By By BRUCE HIXON – Sports Editor
Breaking their school record for wins in a season is nice, but these days the T.R. Miller Lady Tigers volleyball team only wants to use that accomplishment as a stepping stone for bigger aspirations down the road.
T.R. Miller set a new school standard Thursday when it downed the visiting Monroe County Lady Tigers 25-5, 25-13. It then added to that new mark with a 25-8, 25-19 win over arch rival W.S. Neal.
The Lady Tigers (11-7) may have taken a step toward one of their other goals, their first ever Area Tournament championship, with their win over W.S. Neal. T.R. Miller is now 2-0 against both of the other Class 3A Area 1 members, W.S. Neal and Clarke County.
W.S. Neal coach Chuck Riddle agreed the Lady Tigers are currently the team to beat in that Area field.
All T.R. Miller literally had to do to beat Monroe County was get its serve over the net and Terri Lynne Peacock did just that with 12 straight points in the first set. Michal Hubbard came off the bench and also had a hot serve with seven straight points, six of which were aces.
It was the same thing in set two when a defensive point followed by four points with two aces by Morgan Hubbard had T.R. Miller off and running again. Jessica Freeman had a six-point string with an ace later in the set that helped close things out.
The Lady Tigers also had a dominant first set in their match
See LADY TIGERS Page 2B
against W.S. Neal.
With the score deadlocked at 1-1, a defensive point and 10 straight points by Rebecca Scott put T.R. Miller in firm control with a 12-1 lead.
That was not the case in set two despite the fact the Lady Tigers never trailed after the opening service.
W.S. Neal (6-8) was able to stay close most of the way. The Lady Blue Eagles got within 9-7 on a point by Katelin Hulley, 11-8 after a defensive point and 22-19 on a three-point string by Maggie Crutchfield.
A defensive point followed by kills for points by Megan Fountain and Shandreka Foster on Emily Layton serves secured the win.
The Lady Tigers tied their school record for wins in a season Tuesday when they downed visiting W.S. Neal 25-11, 25-22, 25-10.
Megan Fountain reeled off six straight points in the first set win, while Peacock had strings of eight and four straight in the third set. Vivian Muth notched five straight points in the last set.
Joy McCorvey hammered away 12 kills with a pair of blocks. Shandreka Foster posted three kills with a block.
T.R. Miller's junior varsity notched a 25-8, 25-3 win over W.S. Neal. That match featured 23 straight service points by Leslie Nalty in set two.
Brewton Middle School posted a 25-9, 25-8 victory over Escambia County Tuesday and improved its record to 7-3.
The Lady Tigers play at Clarke County Monday. Play gets underway with the junior varsity match at 5 p.m.