From staff reports

All three T.R. Miller volleyball teams swept W.S. Neal Thursday in East Brewton.
The Brewton Middle School team downed Neal 2-0 (25-6 and 25-9) while the JV team finished the sets 25-16 and 25-9.
In varsity action, Miller won 3-2. The Lady Tigers lost set one 25-10 but won set two 25-23 and set three 25-15. In set four, W.S. Neal claimed a 29-27 win, but the Lady Tigers came away with the win in set five by a score of 16-14.
In JV action, Myra Reiss and Katelin Salter led in set one with four service points each while Mary Madison Brown had three. In set two, Salter and Brown had six service points each while Payton Baxter had four.
No middle school stats were known as of press time.
In varsity action, Caitlyn Smith led in set one with two service points and four assists. In set two, Lizzy Pollitte had eight straight service points; Amelia Peach had five kills and two blocks and Taylor Austin had three kills.
In set three, Smith had eight service points and seven assists while Pollitte had three service points. Peach added five kills and two blocks while Taylor Austin had three kills.
In the fourth set, Peach had four service points, four kills and four blocks while Warren chipped in three service points and three kills. Pollitte and Allie Nelson both finished with three service points. Grace Ruzic had six assists and Madison Douglas had eight digs.
In the fifth set, Pollitte had four service points, Warren had three and two kills while Grace Ruzic had four assists and Steely Ruzic had three assists.
“BMS and JV did a very good job on the service line,” Head Coach Greg White said. “That was probably the biggest factor in those games. The varsity match was a heck of a match. I think both teams left everything they had out there on the court. That’s the way it is supposed to be when these two schools play each other in any sport. It’s good for the rivalry.”
White said in set one, W.S. Neal “whipped” his team.
“That’s all I can say,” he said. “We settled ourselves down and won games two and three and we were one point from winning game four to finish it out, but we let it slip away. Game five was back and forth and both teams had game point chances to win it.
“We just kept playing hard and found a way to win. I give credit to Neal because their kids played very well, but at the same time I’m proud of the way my kids fought back after game one,” he said. “They showed a lot of character by hanging in there. We didn’t do a lot of things right, but we were able to overcome them because we just kept playing hard. We get to play each other two mores times this season so it ought to fun.”
For WSN, Jodi Busby had two aces, eight service winners and 14 kills while Dinah Samuel had seven aces, 11 service winners and 10 kills.
Haleigh Dubose added 13 service winners,and Madison Winchester finished with 12 service winners.
W.S. Neal Head Coach Jason Blaney said the gym was electric with great fans from both schools present.
“I want to say special thanks to Neal’s pep band and cheerleaders for coming out which really ignited our girls,” Blaney said. “We came out on fire that first set.
Then came the second set, and we let up some and Miller really turned it on,” he said. “During the fourth set, we were down, and Haleigh Dubose came up with six straight service winners, and we dug out the fourth set.
“The fifth set was amazing,” he said. “It was the kind of match you do not want to see end and you do not want to see either team lose. I hate that it had to be my girls, but they played so hard.”
Blaney said many of his players stepped up in the loss.
“My libero, Madison Winchester, stepped up in every way, and when needed, senior setter Tykeria Nolan got the set to senior hitter Jodi Busby and which truly helped keep us in match,” Blaney said.
For W.S. Neal Middle School in set one, Aleigh Lanier led with three service points, Terra Hymel had two and Caitlin Hartsel had one.
In set two, Dominique Jackson had three, Raven Woods had two and Tori Gillam, Lanier, Hartsel and Jailen McKinney all had one service point each in the loss.
No stats were known for W.S. Neal’s JV team.