DAPHNE—The No. 8 ranked Daphne High Lady Trojans volleyball team will open the 6A state volleyball tournament today at 11 a.m. against No. 1 ranked Huntsville High.

Daphne advanced to the Elite Eight event for the third-straight year with a sub-state victory over Benjamin Russell High on the road at Alexander City last week.

"We're heading back to the state tournament for the third year in a row," said Daphne head coach Kay Flarity. "The girls are excited. That's what they all work for."

Benjamin Russell's Wildcats gave the 36-21 Lady Trojans a battle. But Daphne pulled out the win in five games 21-25, 27-25, 25-20, 22-25, 15-9.

"It was a battle all night," Flarity said. "The girls really played hard, Ben Russell was a great team, very scrappy hard to get the ball on the floor. It was a tough match but all of my players were focused and wouldn't accept anything but a win. We didn't know what to expect from Ben Russell so the first game we were out of system most of the game but with a few adjustments in game two and game three, we were able to take those games from them."

Courtney Carter had 13 kills, Cherilyn Ramsey and Deanna Vogler had 12 kills each, Sierra Patterson had 11 kills as well. Brooke Carpenter had 22 assists and 15 digs, Kayla Owens had 22 assists and one ace. Erin Patterson had nine digs. Both Cherilyn Ramsey and Deanna Vogler had seven blocks a piece.