By GALE CAVNESS
pressbox1.com

NEWBERN - A two-sport standout at Dyer County High School will miss the end of one season and the beginning of another following surgery to repair cartilage damage in her right elbow.

Cali Cupples, senior member of the Lady Choctaws’ volleyball and basketball teams, had surgery Oct. 2 at Jackson-Madison County General Hospital. The jovial patient, already undergoing physical therapy to aide in the recovery process, was at Choctaw Stadium Tuesday night where Northview Middle School’s football team battled Lake County.

"It’s feeling better," she said as she extended her surgically-repaired arm. "I’ll be okay."

Cupples, who has been a strong server and setter for the Coach Beth Ann Pope and the Dyer County volleyball team, averaged 18 points for Coach Angie Stafford and the Lady Choctaws’ basketball team last year.

She is expected to out of commission four to six weeks.

According to Robert Cupples, the young athlete’s father, the procedure required more attention than initially expected.

"Once they got in there, it was worse than they thought," explained Cupples, the assistant principal at Dyersburg Intermediate School and a veteran football official. "You could hear it popping when she moved it, so they cleaned it up."

Cupples played both volleyball and basketball at Dyersburg Middle School before making the switch to the county system and becoming a student at DCHS.