The Region 3D volleyball tournament is scheduled for this week and the Lord Botetourt girls are the fourth seed. The Cavaliers were scheduled to open the tournament with a home game on Tuesday.
Botetourt’s first round opponent is Christiansburg, the fifth seed. If the Cavaliers won that game they’ll have their work cut out for them on Thursday as they will likely meet the top seed, undefeated Hidden Valley. The Titans were home to Abingdon for a quarterfinal game on Tuesday and heavily favored to win. If they did, they will host the LB-Christiansburg winner Thursday at 6 p.m.
The top two teams in the tournament qualify for the state tournament, so Thursday’s semifinals will decide who plays on after this week and who stays home. The Region 3D championship game is scheduled for Saturday evening at 6 p.m. at the site of the highest remaining seed.
Lord Botetourt comes into the regional tournament on a roll. The Cavaliers swept the Blue Ridge District tournament last week with wins over Staunton River and Franklin County to run their winning streak to 15 in a row.
Franklin County had won a five-set semifinal over William Byrd and the Eagles were fired up for their trip to Daleville last Thursday. However, the Cavs threw water on the fire with a dominating three-set win, 25-8, 25-17, and 25-10.
”The team played with a lot of confidence on Thursday night and it really showed,” said LB coach Julie Conner. “We did a nice job controlling the match and staying aggressive. Skylar (Morris) did an awesome job running our offense and getting all our hitters involved, and they put the ball away. I am very proud of this group.”
Morris had 43 assists among LB’s 75 total points and also had nine digs, three aces, and a couple kills. Becca Huddleston and Nora Spickard had 13 kills each while Huddleston also had three aces and two blocks. Erica Gergely and Emma Rice had seven kills each, Christina Ellis had six, and Brie Beddingfield had 15 digs and a pair of aces.
The tournament championship gave the Cavaliers an 18-4 record and a perfect 12-0 record against Blue Ridge District teams. The All-Tournament team was announced after the tournament and, as expected, LB was well-represented. Spickard, Huddleston, Morris, and Beddingfield were named to the first team while Rice and Gergely were second team selections.