By Thomas Sellers Jr.
The current best winning percentage in the city of Millington belongs to the Millington Middle School Lady Trojans.
A program started just a couple of years ago under the name Lady Stallions has matured through coaching, community support and the improvement of the players. Eighth grader and captain Aleeah Fiene said the 9-2 start to the 2020 season is a reflection of everybody buying into the success of volleyball at the middle school level.
“It’s going good and we work hard for our success,” she said. “It feels good being the Lady Trojans but it is weird playing in a Stallions Gym with all this blue. But we’re coming along well. We’re all getting better.”
The improvement to 9-2 came courtesy of the Lake County Lady Falcons. Millington dominated the action with serving and timely plays at the net to capture the 25-10 and 25-17 victory.
In the first set, the Lady Trojans got a boost from the serving of Fiene. The third-year player spotted her team an early advantage with aces.
After the Lady Falcons broke the serve and got a few points on the scoreboard, it was the athletic play of Breanna Husley that widen the gap. Husley serving complimented the play of teammates Aubrey Day, Haley Clifton, Hayley Fiene, Katie Graves and Morgan Burnes.
Burnes took her turn behind the service line and fired lasers through the Lake County defense to end the competitive phase of the first set.
Millington kept the formula for success going in the second set. Despite the Lady Falcons rallying during the middle of the frame, it was Burnes once again snatching control of the game with her serving.
Fiene even executed a spike while Husley used a well-timed tip to score a point.
“I like that you’re always moving and that it is very mental,” Husley said. “The mental challenge is your attitude. It has to do a lot with it. You can’t get frustrated. You can’t show it.”
Fiene said her job on the court is to make sure the Lady Trojans stay focused and positive.
“With being the Captain, you have to cheer them on and tell them ‘One ball, one pass,’” she noted. “’We’ve got it. Next ball.’ Things like ‘good pass, good job,’ helps people get encouraged. When I’m down, the whole team is down and we can’t have that.”
The new-look Lady Trojans are staying up with new colors, new nickname, new coaches and new league.
“Last year we played a lot of the Club teams,” Fiene recalled. “And I play Club too. We played teams filled with Club players like Arlington and Collierville.
“They had more experience than we did last year,” she concluded. “But once we got into our new district, we’ve been very successful. Our goals are to win the district and do better than we did last year.”
The 2020 Millington Middle Lady Trojans are Aleeah Fiene (Captain), Hayley Fiene, Haley Clifton, Breanna Husley, Morgan Burnes, Aubrey Day, Katie Graves, Hinsely Fortunn and Matte McKaughn.
