Lady Trojans power past Ripley, advance to championship game

After rolling past the district competition during the regular season, Dyersburg figured to have little trouble against Ripley on Tuesday in the opening round of the District 13 A-AA tournament being held at DHS.

The Lady Trojans, twice winners already over the Lady Tigers, faced little opposition en route to advancing to the championship game on Thursday against Crockett County.

Dyersburg won the match in three sets 25-14, 25-12 and 25-13. The local squad, from start to finish, simply overpowered the visitors despite not playing its best according to coach Sarah Morris.

"It's hard for the girls to build any type of momentum when they have to play slow, so we played ok but we will definitely have to play better on Thursday in the championship," said Morris.

In the opening set, the Lady Trojans raced out to a commanding 18-4 advantage with laser serves from Amber Moody. When Ripley did manage to keep the ball in play, Dyersburg's Lauren Lewis provided quick sets for teammates Rachel Gauldin, Shelby Andrews and Erin Pierce.

The overpowering presence at the net was more than the Lady Tigers could handle. Though Dyersburg errors allowed Ripley to hang around in the first set, the squad buckled down in the final two sets and served notice that their sights were set on winning back-to-back district titles.

Afterward, Morris was already looking forward to facing Crockett County in the championship game on Thursday. Excited yes, but also perhaps a little cautious. The Lady Trojans defeated the Lady Cavaliers 3-1 in both matches played this season, and defeating the talented squad a third time will not be an easy task.

"I'm a little nervous about it, I really am," added Morris. "Crockett County plays great defense, they serve really well and overall they just have a good team. We're going to have to be at our best and firing on all cylinders to beat them a third time."

With the opportunity to win a second district crown in as many years, Morris believes her squad will rise to the challenge.

"It wasn't easy last year and we won it. This year we're at our place and we want to do it again in front of our fans," she said.

The championship match is set to begin at 6 p.m. on Thursday.