The Lord Botetourt volleyball team came away champions in the “Tournament of Champions” at Patrick Henry High School last weekend. The LB girls beat five opponents without losing a set as they improved their record to 19-0 on the season.
“We had a great tournament,” said LB coach Julie Conner. “The team had a lot of energy and played very well. I was proud of the girls for coming from behind in our last match to beat Blacksburg. We are looking forward to the postseason.”
Botetourt had four predetermined opponents in best-of-three matches. LB opened with a 25-17, 25-11 win over host PH, then beat E.C. Glass 25-16, 25-10, Radford 25-12, 25-15, and Tunstall 25-12, 25-15. That set the Cavaliers up for a match against the winner of the other pool, Blacksburg, and the Cavaliers beat a solid Bruins team for the third time this season, 25-15, 25-23. The Cavs came from behind to pull out the second set to keep their record of not losing a set all season intact.
LB senior standout Miette Veldman finished the tournament with 47 kills, 41 digs and seven aces. Veldman now has over 1,000 digs for her LB career.
Jordyn Kepler added to her school career record with 108 assists while serving seven aces. Kenleigh Gunter had 35 digs, Taylor Robertson had 30 kills and 48 digs and Ryanna Clark had 31 kills.
The win followed a three-set victory over Franklin County last Thursday. LB clinched the Blue Ridge District regular season championship with a 25-10, 25-15 and 25-11 win in Rocky Mount.
Gunter had 12 digs in this one as she also went over 1,000 for her career. Veldman had 17 kills, Robertson had nine and Clark and Parker Hudson had four each. Kepler had 29 assists.
The win gave LB an 8-0 district record with two BRD matches remaining, and everyone else in the district has at least three district losses. The Cavaliers were at Northside Tuesday and will host William Fleming on Thursday in Daleville.
Next week LB will host Abingdon on Monday, and the Falcons usually have a good team.
“I don’t know much about Abingdon this year,” said Conner. “It will be good to see them before the region tournament starts.”
The Blue Ridge District tournament is also next week, and LB will open in the semifinal round at Northside on October 24.
