Photos by Brian Hoffman
The Lord Botetourt girls won a tough Blue Ridge District volleyball tournament last week and this week they’re in an even tougher Region 3D tournament.
The Cavaliers were scheduled to host Magna Vista in the region tournament Tuesday night. The Warriors are the sixth seed in the 10-team tournament while LB is the third seed.
Region 3D has to be the toughest region in the state in Class 3. Lord Botetourt comes into the week at 21-1 and is only the third seed. Hidden Valley, the defending state champ, is the top seed at 24-1, and Christiansburg is seeded second at 19-3, with two losses to Hidden Valley and one to LB. Christiansburg and Botetourt split two regular season matches, and that earned the Blue Demons the second seed over LB.
“Points were tight and we needed to beat Christiansburg the last time to get to second,” said LB coach Samantha Wilkins.
Tuesday’s action was too late for publication, but if LB won they would advance to the region semifinal on Thursday. That will almost certainly be at Christiansburg, and the winner gets a spot in the state tournament. The Region 3D championship match is next Tuesday, November 12.
Botetourt breezed through the district tournament last week, defeating Franklin County in three sets in Thursday’s championship game in Daleville. Botetourt won 25-14, 25-9, and 25-16. Becca Huddleston had 12 kills and three blocks for LB while Bria Harvey had 16 digs and Skylar Morris had 33 assists, 10 digs, and four aces.
After the tournament, the All-Blue Ridge District team was announced and to the victors went the spoils. Morris was named BRD Player-of-the-Year and also named to the first team were Huddleston, Harvey, and Erica Gergely. Second team selections from LB were Alicia Holmes, Maddie Caron, and Gracelyn Clark.
Samantha Wilkins, in her first year as head coach of the Cavaliers, was the named the Blue Ridge District Coach-of-the-Year.
