crowley. “We are 8-7 this year and are playing really good volleyball. We are playing not only to get in the tournament but hopefully to get ourselves a pretty good seed.”

The season got off to a slow start as the Lady Devils opened up 1-3 but they started to turn things around in the fifth game of the season when they beat Stoneham (3-1).

“Stoneham was without a doubt the biggest win of the year,” said Crowley. “We played the games of our lives. We played great defense and were unbelievable serving.”

After knocking off Stoneham, the Red Devils got on a roll and won their next five matches before falling to Winchester. Burlington responded as good teams do by getting back up and beating Belmont to improve to 7-4.

Burlington has hit a bit of a rough patch since then, going 1-3 in its last four matches. They have fell to Melrose, one of the top five teams in the state, Stoneham and Winchester while beating Waltham.

Leading the way for Burlington has been senior captain Christina Raso and sophomore Maya Russell. Both players play the same two positions, setter and right side hitter, so getting them both to be successful at the same time proved to be a little tricky but Crowley had the plan.

“We really set up or offense around both of them. We put them together on the same side of the court so we can get the most out of them. When Maya is hitting she can be unreturnable and when Christina is on serving she is unreturnable.”

Those two have powered the offense, but the defense has been anchored by captain Jean Hanafin, the team’s libero.

“She is so aggressive out there,” said Crowley. “We really need her in all the time, she is so solid for us. Sometimes she comes out of the game and we give up four or five straight points and I need to rush her back in there.”

Up front Burlington has had the duo of seniors Kelsey Carnell and Emily Miliano to provide a net front presence at the middle hitter position.

“Kelsey is a captain and is a really strong hitter and blocker.” Crowley said. “Emily has been our most improved player this year by far. I find myself looking over to my assistant coach once a game and talking about how much better she has gotten.”

With five regular season game remaining the Lady Devils appear ready to make history and punch their ticket to the playoffs needing just two more wins to make it happen. Below is the remaining schedule of volleyball games if any fans want to come out and see some exciting action.

• Wednesday 10/26: 5:30 p.m. at Watertown

• Friday 10/28: 5:30 p.m. at Wilmington

• Monday 10/31: 4:00 p.m. at Concord-Carlisle

• Tuesday 11/1: 4:00 p.m. hosting Lexington