Lady Choctaws sweep Lakeland Prep to open final week

Dyer County junior Rylee Key goes up for the ball during the Lady Choctaw win over Lakeland Prep in Newbern on Monday night.

Photo/Jason Peevyhouse

By JASON PEEVYHOUSE

Sports Editor

With a busy final week of the regular season getting underway on Monday with a matchup against potential Region 7AA Volleyball Tournament foe Lakeland Prep to open the stretch of four games in four days, Dyer County got that journey under way on a positive note with a three-set win over the Lady Lions in Newbern.

Lady Choctaw Kierstyn Ray goes through her serving motion during the Dyer County win on Monday night in Newbern.

Photo/Jason Peevyhouse

Lady Choctaw Head Coach Shanna O’Bright talked the busy four days ahead for the orange and white netters.

“We need to be able to find our rhythm and find our momentum,” O’Bright explained. “This weekend we kind of fell flat and we need to bounce back from that.

“This week is really important. We want to finish the regular season strong and celebrate our seniors this week. Just play some really competitive volleyball.”

Dyer County got the week off to a strong start, getting kills from Rylee Key and Teagan Reed to set the tone for the first set with an 8-1 lead. The Lady Choctaw lead in the opening set eventually swelled to double figures on the way to a 25-12 win in the frame.

The Lady Choctaws continued to play well into the second set, getting out to a 4-0 start thanks to a Key block. Reed added a kill moments later to push the Dyer County lead to 6-1 before a Lady Lion rally cut into the home team’s lead. The Lady Choctaws responded with a strong run through much of the rest of the frame. A pair of Reed aces along with kills from Key and Blair Acree helped the Lady Choctaws build a commanding lead. Blocks from Key and Ava Huke then helped seal the 25-11 win in the second set.

The Lady Choctaws then found themselves trailing early in the third set, something which hadn’t happened in the two previous frames. An Emma Wray ace finally gave Dyer County its first lead of the set at 13-12 and a Key kill followed to push the advantage to two. Though Lakeland came back to tie the game at 14-14 moments later, the Lady Choctaws were able to pull away late. A kill and an ace by Reed set the tone for the final stretch surge as a Key kill finished off the 25-10 set win and the match.

Dyer County hits the road on Tuesday to take on Crockett County in District 13AA action beginning at 6 p.m.