The Dyer County girls volleyball team played their first game of the state tournament against Lawrence County at Rockvale High School in Murfreesboro, following a narrow five-set win against Ripley in the sub-state game. This is Dyer County’s first appearance in the state tournament which makes Coach Shannon O’Bright the first Dyer County head coach to lead two teams to state. 

The Lady Choctaws defeated the Lady Wildcats 3-0 (25-22, 25-15, 25-17) to move on to the second round of the tournament. Katie Grace Willis led all players in the match with 19 kills, Haleigh Caviness and Bailey Leake each had 7 respectively. Jesye Bragado facilitated the offense with an impressive 23 assists, the next closest was Caviness with 5, and Emma Chandler held down the defense with 11 solo blocks.

The first set was a back and forth affair with the two teams trading the first eight points to start the match off 4-4. The trend continued as neither team managed to get more than a two-point lead until midway through the match where a tip from Willis put the orange and white up 13-10. Dyer County was able to gain some momentum after that score, at one point going up 24-16. The Lady Choctaws only needed one more point to close the set, but Lawrence County nearly mounted a comeback going on a 6-0 run bringing the set to within 3. However, a much-needed score from Leake put Dyer County up 1-0.

That was the closest the game would come as Dyer County won the next two sets in dominant fashion. The Lady Choctaws hope to continue their streak on Wednesday at 12:00pm.