Photo by Jim & Regina Devinney
The James River volleyball team will finish the regular season with two matches against Three Rivers District opponents this week. The Knights were scheduled to play at Radford on Tuesday, then host Alleghany on Thursday.
The Three Rivers does not have a district tournament, so after this week it’s straight to the Region 2C tourney for the Knights. That’s scheduled to begin next Tuesday, November 1, and opponents will be determined this week.
River comes into the week at 7-9 after falling to two of the top teams in the district last week. The Knights opened last week at Glenvar, who is undefeated and the defending Class 2 state champion. The Highlanders remained undefeated with a three set win, 25-11, 25-12 and 25-12.
Ava Thacker and Ripley had four kills each for River and Emma Francis had three kills and a block. Brea Anduiza had two aces and Mary Hoye had 13 digs.
“We played well against a really tough team,” said River coach Davina Copsey.
On Thursday of last week the girls were at in Hillsville to take on Carroll County and the host Cavaliers took a three set win, 25-17, 25-15 and 25-15. Barry and Francis had five kills each, Bella Gilliland had three aces and Hoye had 17 digs.
“The team played well, especially defensively, but we needed to generate more offense,” said Copsey.