Statesmen Compete For Region X Championships This Weekend
SOUTH PRINCE GEORGE, VA – Saturday has national tournament implications for the Richard Bland College of William & Mary men's soccer and women's volleyball teams.
The soccer team heads to Allendale, SC as the No. 2 seed in the Region X Men's Soccer Championships, hosted by University of South Carolina Salkehatchie. The Statesmen, who received votes in the most recent NJCAA Division 1 national poll, are 14-2-2 on the season. RBC will face No. 3 seed Spartanburg Methodist, 17-5, on Saturday at 3 pm. The teams have split two games this season, Spartanburg defeated RBC 3-2 on Sept. 19 in Petersburg, while RBC secured a 3-1 victory on the road 10 days later.
No. 1 seed Louisburg (14-1-2), which climbed to No. 7 in the national rankings this week, faces No. 4 seed Wake Tech (11-6-1) in the first game on Saturday. Championship play is slated for Sunday afternoon. The Region X Champion will play in the NJCAA District Championship at the site of the Region 17 champion on Nov. 2-3.
The Statesmen are led in scoring by Brian Guerrero and Romeo Kayizali with 10 goals each. Guerrero has a team-best 23 points on the season. Umar Mujahid leads the team in assists with 12 goals. As a team, RBC is averaging 4.0 goals a game and allowing just 0.77. Goalie Seth Perez has seven wins on the season and has allowed just seven goals with a .767 save percentage.
"At this stage of the season you have the best teams playing," says head coach Damien Westfield. "Our game against Spartanburg is going to be very competitive. Both teams have had great seasons and we are evenly matched."
The women's volleyball team will play for a Region X championship on Saturday at 5 pm against the winner of the Spartanburg Methodist- Andrew College match. There will be a live stream of the finals at this link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3WWQllEkoxQMYB6jqVzGHg
The winner of that contest advances to Bradenton, Florida to compete in the Region 8 Championships, one of 14 district championships the NJCAA hosts. The two finalists from that event qualify for the NJCAA Division I National Championships on November 15-17 at the Hutchinson Sports Arena in Hutchinson, Kansas.
"From the start of the season the goal has been to win the Region and advance to the national championships," said head coach Scott Newton. "The team is looking forward to playing its best volleyball of the season on Saturday."
The Statesmen have defeated Spartanburg Methodist twice this season, the first coming in a tight 3-2 victory on September 8 at the Wake Tech Tournament. RBC then defeated the Pioneers 3-1 at home on September 29.
Harper Smith leads the Statesmen with 281 kills (3.85 kills per set), followed by freshman Clara Smith with159 (2.21 kps), and fellow freshman Cortney Bowen with 123 (1.76 kps). Redshirt freshman Lauryn Basl has 569 assists (8.549 assists per set), distributing the ball to five different players who average 1.5 kills per set or better.
The versatile Harper Smith leads the Statesmen in digs with 176 (2.41 digs per set). Clara Smith leads in attack percentage (.291) and Bowen in total blocks (1.34 per set), which is 4th best in the nation.