Lady Trojans pick up district win over Central

Dyersburg's Kyla Fowlkes (1) goes up for a block during the Lady Trojans' win over visiting Obion County Central on Tuesday night in the Terry Glover Gymnasium.

Photo/Jason Peevyhouse

By JASON PEEVYHOUSE

Sports Editor

One night removed from a five-set win down in Covington, the Dyersburg volleyball team continued its successful start to the week with a three-set win over visiting Obion County Central in District 13AA action on Tuesday night in the Terry Glover Gymnasium.

Lady Trojan Murphy Morgan goes up to tip the ball back across the net during the Dyersburg victory.

Photo/Jason Peevyhouse

Following the win, Dyersburg Head Coach De’Licia Ahmad said her team looked better on Tuesday than the night earlier.

“Yesterday we had a problem with playing down to other peoples’ level and we do that a lot,” Ahmad explained. “Today we came out swinging.”

The Lady Trojans were in control early, jumping out to a 10-1 lead after kills from Addie Gatlin and Kalli Maclin on the way to a 17-5 lead following back-to-back aces by Avery Hinson. Though Central battled back briefly, Dyersburg took the first set 25-13.

Central was able to take a lead early in the second set but, with the Lady Rebels ahead 6-4, the Dyersburg serving skills began to be showcased. Over the span of five points, Gatlin recorded four aces to help return the lead to the Lady Trojans. Hinson added an ace before a brief Lady Rebel rally. The rally was, indeed, short-lived as a Kate Schroeder ace capped a late 8-2 rally by the Lady Trojans to give Dyersburg a 25-13 win in the second set.

On the strength of a 6-0 lead punctuated by another Gatlin kill, the Lady Trojans clinched the match with a 25-11 win in set number three.

With several Lady Trojans not only having quality serves but recording aces in the win, Dyersburg is improving at the serving line.

“We’ve had a lot of girls step up here recently and serve a lot more,” the Dyersburg head coach pointed out. “Addie Gatling and Kate Schroeder had some pretty hard serves and Avery Hinson did, too.

“We had a lot of girls start stepping up and getting aces.”

Ahmad agreed it is really important to keep this momentum going through the last few weeks of the season.

“We have a lot of district games next week,” Ahmad said. “As long as we can keep this momentum we should be okay.”

Dyersburg returns to action on Thursday when the Lady Trojans travel to Munford for a tri-match with Halls beginning at 5 p.m.