by Lisa Hinton-Valdrighi
After going the distance and coming from two sets down to beat Rappahannock during the last week of the regular season, Lancaster suffered an upset at the hands of the Lady Raiders to bow out of the Northern Neck District tournament early on Tuesday, October 28.
Lancaster won the regular season championship after going unbeaten, 10-0, against district teams and entered the tournament semifinals as the favorite to take the trophy. However, the Lady Devils were missing sophomore starting hitter Lexi VerMeer, who was also absent from the lineup for the last two regular season matches.
VerMeer, who was out with a foot injury, was named the district’s player of the year.
Fourth-seeded Rappahannock took advantage of her absence and swept Lancaster, 3-0, in the semifinals but went on to lose in the tournament championship, 3-1, to Northumberland.
Lancaster made the Lady Raiders work for the semifinal win, losing the first and third sets by two, 25-23. RHS won the second set, 25-17.
Kelsie Cox had eight kills and Kelsey Bishoff seven to lead the Lancaster front line.
Addie George led behind the service line with four aces and had 30 of Lancaster’s 107 digs in the match. Mckenzie Pittman had 21 digs, Bishoff 17 and Suzie Geier 17. Along with 15 digs, Rory Lally had 21 assists.
