varsity.roanoke.com

JARED SOARES The Roanoke Times

Lord Botetourt players Keegan Brads (3) and Macey Tyree have led the Cavs to the Blue Ridge District regular-season title.

JARED SOARES The Roanoke Times

Lord Botetourt High volleyball players Keegan Brads and Macey Tyree Wednesday afternoon in Daleville.The Cavs won the Blue Ridge District regular season title with an 8-0 record.

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DALEVILLE -- Here's a question:

How does a team respond heading into a new season after losing four seniors, including the 2008 Timesland player of the year, and getting a new head coach?

Well, the Lord Botetourt volleyball team responded by sweeping its Blue Ridge District regular-season schedule, losing just one game in eight matches, and compiling a 17-3 overall record as the Cavaliers head into the district tournament this week.

First-year head coach Cheryl Shockley and her team have put together a better record than 2008's squad even after losing standout libero MacKenzie Tyree.

Two of the players that have made that happen are senior setter Keegan Brads and junior outside hitter Macey Tyree, MacKenzie's sister.

"They are very good volleyball players. ... Those two will stand out the most because Macey takes a lot of swings during the game [and] Keegan is the setter, so she's gonna set the ball every time, but what they've done is Keegan has taken a more complicated offense ... [and] to take that and to put it into play and for a high school setter to be able to do what she's been doing is very impressive. That has absolutely helped us a lot," Shockley said. "Whenever there is an emergency situation, we know we can give the ball to Macey and she's gonna put the ball on the other side of the court somewhere.

"But the people that fill in around them are just as important."

The Cavaliers have gotten contributions from all over, including co-captain Leah Poehner, senior Sydney Clarke, and sophomore Nikki Dean.

So how did the team come together so quickly?

What super team-building exercise got the team off on the right foot and culminated in a guaranteed Region III playoff berth?

According to the girls, not really anything.

"Everybody just kind of clicked," Tyree said. "We didn't really do like a team bonding thing to get to know [Shockley] or anything. Everything just seemed to fit together."

So everything worked out for Lord Botetourt and it's "mission accomplished" now right?

Not quite.

A regular-season district crown is all well and good, but the Cavaliers are now ready for a postseason run.

That begins Tuesday when the Cavaliers play the winner of tonight's match between Alleghany and Northside in the district tournament.

And after a successful regular season, Shockley has her players in the right mindset to prolong their season.

"As far as confidence ... that makes us more of a target for the other teams," she said. "So that's our main focus, knowing that we're targets and teams are gonna come and get us, so we're actually working harder and focusing more on the little things."

Both Brads and Tyree seem to think that their team has what it takes to follow through with Shockley's plan.

"I think we're physically ready to go as far as we need to go and mentally, too," Brads said. "And if we set our minds to do it, I think we can do it."

Tyree's assessment also focused on fixing little things like footwork and communication, but added that this team has gotten better up to this point and if it wants to go far in the postseason, that can't stop.

"I think that ... we're peaking right now and we picked a good time to peak," Tyree said. "Just hopefully we keep going higher and don't stop now."

As for the seniors that are ready for one last run, Brads knows how she'd like this story to end.

"I think if we made it to states that would be an excellent accomplishment, especially since it's my senior year," she said.

"I'd love to go out playing with these girls as long as I can and I think that would be a great accomplishment, not just for me, but for all of us as a team to do something as good as that."