In just over a week, both the volleyball teams from T.R. Miller and W.S. Neal will take to the courts for the 2015 season openers.

T.R. Miller:
First-year T.R. Miller Lady Tiger’s volleyball head coach Terri Lynne Peacock said her team is ready for its season to get underway when they travel to Andalusia next Thursday.
Last year, the team finished 15-6 under former head coach Greg White.
During the summer months, Peacock had the team focus on fundamentals and conditioning.
Peacock said summer games held at Brewton Middle School revealed issues, which were heavy focus items leading into this season.
“The three seniors — Amelia Peach, Mykayla Harrison and Lizzy Pollitte — have done a great job leading our Tiger volleyball team,” Peacock said. “They believe in hard work and expect their teammates to do the same.
“After our red and white scrimmage Friday night, I was proud of the improvements we made,” she said. “We will continue to work hard at practice next week in order to get ready for our first match of the season against the Andalusia Bulldogs.”

W.S. Neal:
The W.S. Neal High School volleyball team will begin its season Thurs., Aug. 27 at home against Jay, Fla.
“We are really looking forward to this volleyball season at W.S. Neal,” Head coach Jason Blaney said.
The team is led by three seniors, Alyssa English, captain Karissa Johnson and captain Madison Winchester; however, Blaney said the remainder of the roster is filled with underclassmen.
“We also have some young girls that are going to help us,” he said. “We feel that we are athletically prepared this season as we have been working extremely hard in our weight room and with our conditioning.”
Junior players include Erin Hartsel, Alexis McNew, Dinah Samuel and Caitlin Stuckey, while sophomores are Marishia Fraser and Erin Salter. The lone freshman is Aleigh Lanier.
The JV team is led by sophomore captain Kayla Ball, sophomores Janiya McCants, Anijah Stewart, and freshmen Caitlin Hartsel, Tori Gillam, Dominique Jackson, Breanna Pate and Alliada Crapp.
Blaney said this year’s schedule brings “epic” competition right out the gate.
“We will see T.R. Miller three times this year, and our battles last year with them were epic,” he said.
“Our area is tough with Satsuma and UMS-Wright,” Blaney said. “We lost regular season matches to both last season, but in area tournament we were able to beat Satsuma in a thrilling match and earn area runner-up. I know that both Satsuma and UMS will come in very prepared and ready this season, and they are very well coached.”
Blaney said the team’s weight room training and conditioning will come in handy during tournament play.
“We want to build on what we did last year,” he said. “We had a very decent year, but we are not settling. We are hungry and want more. We have depth this year and that will come in handy. Our slogan this year is ‘We > Me,’ and that signifies how we have developed as a team.”