FAIRFIELD — The Fairfield Trojans, a state tourney participant last year, moved one step closer to another trip with a 3-1 win over Centerville Thursday night in Fairfield.

The game scores were 23-25, 25-20, 25-9, 25-14. The regional semifinal win makes Fairfield 22-12 for the season and avenged two losses at the hands of the Redettes during the season.

Fairfield will take on Williamsburg in the regional finals on Tuesday at a site that has yet to be determined. The winner advaces to the state tournament.

“We don’t want to be done tonight and we know Williamsburg will be tough, but this is a real accomplishment for a team that returned only one letterwinner,” commented Fairfield coach Nancy Diers. “This team has worked hard, been coachable, and been willing to change to make us better”.

The homestanding Trojans got off to a slow start and dropped game one to Centerville. Centerville jumped out to a 3-0 lead and led for the entire game. Kills at the right time by Katie Appler, Mallory Oden, and Olivia Starcevich kept the Reddettes up 4-2, 7-6, and 8-7 in the early going.

With Oden serving, Centerville increased the lead to 16-8. She had two aces in the five-point run.

The Trojans fought back to within two at 18-16 on a five-point service run by Tori Ogden. A kill by Meggie Blosovich kept Centerville up 21-18, but Fairfield closed to within one at 24-23 on a kill by Nikia Story. A Fairfield serve long ended game one.

The game-two win for the Trojans was keyed by defensive improvement.

“Our defense got better and forced Centerville to do some things that helped our hitters,” said Diers.

Centerville jumped out 1-0 on a kill by Kaylee Mehrhoff. The Redettes would hold the lead until a deep kill by Fairfield’s McKenzie Lyman tied it at six.

Meredith Flattery, the lone returning letterwinner for the Trojans, served Fairfield to a 13-6 lead. Flattery would go 10-10 serving in game two.

Mehrhoff had back-to-back kills to bring Centerville back to within three at 21-18. Flattery’s two late kills gave the Trojans points 23 and 24 and Lyman’s fourth kill of the game ended it.

“Our passing was not as good as we needed and even after the game-one win, I never felt like we had a good rhythm to our play,” said Centerville coach Tom Hill.

Game three was all Fairfield. After a Flattery kill opened the scoring, Centerville came back to tie it at five. A Story kill gave the Trojans the lead for good at 6-5. Two good service runs by Dana Diers and Gretchen Granneman, an active hitting game by Ogden, and the all-around play of Flattery propelled the Trojans to the 25-9 game three win.

Flattery would go 17-17 serving, have seven kills, and lead the Trojans in digs and assists in the match. She talked about her role on this year’s team