From staff reports

Both W.S. Neal’s JV volleyball team and their varsity started out their 2014 seasons with home wins over Jay Thursday at W.S. Neal Middle School.
The JV team took down Jay 2-1 while the varsity won 3-2 to start their seasons with 1-0 record.
The JV Lady Eagles lost set one to Jay 25-19 but rallied to win set two 25-19 and set three 15-7 to claim the match.
“The JV played outstanding after getting some first set nerves out of their system,” head coach Jason Blaney said. “Marishia Fraser had seven aces, Caitlin Stuckey had seven also and T’keyah Gross had two in the win.”
In the varsity games, W.S. Neal lost set one to Jay 25-12 but won set two 25-21. In set three, Jay earned a 25-14 win but W.S. Neal rallied to get a 25-21 in set four to tie the matches up 2-2.
In set three, W.S. Neal won 15-9 to get the win.
Tiffany Robinson had three aces, 19 service points and four kills for W.S. Neal in the win while Haleigh Dubose had four aces, 12 service points and five kills.
Jodi Busby had 12 kills. Karissa Johnson had two aces, eight service points and nine kills for the Lady Eagles.
“We came out slow in the first set,” Blaney said. “I do not know if it was first game nerves or what, but it was different then practice and summer play dates. We stepped up in the second set, but then let up again in the third. I was very proud of how the girls dug deep in the fourth and fifth sets.”
Blaney said Johnson came up big in the fourth set with consecutive kills to give the team momentum.
“In the fifth set we relied heavily on our two seniors as Tykeria Nolan and Jodi Busby stepped up heavily along with the play of junior Madison Winchester,” Blaney said. “Everyone stepped up and played as a team fourth and fifth set. Jay and Coach Campbell have a great team and it was good victory for us. We need to work our serve and serve receive game. We do not play again till Sept. 9 versus UMS-Wright and Satsuma so we will have it fixed by then.”