The W.S. Neal Lady Eagles varsity team anointed its new season with a win at home versus Excel Thursday. Neal almost made a comeback in the first set after trailing 7-12 earlier. It scored six unanswered points to take a 24-21 lead late in the set, but Excel took advantage of errors on Neal to close out the set with five straight points to win.

Neal rebounded winning set two 25-21, set three 25-21, and set four 25-13.

Senior Marishia Fraser had five aces and 20 service winners to go along with 11 kills and 4 blocks for the match. Dinah Samuel had 22 kills, 6 aces, 9 service winners and 3 blocks.  Erin Salter had 11 service winners and a kill, Caitlin Stuckey had 9 service winners, an ace, 3 kills and 2 blocks.  Alexis McNew had 3 blocks, 3 aces and a kill.  Cidney Scott assisted in 24 kills.

Head coach Jason Blaney said he saw a lot of fight in his team.

“We did a great job fighting back against Excel in each set,” Blaney said. “It was a great first game to show us what we need to continue working on, to get to where we want to be this season.”

Earlier the JV won over Excel, dropping the first set 22-25, before winning 25-19 and 16-14 in the final sets.

Neal varsity will next play Tues., Aug. 30, on the road at LeRoy. Games are at 4 p.m versus Thomasville and 5 p.m. versus LeRoy.

Neal middle school, JV and varsity will be in action against Flomaton at home on Thurs., Sept. 1.