The Lord Botetourt volleyball team heads to the state tournament with an undefeated record after 28 matches. Last week the Cavaliers won the Class 3A, Region D tournament without losing a set.

Botetourt will open state play at home on Saturday as the Region D champ. They’ll play the Region C runner-up, and that will be either Rockbridge County or Spotswood. Those two are playing for the Region C championship tonight.

Game time for Saturday is tentatively set for 6 p.m. LB must get the okay from Wednesday’s winner before a final time is set. Hidden Valley, the Region D runner-up, will play at the Rockbridge-Spotswood winner on Saturday.

The state semifinal is Tuesday. If LB and Hidden Valley both win on Saturday, the match will be in Daleville. If Lord Botetourt and the Region C champ both win, then the Region C champ gets to host. The state final is next Saturday, November 18, at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond.

As far as LB coach Julie Conner can find, the best LB has ever done in volleyball is a trip to the first round of the state. That was in 2010.

“Our girls are very motivated,” said Conner. “We played very well in the regional against Abingdon and Hidden Valley. They played great defense and did a good job of getting all our hitters involved. I’m very proud of them.”

LB beat Abingdon in the semifinals, 25-10, 25-18 and 25-18.  Miette Veldman had 15 kills, 11 digs and five blocks and Lara Veldman had nine kills, seven digs and a couple aces. Catherine Reinard and Broooklyn Shelton had seven kills each, Jordyn Kepler had 38 assists and Kenleigh Gunter had 13 digs.

On Thursday the Cavs, who were the number one seed, had to play Hidden Valley on the Titans home court, as Hidden Valley was the designated site. Not to worry, as LB won in three again, 25-17, 26-24 and 25-14.

Miette Veldman had 18 kills, 12 digs and three aces and Lara had 11 kills and 10 digs. Reinard had seven kills and a couple aces, Kepler had 40 assists and eight digs, Gunter had 16 digs and Alexis Ellis had 11.