ROCKINGHAM — A Richmond Senior High School volleyball player who helped spark a win last week is next to be featured in The Richmond Observer’s weekly series.
J’Nasia Neal, a junior outside hitter for the Lady Raiders, has been named the Official Richmond County Female Student-Athlete of the Week presented by Rockingham NC Self Storage.
The Richmond volleyball team split its pair of Sandhills Athletic Conference matches against Union Pines and Lee County high schools, with the victory over Lee County coming after erasing a two-set deficit.
With her selection this week, Neal earned her first career recognition.
Athletic Profile: J’Nasia Neal
Year: Junior
Fall sport: Volleyball
Position: Outside Hitter
Varsity Experience: 1 season
Other Sports: Basketball
“CLASSROOM CREDITS” WITH J’NASIA NEAL A dual-enrollment student, half of Neal’s course load this semester is at Richmond, while the other half is at Richmond Community College. This fall, she’s enrolled in American Sign Language 111 and English 111 at RichmondCC. At the high school, Neal is taking English III Honors and Fundamentals of Health Science Honors. Currently with a 4.31 weighted grade point average, Neal will take four more classes while balancing her time on the girls’ basketball team next semester. She’s scheduled to take Chemistry Honors, Civic Literacy Honors, Math 3 Honors and Weight Training Honors. “AT THE NET” WITH J’NASIA NEAL The Lady Raiders lost 3-0 to Union Pines last Tuesday, but followed that with a 3-2 victory over Lee County. Against the Lady Yellow Jackets, Neal had several season-highs and helped her older teammates celebrate a win on senior night. In Richmond’s match at Union Pines, Neal totaled seven kills at the net and had six digs. She also returned 22-of-26 (85%) of the serves that were sent her way. With the Lady Raiders trailing 2-0 at home two nights later to Lee County, Neal was part of a team effort that resulted in three straight set victories to complete the comeback. In that match, Neal tallied 14 kills from the net and 24 digs from the back row, both single-match season highs. Her efforts were energized by the home crowd, which helped energize the Lady Raiders. She added one ace from the service line and one block, while returning 17 serves from the Lady Yellow jackets. This season Neal has a 27.6% kill percentage and is averaging 2.8 kills per set. She’s totaled 13 blocks with and averages 9.8 digs per match. Richmond (7-12, 3-8 SAC) finishes its regular season Thursday at Scotland High School (15-5, 6-4 SAC). First serve is set for 6 p.m. “RAPID RESPONSE VIDEO” WITH J’NASIA NEAL The Richmond Observer will publish its Official Richmond County Male Student-Athlete of the Week soon.
