By GALE CAVNESS
pressbox1.com

DYERSBURG - With hopes high for a run at the West Tennessee Athletic Conference post-season tournament title, Dyersburg Middle School closed out its regular-season slate Monday night with a win at Three Oaks.

The Lady Trojans won the match 25-9, 25-7 to improve their record to 12-2 for the year.

"We played well," DMS mentor Bubba Cobb said following the match. "We stayed in the game. We kept our concentration and we served the ball well."

The Lady Trojans haven’t lost since dropping a doubleheader at Brighton on Aug. 30.

Dyersburg’s B-team also won at Three Oaks, taking a 25-11, 25-15 victory.

In A-team competition, Crestview, Brighton and DMS each finished the regular-season slate with two losses. Dyersburg had two wins over Crestview, Brighton won twice against Dyersburg and Crestview gave Brighton its setbacks to leave the teams in a three-way tie.

Using tie-breaker rules, Crestview earned the top seed, Brighton got the second spot and the Lady Trojans were bumped to third. According to Cobb, the fact that the DMS-Crestview contest went to three games worked against his squad.

"It doesn’t really matter," he said. "To win the tournament, you have to beat ‘em all."

Tourney play began Thursday night at Brighton with four quarterfinal matches. Semifinals and the championship round were on Friday. Dyersburg is the defending WTAC champs as well as the Tennessee Middle School Athletic Association’s western division state champs.

Top-seeded Crestview faced No. 8 Three Oaks and No. 4 Munford battled No.5 Lauderdale in the top half of the bracket. Second-seeded Brighton met No. 7 Northview and DMS squared off with No. 6 Halls in the bottom half.

Against winless Three Oaks, Cobb left his starters in longer than usual with the tournament next on the slate.

"We had to get the starters some playing time," he explained. "We couldn’t go into the tournament without any game action for a week."

Shelby Andrews and Claire White had outstanding games for the Lady Trojans with Sydney McNeill boosting the club to a big lead to open the second game with 15 consecutive points off her serve.

Particularly pleasing to Cobb was a volley late in the second game when the squad kept it alive despite deep positioning in the backcourt. With her back to the net, Rachel Gauldin raced out of bounds and lofted the team’s third shot across the net and between the defenders for a point.

"Rachel’s effort on that play was a great example of keeping your head in the game," Cobb explained. "I was really proud of the hustle."

Despite a regular-season campaign that failed to produce a win, Three Oaks head coach Montrey Moore praised her squad for working hard, too.

"We’ve been getting better," she said. "It may not look like to anybody else, but I see their effort and I’ve seen it every day. We’ve continued to improve, despite the record."

With only Kelly Burns participating in a third season, the young squad has been the underdog since opening day.

"It takes time to build a program," she said. "Everybody’s getting some experience and that’ll help us next year."