In their first games of the 2012 season Thursday in Excel, the W.S. Neal JV and varsity teams got off to a 1-0 start as they swept the Lady Panthers.
The JV Lady Eagles defeated Excel 2-0 as they took set one 25-13 and set two by a score of 25-13.
In varsity action, W.S. Neal defeated Excel 3-0. W.S. Neal took set one 25-8, set two 25-12 and set three 25-18.
W.S. Neal will be back in action Monday when they travel to Flomaton High School. Game time is set for 4 p.m. with the middle school teams playing against each other followed by the JV teams and then the varsity teams.

WSN JV 2, Excel 0
W.S. Neal’s JV team went to Excel Thursday and came back with a 2-0 win to start the year off 1-0.
Tiffany Robinson led the team with 12 service points. Madison Winchester contributed eight service points and Brittany Lucas had five service points.
“The JV played pretty well in their first game,” W.S. Neal head coach Jeff Haney said. “I was really proud of the girls for improving their serving. Getting the serves in is something we have been stressing at practice and they did a great job of it against Excel. Emily Cooper did a good job setting for us and also had a great game at the net defensively.”

WSN varsity 3, Excel 0
Just like their JV teammates, the varsity Lady Eagles started the year 1-0 with a 3-0 sweep of the Excel Lady Panthers.
Jodi Busby led the team with 16 service points. Gracee Dixon had 12 service points and Kaitlin Hadaway had 10 service points.
“I was proud of the way our varsity played as a team,” Haney said. “We knew coming in that Excel didn’t have much experience, but they were pretty athletic. We really stepped up in the first set and dominated. That kind of set the tone for the rest of the match. All eight of our players contributed to the victory. Gracee Dixon did a fantastic job setting our hitters. Stephanie Lambert, Jasmine Crook, and Jodi Busby had some good hits throughout the match. Our serving was pretty good for the first game. We have to continue to work hard and keep improving.”