The Collierville volleyball team started the state tournament with a five-set victory over Maryville at Rockvale High School on Tuesday, continuing a third straight year by defeating the Rebels in 5 sets on the big stage.

Collierville let a five point lead slip away in the first set and fell 21-25.

The Dragons immediately caught fire in set two and jumped out to a 9-1 lead before a Maryville timeout. Maryville responded by cutting the lead to 1, but after a Collierville timeout the Dragons controlled the remainder of set two and evened the match 1-1, winning 25-15.

Collierville and Maryville split sets three and four in back-to-back momentum runs for both teams. The Dragons took set three 25-21 and Maryville won set four 25-23.

The opportunity to advance into the winner's bracket and play Brentwood came down to set five. It was again a fast start that paced the Dragons en route to a 15-9 win to finish the Maryville attack.

Collierville improves to 35-8 on the year and Maryville falls to 31-14.

The Collierville and Brentwood winner's bracket matchup, Wednesday, is scheduled for 12pm at Rockvale.