The Lord Botetourt volleyball team took a thrilling five-set win over William Byrd Monday night to advance in the Region 3D tournament. The Cavaliers were scheduled to play top-seeded Abingdon on Tuesday night in Abingdon.
LB came in as the fifth seed in the 10-school region tournament and drew fourth seeded William Byrd in Tuesday’s quarterfinal round. The Cavaliers had played Byrd twice before, losing in five sets in Daleville and three in Vinton during the regular season. As the fourth seed Byrd got to host Monday’s match.
This one started out well for the Cavaliers, who won the first two sets both by scores of 25-22. However, Byrd fought back with a vengeance, winning the third set, 25-14, then staying alive with a hard-fought 27-25 win in the fourth set to even the match. However, the Cavaliers took the fifth and deciding set to 15 by a 15-12 count to advance.
Parker Hudson led the Cavaliers with 20 kills and 18 digs while Annelise Wolfe had 17 kills and three serving aces. Sydney Whorley had 40 assists, 18 digs, five kills and five aces on a great all-around night. Anna Dewease had 23 digs on the back row, Nora Spickard had seven kills, 14 digs and three aces, Hailey Deter had three blocks and Julianna Stephenson had eight digs.
With the win Botetourt improved to 8-4 on the pandemic-abbreviated season. The region semifinals are tonight and the championship is Thursday. Only the winner advances to the state championship tournament.