By GALE CAVNESS
pressbox1.com

If a difficult outing teaches unlearned lessons, the Dyersburg Middle School volleyball team returned home from a road trip Thursday night a lot smarter than when it left.

The Lady Trojans had to battle through consecutive three-match games to get the best of Munford. It took a 25-21, 18-25, 15-9 effort to take the opener and a 15-25, 25-17, 15-9 rally in the nightcap to put the victory into the books.

According to DMS mentor Bubba Cobb, it was a stressful evening.

"When we played smart, we were super," the coach explained Friday. "When we didn't, we were terrible. Fortunately for us, we played smart most of the time."

Dyersburg also claimed a hard-fought "B" game, posting a 12-15, 17-15, 15-6 victory.

The Lady Trojans host Halls on Monday evening with competition getting underway at 6 p.m.

A lack of consistency caused plenty of trouble for Dyersburg in the initial "A" game. At times, according to the coach, he got an outstanding effort from his squad. At other times, well, he didn't.

"We weren't consistent with our serves or net game," he explained. "But, when we did it right, we played well."

Mary Evelyn Peckenpaugh, Rachel Gauldin, Clair Newbill and Claire White had some shining moments from the service stripe for the visitors.

Peckenpaugh opened the match with the serve, boosted DMS to a 4-0 advantage and later booked another string of four consecutive points. Gauldin carried the club in the middle of the contest, recording points 6-10 in order. Newbill posted points 20 and 21 and White got 22 and 23 before Peckenpaugh and Gauldin wrapped it up with the final two points of the contest, respectively.

Down a match, the home team rallied to take the second stanza. Dyersburg struggled and failed to score more than three straight points in the game. Munford, meanwhile, booked six straight points in one stretch and closed out the second match with the final five points.

Needing just 15 points to win the third match and first game, the Lady Trojans turned up the intensity. Munford scored consecutive points only once and Dyersburg sealed the deal. Gauldin scored six of the team's 15, including the final four points of the match.

In the first match of the second game, Munford erupted to take a 13-8 lead. White rallied DMS with six consecutive points to give the Lady Trojans a 14-13 edge, only to see the home team score 12 of the next 13 points to roll to the win.

"We didn't have anything going for us," Cobb explained. "We didn't serve well, We hit everything into the net. We didn't move our feet."

Things changed in the second match of game two with Sydney McNeill and White finding their groove. Both served up aces as the Lady Trojans took command.

"At times, their serves were just not returnable," the coach added.

McNeill booked seven straight points to give Dyersburg a 9-3 advantage. Aubrey Andrews scored four straight points to keep the Lady Trojans in control. White wrapped it up with a powerful finish, scoring Dyersburg's final 10 points.

With momentum, DMS quickly took command in the third game. McNeill scored five straight points to make it an 8-3 contest and the Lady Trojans were on the way to the victory. Gauldin had a four-point run in the late going with Andrews closing it out by booking the final three.

Aubrey Andrews, a seventh grade athlete, filled in for sister Shelby, who sat out the competition after turning an ankle Tuesday in practice.

In "B" game action, Cobb's club rallied from an opening-game loss to take the win in three matches. After falling 12-15 in the first game, the Lady Trojans battled to a 17-15 win to knot the contest and claimed the win with a 15-6 run in the rubber match.

"I was extremely proud of the effort of the team," Cobb said. "They were able to regain their focus and concentration to get the wins."

The coach singled out Daisy Liljenquist and Kinsey Wilder for stepping up their play and leading the "B" team to victory.