River View High School opened in 2010, consolidating Big Creek and Iaeger.
However, over that span, the Lady Raiders have yet to advance to the state volleyball tournament inside the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center.
History could be on the horizon in Bradshaw.
“The seniors really want to be the first team to go to the state tournament, so they are driven,” fifth-year head coach Dwayne Clark said. “They not only want to get there, they want to win some games there.”
The main reason for the optimism centers around five seniors that have already had a historic two-year run.
“Two years ago was the first time making it to the regional tournament,” Clark said. “This school never got out of the sectional until two years ago. We have 11 total players returning and seven new ones. Four of the five seniors are solid hitters and three of them had over 100 kills last year. We should be a very strong hitting team.”
Keylee Lester leads the senior core and has received interest from Southwest Virginia Community College recently. The versatile senior is coming off of a junior season where she recorded 280 kills, 121 aces, 314 digs and 269 receptions.
She will be flanked by fellow-seniors Baylei Vance and Brooklytn Blankenship. Vance put down 244 kills last year, while Blankenship dropped 227 bombs to go along with 62 aces.
“Keylee was like No. 2 in the state for serving aces and I also have a sophomore blocker, Chasity Kennedy, that had 48 blocks as a freshman,” Clark said.
Kennedy, who is working her way back after surgery in the summer, also averaged over 15 points per game for the regional co-champion basketball team a year ago.
While the power at the net will not a question mark, the Lady Raiders will be young at the setter position.
“We are training a sophomore setter this year. Our setter last year had over 100 aces and served 95 percent, so we lost a lot,” Clark explained. “Addison Honosky will be our setter and she played last year as a freshman. Addison played JV and we got her on some varsity reps last year because we knew we would be in this position.”
Moving a young player into such a vital role does come with some concerns, but Clark is convinced that Honosky can handle the rigors of such a key position.
“I am confident that she will do fine. Last year on JV she served really well. We will see how it goes as the season goes along,” Clark said. “It is a lot of pressure for a sophomore to step into that role, but we are running a 5-1 this year because I do have five solid hitters. I usually run the system based on the players that we have.”
River View also took a hit from graduation on the back row losing Brooke Fuller and Brooklyn Lester who combined for over 750 digs.
Helping to fill those gaps will be sophomore Baleigh Auville at the libero position, along with junior Mileigh Goodman and senior Sidney Lester.
To prepare for a possible state tournament run, the Class A Lady Raiders will face a strong schedule full of Class AA and AAA opponents this year. The list of competitors includes AAA PikeView along with AA powers James Monroe and Wyoming East.
River View will also play in the Nicholas County tournament and go back to the Volley in the Valley Tournament hosted by Greenbrier East.
“I told my kids that I was proud of them against Greenbrier East last year because we were the only team in our pool to score double digits against them. We made them earn every point,” Clark said. “We want the challenge. I don’t want to play teams that we can beat like 25-8. That is not good for anybody and kids learn bad habits. I would rather play tougher teams and a tougher schedule because it makes us better.”
Another factor in the quest for a trip to the Capital City this year has to do with reclassification. Former sectional rival James Monroe has moved up to AA. River View had finished runner-up to the Mavericks the last two years.
The sectional opponents for River View will be Greater Beckley Christian, Montcalm and Mount View in 2024.
A sectional championship title will afford the Lady Raiders the opportunity to host the regional co-final championship where they will face the runner-up from Section 2, consisting of Greenbrier West, Meadow Bridge, Richwood and Webster County.
“We legitimately have a chance to make the state tournament under the new system,” Clark said. “We made it to the regional the last two years under the old system. There were two teams (James Monroe and Greenbrier West) that went to the states every year and now one of those is out. That should give us a chance to go.”
River View opens the season on the road with a tri-match on Aug. 21 with Westside and Wyoming East.
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