The Lord Botetourt volleyball team will compete in the “Tournament of Champions” event at Patrick Henry High School on Saturday. The “tournament” has a predetermined schedule and is one of the highlights of the volleyball regular season in the Roanoke Valley.
Lord Botetourt will be the “big dog” in the event as the Cavaliers come in as two-time defending Class 3 state champions. They were undefeated coming into the week with matches scheduled for Tuesday and Thursday at Staunton River and Franklin County. LB was heavily favored in both, as the Cavaliers have yet to lose a set this season in running up a 13-0 record.
Botetourt will meet E.C. Glass, Radford, Tunstall and host Patrick Henry in the Tournament of Champions. The Cavs will also play one crossover match with the other pool of teams, to be determined Saturday.
The Cavaliers had no trouble putting away a couple “Williams” last week, as they eased to wins over Blue Ridge District rivals William Fleming and William Byrd. At Fleming the girls won 25-3, 25-14 and 25-4 against the overmatched Colonels. Miette Veldman had 11 kills and two aces, Ryanna Clark had eight kills, Taylor Robertson had three kills, five aces and seven digs and Jordyn Kepler had 19 assists, six digs and four aces.
LB played host to a solid William Byrd team on Thursday of last week but had little trouble with the Terriers, winning 25-16, 25-17 and 25-7. Veldman had 18 kills in this one while Robertson had 14 and Clark had nine. Kepler had 43 assists, adding to her school career record, and Kenleigh Gunter had 18 digs.
“The team played well against William Byrd,” said coach Julie Conner. “We focused on speeding up our tempo and mixing up our plays. We are looking forward to a great week and the tournament this weekend.”
