The first of two intra-county volleyball clashes will be held tonight when James River visits Daleville to take on Lord Botetourt. The jayvees will tip things off at 5:30 p.m. with the varsity teams scheduled to bump at around 7 p.m.
Lord Botetourt is looking to bounce back off a tough stretch as the Cavaliers lost both of their matches last week to fall to an uncharacteristic 1-3.
The Cavaliers played host to Auburn last Tuesday in the annual battle of sisters, with Julie Conner coaching the Cavs and sister Sherry Millirons mentoring Auburn. Sherry has never lost to Julie in a high school match but it came down to the wire last week before the Eagles prevailed in five sets, 25-20, 14-25, 12-25, 25-19 and 15-10.
Becca Huddleston and Nora Spickard had 10 kills each for LB. Huddleston also had three aces, seven digs and six blocks while Spickard had a dozen digs and a team high four aces.
Skylar Morris had 27 assists to lead the Cavs and she also had a dozen digs, Gracelyn Clark had seven kills and Brie Beddingfield had a team high 20 digs and three aces.
On Thursday the Cavaliers played at Blacksburg and the Bruins swept the season series with a four set win. LB won the opening set, 25-23, but Blacksburg took the next three by scores of 25-18, 26-24 and 25-16.
Huddleston and Spickard had eight kills each to lead LB. Morris had 22 assists and a pair of aces and Beddingfield had 19 digs.
James River hosted Stuarts Draft in Springwood last week and won in straight sets to improve to 2-1 on the season. River won 27-25, 25-19 and 25-19.
Emma Lester led the Knights in kills with 10 and also had two aces. Bella Gilliland had nine kills while Emma Francis had six kills, two blocks and a pair of aces.
Senior libero Mary Hoye led River with 18 digs and she also had two aces. Brea Anduiza had 11 assists, nine digs, two aces and a kill while Konner Myers had 10 assists and 10 digs as the two sophomores split time at setter.
The Knights will be back in action Thursday when they return the trip to Stuarts Draft, and next Monday River will host Bassett.