From staff reports

In area play in Satsuma last Tuesday, W.S. Neal’s Lady Eagles fell twice—losing to the home team and to UMS-Wright. The day’s losses earned the eagles a third seed in the area tournament that will be played at the end of the season and an 0-2 record in area play.
In game one against Satsuma, W.S. Neal lost 3-2.
The Lady Eagles won set one 25-22, but lost set two 25-11. In the third set, WSN lost 25-14, but rallied in the fourth set to win 25-20 and force a deciding fifth set. In the final set, WSN lost 16-14.
In their second game of the day against UMS-Wright, W.S. Neal lost 3-0—losing set one 25-17; set two 25-10, and set three 25-14.
“In game one, set one, we came out strong top to bottom,” W.S. Neal head coach Jason Blaney said. “In the second and third set, we struggled having to change rotation due to injury. We battled back in the fourth set and in the fifth set, down 10-13 Jodi Busby served four straight service winners including two aces. We came up just short though.”
Blaney credited Satsuma as a “well-coached” team; however a long day of play began to show on the Eagles as they battled back-to-back area matches.
“Take nothing away from UMS though as they have a very good team,” he said. “They beat Satsuma in the final game of the night and will host area as we will play Satsuma in the first game of area play in October.”
Against Satsuma, Busby led with three aces, six service points and eight kills while Tykeria Nolan had five service winners and four kills. Dinah Samuel added four service winners and had five kills in the loss.
In game two, Busby led with two aces, 10 service winners and four kills while Samuel led with one ace, seven service winners and one kill.
WSNMS splits at ECMS
In a doubleheader Tuesday against Escambia County Middle School in Atmore, W.S. Neal’s middle school volleyball team went 1-1 to improve to 3-1 overall this season.
In match one, W.S. Neal lost 2-1 to ECMS. In match two, WSNMS won 2-0.
In set one of match one, WSNMS lost 25-16.
Breanna Dees led with nine service points while Caitlin Hartsel and Mariah Kiser both had two points each. Terra Hymel, Aaleaya Conway and Jailen McKinney all had one service point each.
In set two, WSNMS defeated ECMS 25-21.
Arieyona Collins led with seven service points while Caitlin Hartsel, Raven Woods and Aleigh Lanier all had four points each. Dominique Jackson and Tori Gillam both finished with three points each.
In the third set tiebreaker, W.S. Neal lost 15-13.
Kimberly Stuckey, Arieyona Collins, and Dominique Jackson all had three service points each while Gillam had two and Lanier and Hartsel had one each.
In the second match of the day, WSNMS won 2-0. The Lady Eagles won set one 25-19 and set two 29-27.
In set one, Woods led with eight service points while Lanier and Hartsel had four each and Collins had three. Jackson, Gillam and Lacey Jerkins all finished with two service points each.
In set two, Hartsel had six service points; Lanier had five; and Stuckey, Gillam and Jerkins had four each. Jackson finished with three, Collins had two, and Woods had one.
TRM defeats Opp
Facing off against new area opponent Opp Monday, T.R. Miller’s JV and varsity teams swept the Bobcats to improve their records.
The varsity won 3-0 to move to 4-1 overall this season while the JV won 2-0 to move to 6-2.
“Today’s win was a total team effort,” TRM head coach Greg White said. “We had 11 players on the bench and each girl contributed to our success in some way. We had an advantage on the net, and we did a good job of utilizing it.”
We served the ball extremely well and had several big serve rallies throughout the match, he said.
“This was a huge victory for us because it puts us 2-0 in the area with only one area game to play later in the season. Our team goal is to win the regular season area championship and to host the area tournament at the end of the regular season. Today’s win put us one step closer to accomplishing that goal.”