Keokuk out of the way, Centerville up next

?It wasn?t pretty, but an ugly win is much better than a loss,? said Fairfield head coach Nancy Diers.

Coming off their two most convincing wins of the season last week ? including a three-game sweep of Keokuk ? the Trojans posted another win in Monday?s Region 8 opener against that same Keokuk squad. Even though the Trojans had to scrap their way to a 25-23, 25-23, 15-25, 25-17 victory, Diers? comments may reflect the high bar she has set for her team more than anything.

?As good as we were playing last week, I think we took a minor step back, but it?s all correctable,? she said. ?There isn?t anything that we can?t improve on. We?re going to have nights like these once in a while and it happened to come after what I think were our best two matches of the season last week.?

With the win, Fairfield moves one step closer to the state tournament and into a second round match against Centerville Thursday night at FHS. The Reds advanced Monday with a 25-22, 25-13, 25-19 victory vs. Fort Madison.

While Fairfield has now posted four wins against the Chiefs in 2008, the Trojans knew Keokuk was no slouch and used a strong serve to give the Trojans fits all night. Fairfield struggled to control the serve and committed 55 serve reception errors in the match to continually give the Chiefs life in a close match throughout.

In game one, neither team led by more than four points leading up to a late 20-17 Keokuk lead. Middle hitter Nikia Story?s kill got Fairfield rolling and set up three more kills from big-swinger Meredith Flattery that finally evened the score at 23. From there, two Chief attack errors ended the game and let the Trojans escape with a 1-0 lead.

?I?m just happy for the kids that they found a way to win,? Diers said. ?It wasn?t exactly how we drew it up, but we just kept taking one swing at a time and got it done.?

In game two, outside hitter Tori Ogden came alive for Fairfield with five kills in the game ? part of her 12 of the match ? one of which gave Fairfield its biggest lead at 15-11. Once again however, Keokuk, with a big help from Shelsey Stanley, hung around until the bitter end before an Ogden block gave the Trojans a 24-22 lead and another kill from the sophomore ended the game at 25-23.

Seemingly with a boost of momentum, Fairfield burst out to an 11-4 lead in game three but the defensive errors reared up once more. Service aces from Erin Uhlmeyer ignited a 7-0 Keokuk run and the Chiefs didn?t stop there. Keokuk reeled off 21 of the final 25 game three points including four straight aces by Stanley to cap the game and draw within 2-1.

In true Fairfield fashion however, the Trojans rebounded. After falling behind 3-0 in game four, Fairfield?s No. 1 server Tyler Emry went on a tear. The senior served 10 straight points to give the Trojans a 10-3 lead, and this time, they didn?t look back. Picking up points in bunches, Flattery, Ogden and McKenzie Lyman took turns putting down kills before ending Keokuk?s season with a 25-17 victory.

Flattery led Fairfield wit 14 kills while Emry tallied 21 assists and four service aces. Dana Diers tacked on 27 digs, and Lyman totaled seven kills

?It just seemed like we just weren?t clicking on the same page,? said Diers. ?With this team, that?s something we?ve been working on all season long.

?It speaks to the maturity of this team,? she continued. ?In September, that would have been a five-game match ? five weeks later, we?re a little bit more mature and found a way to win. We told the kids to build on it and get ready for Centerville.?

The Trojans now have two days off before their biggest game of the season coming up Thursday against the Reds. Centerville has posted four wins against Fairfield, but none of those have come in a best-of-five match or on Fairfield?s home court. The match is scheduled for 7 p.m.