By BY BRUCE HIXON – SPORTS EDITOR
They beat their archrival, they clinched a winning season and set a school record for longest winning streak with their eighth straight victory.
By the way, the T.R. Miller Lady Tigers volleyball team also won its second straight Escambia County Tournament championship Saturday at Flomaton with straight-set wins in all three of its matches.
The Lady Tigers (13-9) opened play with a 25-20, 25-18 victory over Escambia County.
Leslie Nalty led T.R. Miller in the first set win with six points. Michal Hubbard and Courtney Scott each had six points in the finale.
The Lady Tigers knocked off W.S. Neal in their second match 25-22, 25-15.
Nalty had six points and three aces, while Morgan Hubbard had six points and two aces to pace T.R. Miller in set one.
Michal Hubbard had the hottest serving hand for the winners in set two with eight points. Morgan Hubbard matched her six points and two aces from the second set.
For the second straight year, the championship match came down to the last game between T.R. Miller and Flomaton.
The Lady Tigers got off to a bit of a sluggish start in the first set where they fell behind 5-1, but otherwise dominated in a 25-10 victory.
T.R. Miller moved ahead for good when a defensive kill by Shandreka Foster and a four-point service string by Nalty put the Lady Tigers up 9-6.
Scott later had a four-point run that took the lead up to 15-8, but the decisive blow was a six-point string by Michal Hubbard, which included two aces, to close it out.
Flomaton looked as if it would force a third set. The Lady Hurricanes trailed 16-14 when a defensive point and seven points by Lilly Wright put Flomaton up 21-16.
A defensive kill by Foster plus two aces and four points by Morgan Hubbard narrowed the gap to 21-20.
While Morgan Hubbard's service string could not quite get T.R. Miller over the top, a couple of defensive points, a pair of service points by Nalty and a kill by Janel McCorvey on the last play did to complete the 25-23 win.
for the Area Tournament next week.”
The day was not as bright for W.S. Neal, which went 1-2 and finished in third place.
The one bright spot for the Lady Blue Eagles was their 25-22, 25-23 win over Escambia County in the finale enabled W.S. Neal to break its school record for wins in a season with eight. Last year's squad had held the old mark with seven wins in a season.
The biggest downer for the Lady Blue Eagles (8-7) was their 25-19, 25-17 loss to Flomaton in the opening round. The Lady Blue Eagles had beaten Flomaton twice during the regular season.
Maggie Crutchfield had six points with an ace in the first set, while Caitlyn Blackman added four. Katelin Hulley led W.S. Neal in set two with four points.
Erica Cardwell led the Lady Blue Eagles in both sets of the 25-22, 25-15 loss to T.R. Miller with six points each.
W.S. Neal had a late rally in its second set win over Escambia County.
Down 23-22, the Lady Blue Eagles tied the set on a defensive kill by Crutchfield and then won it on two points by Hulley.
Blackman served up a team-high eight points in the opener.