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By Sonny Jones

The first of many East Bladen-West Bladen athletic competitions are scheduled to begin Thursday with volleyball and, weather permitting, girls’ tennis.

By the way, the tennis match has been moved to the East Bladen courts and is scheduled to start at 4 p.m. It was originally scheduled to be played at Bladen County Park, which is the site West Bladen has been using this season because its courts need repairs.

The volleyball match will be played inside the West Bladen gym with the junior varsity match set to start at 4:30 p.m. followed by the varsity match.

West Bladen is 3-1 in the Southeastern Athletic Conference and 5-4 overall in tennis competition. The Knights lost to South Columbus on Tuesday in a non-conference match. Earlier this season, seniors Kaden Thurman and Lainey Autry won all 48 of their games in a doubleheader sweep of Red Springs, each winning their singles matches 8-0 and combining for 8-0 wins in doubles.

East Bladen is 1-2 in the conference and 1-6 overall. The Eagles were shut out by Clinton 9-0 on Tuesday. East Bladen’s win came againsts St. Pauls, 5-4, with Reese Hester, Leah McGill, Jackie Medina Leal winning in singles and the team of Ashlyn Williams and McGill and Leal and Anna Marie Miranda winning in doubles.

In volleyball, East Bladen edged Clinton 3-2 on Tuesday and is 1-1 in the conference, 3-4 overall. The Eagles played well in a 3-1 win against previously unbeaten South Columbus last week in a non-conference contest.

West Bladen, which lost to Clinton 3-0 last Thursday, is 0-1 in the conference and 1-6 overall. The Knights’ win came Aug. 23 against West Columbus 3-0.

For East Bladen, Acee Campbell has 60 kills, Miriam DeVane leads with 19 blocks, Maegan Burney has 15 service aces and 25 digs, and Karli Priest has 155 assists.

For West Bladen, Trinity Meares has 14 blocks, Emily Young has 16 service aces, Kylie Durden has 16 digs, Jena McLean has 39 assists and Whitney McLean has 47 kills.

We’ll be tracking the East-West match-ups through the spring. Should be some exciting games along the way.

• Cross country hasn’t been counted in our East-West match-ups because of the lack of enough runners to qualify for a team score. Teams need five runners for a score. However, those who are running are doing very well.

Cross Country: Bladen Runners Finish 1-2-3 in Boys Race; Two West Bladen Girls in Top Ten

• A hearty congratulations to the West Bladen junior varsity boys’ soccer team for winning its first game, 6-0 at North Brunswick. It’s the first time the school has fielded a JV team. Nice to see.

JV Soccer: West Bladen 6, North Brunswick 0

THURSDAY’S PICK TO CLICK

Buffalo’s Von Miller will have 1.5 sacks and 5 tackles against his former team, the Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams, as the 2022 NFL season opens. Miller has zero sacks of Rams’ QB Matthew Stafford in two career games. It’s time for that to change.

WEDNESDAY’S PICK: Andrey Rublev will use a better first serve and make fewer errors to outlast Frances Tiafoe in five sets in the U.S. Open quarterfinals to avenge last years’s five-set loss in the third round in 2021. Surely Tiafoe will have a bit of a letdown after upsetting Rafael Nadal on Monday. RESULTS: No letdown. Tiafoe won in straight sets 7-6, 7-6, 6-4 and advances to the semifinals.

WHAT TO WATCH TODAY

• DP WORLD TOUR: PGA Championship, 7 a.m., GOLF

• MLB: Washington at St. Louis, 1 p.m., MLBN

• MLB: San Francisco at Milwaukee, 4 p.m., MLBN

• LPGA: Queen City Championship, 4 p.m., GOLF

• TENNIS: U.S. Open women’s semifinals, 7 p.m., ESPN

• MLB: Minnesota at NY Yankees, 7 p.m. or San Francisco at Milwaukee, 7:40 p.m., MLBN

• WNBA PLAYOFFS: Connecticut at Chicago, 8 p.m., ESPN2

• WOMEN’S SOCCER: North Carolina at Duke, 8 p.m., ACCN

• NFL: Buffalo at LA Rams, 8:15 p.m., NBC

• MLB: Chicago White Sox at Oakland, 10 p.m., MLBN

• ASIAN TOUR: Shinham Donghae Open, 11 p.m., GOLF