By Adam Robinson
sports editor

All three volleyball teams from T.R. Miller and W.S. Neal took part in a summer play-date tournament on Thursday, July 31, at Brewton Middle School.
Nine varsity teams, six junior varsity teams and three middle school teams played on three different courts during the play-date.
Varsity teams included T.R. Miller, Excel, Jay, Straughn, Andalusia, Flomaton, W.S. Neal, Northview, and Pleasant Home. JV teams were all the varsity teams, minus Jay, Flomaton and Pleasant Home.
Middle school teams were Brewton Middle School, W.S. Neal Middle School, and Andalusia Middle School.
All varsity teams played three games while Jay’s varsity team played four games. All JV and middle school teams also played two games each.
For T.R. Miller, the varsity Lady Tigers went 2-1 while the JV team and the Brewton Middle School team went 2-0.
W.S. Neal’s varsity team went 2-1 while the JV team went 1-1 and the W.S. Neal Middle School team went 0-2.
T.R. Miller’s varsity team lost to Pleasant Home 2-1 (25-19, 14-25, 16-18) before defeating Straughn 2-1 (scores unavailable) and W.S. Neal 2-0 (25-21, 25-19).
T.R. Miller’s JV team defeated Straughn 2-0 (25-20, 25-8) and W.S. Neal 2-0 (scores unavailable).
Brewton Middle School opened with a 2-0 win over Andalusia by scores of 25-19 and 25-13 before defeating W.S. Neal 2-0 (scores unavailable).
W.S. Neal’s varsity team opened with a 2-0 win over Excel (scores unavailable) and followed that with a 2-1 win over Northview (20-25, 25-22, 17-15).
In their final game against T.R. Miller, W.S. Neal lost 2-0 (21-25, 19-25).
W.S. Neal’s JV team opened with a 2-1 win over Andalusia (13-25, 25-14, 15-13) before losing to T.R. Miller 2-0 (scores unavailable).
W.S. Neal’s Middle School team opened with a 2-0 loss to Andalusia (16-25, 16-25) before falling to Brewton 2-0 (scores unavailable).
“I think it was a very good play-date,” W.S. Neal head coach Jason Blaney said of his team’s day. “We struggled at times, but we showed a lot of heart and character in the way we fought. Especially against Northview when we lost the first set and then won the next two. I think some of our own mistakes killed us versus T.R. Miller. Coach Greg White always brings a great team. It will always be a good match when we see them in the regular season.”
As for Thursday’s games, Blaney said he learned some things about his team.
“I learned they have a lot more fight in them than I have seen and they won’t give up and back down,” he said. “Last year, we would get up and then lay down. Or we would just not bring our A-game. They are fighting every point, which is what I am pushing for them to do.”
T.R. Miller Lady Tigers head coach Greg White said he thought his varsity team’s games went well Thursday.
“We are replacing seven seniors off of last year’s team,” he said. “All seven contributed in some way or another. Three of the girls played varsity last year and one of the three was not here. So we had two people on the court today that have played in a varsity game. I was proud of them. We are two points away from being 3-0 on the day. I like our potential. We obviously have a bunch of things to iron out. That is expected this time of the year. But I was very pleased with their hustling. We scored a lot of points off of hustling and I appreciate that.”
As for the day, White also thought things went well.
“The JV and middle school teams played really well today as well,” he said. “We have a good little core group. They got after it today. Both of those teams went 2-0 today. We had great crowds.
“We had a lot of participation today. We had nine schools and a total of 18 teams playing so we had a lot of folks here today and a lot of ball. It was a good day.”