Fairley no match for talented Lady Trojan squad

From the way the Dyersburg Lady Trojans were acting after their one-sided matchup with Fairley out of Memphis on Thursday you would think the black and gold squad was going to Murfreesboro.

Well, actually for the first time in school history, they are.

The Lady Trojans cruised past the Lady Bulldogs in just under 40 minutes 25-6, 25-0 25-1, which sealed their spot in the final 12 team bracket that will battle it out for a state title at Middle Tennessee University next Wednesday.

"It's amazing, our goal at the beginning of the year was just to win at regionals, and now we are headed to Murfreesboro," said Lady Trojan head coach Sarah Morris. "The girls have played amazingly this year, and they have consistently performed at a higher level than I expected them to. I'm very proud of them."

The highlight of the night was when senior Amber Moody connected on 41 consecutive serves, which allowed the Lady Trojans to defeat Fairley 25-0 in the second set, and take a 16-0 lead in the third set before Moody's accuracy finally slipped and gave Fairley their first point in two sets.

"Amber absolutely blew me away tonight with her 41 consecutive serves," said Morris. "Last year she was really spotty with her serves, but we are really proud of her."

All seven points scored by the Lady Bulldogs on Thursday were off of Dyersburg's mishaps, which came far in between one another.

Lady Trojan Erin Pierce dominated the net in the contest, recording a team-high nine kills in the win, while teammates Shelby Andrews and Rachel Gauldin both added five kills apiece.

Andrews also had nine aces in the match, while teammate Moody led the way with 18 aces.

The one-sided win over Fairley was not what Morris wanted the Lady Trojans' last game before the state tournament to go like, but the second-year coach is confident that Dyersburg can tweak what little problems they have in the six days before making the trip to Murfreesboro.

"It concerns me a little," said Morris. "I would have liked to struggle a bit more than we did today, but all we can do is celebrate tonight, and come back tomorrow with our game face on ready to play."

The brackets are not set yet for the state tournament next week, but the tournament will begin on the 28th and run through the 30th.

"All we can do is continue to practice hard, and come out next week at Murfreesboro ready to play," said Morris.