Altavista volleyball increased its win streak to five games Monday evening by finishing off a dominant run through the Region 1B tournament. In Altavista, the top-seeded Colonels secured the region title with a 3-0 victory over second-seeded Rappahannock County (14-10) — their fifth straight sweep — and earned the right to return to their home court for the upcoming Class 1 state tournament.
Emma Greer tallied a team-best 18 kills and Carter Stinnette chipped in 13, Gaby Green led the way in the digs category with 17, and Katelyn Grace recorded 40 assists in Altavista's 25-16, 26-18, 25-20 triumph.
ACS improved to 15-8 with the win and earned a date with Middlesex, the Region 1A runner-up, in the state quarterfinals, set for Saturday (time to be announced). Middlesex (21-3) fell, 3-1, to Rappahannock (22-3) in its region title tilt Monday.
Altavista will make its third straight state tourney appearance this weekend, though it will serve as host for the first time in that span. It was forced to travel for the quarterfinals each of the last two years, and fell in that round.
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Two other Virginia High School League Teams from the area, Rustburg and Appomattox, already have secured state tournament berths, as well.
Rustburg will travel to Christiansburg or Hidden Valley for the Class 3 quarterfinals Saturday (time TBA). Appomattox will play in the Class 2 tournament. Whether it will host or travel for the quarterfinals will be determined Tuesday, when the Raiders host James River (Buchanan) in the Region 2C championship at 6:30 p.m. Winner of that game earns home-court advantage for the first round of states.
Two other local teams also will play in a state tournament this week. New Covenant and Virginia Episcopal are set to kick off their stays in the Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association’s Division III state tournament Tuesday. They’ll each host quarterfinal matches.
Timberlake Christian (24-3) is seeded second and will take on seventh-seeded Trinity at Meadow View (17-7). New Covenant (24-2) is seeded fourth and will take on fifth-seeded Greenbrier Christian (27-5).
The semifinals are slated for Thursday or Friday with the championship set to take place at 10 a.m. Saturday at The Steward School.
Elsewhere in the area private school ranks, Virginia Episcopal’s girls tennis team is headed to states, as well. The Bishops (10-3) are seeded fifth in VISAA’s Division II and will take on fourth-seeded Covenant in the quarterfinals at 2 p.m. Tuesday at Penn Park in Charlottesville.
Covenant (9-3) won a regular-season meeting with VES 6-3 in early September.
Semifinals and finals in that tournament are slated for Thursday and Saturday.
Local college teams learn NCAA paths
Four area teams from University of Lynchburg and Liberty University earned tickets to NCAA tournaments over the weekend.
Field hockey squads at both schools grabbed spots in the Division I and III tourneys.
The Flames (17-2), ranked sixth nationally, received the program’s first at-large bid in Division I, following a 3-1 loss to Old Dominion on Sunday in the Big East championship. They will take on No. 12 Syracuse (10-7) at 2:30 p.m. in the Sweet 16 at Duke University’s Jack Katz Stadium. The Flames’ ticket is their fifth in the program’s 13-year history, following four previous automatic qualifications via conference championships.
The other matchup at the site pits third-ranked Duke (16-4), the tourney’s No. 3 overall seed, and American (11-7).
In Division III, Lynchburg was chosen as a first-round host following its ODAC championship (its 22nd in program history) Saturday. The No. 11 Hornets (19-2) will begin their tourney appearance with a game against Keystone (11-5) at 2 p.m. Wednesday. The teams have never before met.
The contest will mark the final showing for coach Enza Steele at Shellenberger Field. She is set to retire following the season, her 45th at the helm, to wrap up a career that includes more than 640 wins in the sport.
LU’s women’s soccer team and UL’s men’s soccer teams also punched spots to NCAA tournaments after winning conference titles.
Liberty (16-2-1), the Conference USA champ (with a 2-1 victory over New Mexico State in the title game Sunday), will travel to Athens, Georgia, to battle No. 4 overall seed and Southeastern Conference champ Georgia (11-4-5) in the opening round of the Division I tournament at 4 p.m. Friday. The Flames now have advanced to the NCAA tourney eight times.
The site also features a matchup between No. 5 seed Iowa and Bucknell.
Following its 3-1 win over Washington and Lee for the program’s 19th Old Dominion Athletic Conference title, Lynchburg will embark on its 19th NCAA Division III tournament this weekend. It takes on Ohio Northern (12-5-3) for the first-ever time in the first round at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Shellenberger Field.
The Hornets must overcome a tough path to earn the program’s first national title, as the other matchup at Shellenberger pits 11-time NCAA champ Messiah (19-0-1) and Baruch (9-6-0).
UL’s win Sunday marked the school’s fourth ODAC title of the fall, following field hockey’s victory Saturday and a third consecutive sweep of the league championships by the men’s and women’s cross country teams.
Kayla Werner, a Lynchburg product who started her collegiate career at Liberty after being homeschooled, was named women’s runner of the meet after winning that ODAC championship race. Her younger sister Kristen Werner was named rookie of the meet.
Green makes history as basketball teams kick off seasons
Carey Green climbed to the top of the Liberty career leaderboard Monday in his team’s foray into the 2023-24 season. The Flames women’s basketball coach notched win No. 548 in the opener of his 25th season at the program’s helm to become the winningest coach in Liberty athletics history.
In leading Liberty to a 68-46 victory over Frostburg State on Monday at Liberty Arena, Green passed Liberty Athletics Hall of Famer Paul Wetmore, who recorded 547 victories as softball coach from 1994 to 2013.
Also Monday, the Liberty University of Virginia and Virginia Tech men’s teams kicked off their 2023-24 seasons with wins. At Liberty Arena, the Flames toppled Mid-Atlantic Christian 103-43, UVa defeated Tarleton State 80-50 at John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, and the Hokies took down Coppin State 100-55 at Cassell Coliseum in Blacksburg.