Sidney volleyball splits home triangular

It was a bag of mixed marbles for the Sidney High varsity volleyball team, as it split its home triangular on Tuesday night at the Cabela’s Athletic Facility. The Lady Raiders were swept by Chadron in the first match, but came back to sweep Bridgeport in the second.

Sidney (3-3) made several mistakes early on against a fiery young Chadron (4-1) team but still held a 13-7 lead at one point on the strength of its blocking. Chadron’s big swingers – junior Chandler Hagemanna and sophomore Jadyn McCartney – had a tough time finding open space for kills early in the match. The Cardinals were also victimized by a slew of miscues – particularly by their younger players – and Sidney was able to capitalize.

But then the tide turned dramatically. Chadron’s younger players cut down on their mistakes, Hagemann and McCartney started finding holes and the Cardinals went on an 8-2 run to tie the match at 15-15.

Chadron started making the same blocks that Sidney had been making early on. That, combined with a continually aggressive attack, handed Chadron all the momentum. Chadron’s blocks and spikes were emphatic, which forced the Sidney defense to take a few steps back. In the end, Chadron went on an 18-4 run to win the first set, 25-17.

In the second set, the two teams exchanged points until Chadron led, 19-18. But the Cardinals got into a rhythm at the perfect time and managed a 6-1 run to close out the sweep, winning the second set 25-19.

Head coach Sarah Wilson says lack of preparation was an issue against Chadron.

“We obviously weren’t ready to play Chadron,” Wilson said. “We came out really flat. We didn’t have the energy. Our fundamentals were failing and we didn’t play at the high level of intensity that we needed to. We weren’t attacking aggressively. They’ve (Chadron) got good hitters and we made too many of our own errors.”

But the Lady Raiders needed to shake off a rough performance quickly.

A little more than an hour later – after Chadron proceeded to sweep Bridgeport – Sidney took the floor against the Bulldogs. Bridgeport, a much smaller but defensively scrappy squad, gave the Lady Raiders almost as tough a test as Chadron did. But Sidney was able to respond with a 25-19 win in the first set.

Midway through the second set, Sidney held an 11-6 advantage as Bridgeport was having trouble mounting threatening attacks. But the Bulldogs’ hustle on defense kept them in the set all the way to end. The Lady Raiders prevailed, 25-22, for the sweep and the split on the night.

Wilson credits her team for bouncing back on its home floor and salvaging one of the two matches.

“Give the girls credit,” Wilson said. “They regrouped, they recognized (the errors in the Chadron match), they really worked hard and made a big effort to come out and be more aggressive and intense against Bridgeport.”

Seniors Savanna Rosenbaum and Chaona Radtke as well as junior Jasmine Jallen and sophomore Maddi Porter combined for 32 kills over the two matches. Junior Emily Mahr and senior Kaylee Jessen together totaled 31 assists.

The Lady Raiders will travel to Alliance on Thursday to play in their district opener at 7 p.m.

Area volleyball results

Tuesday, Sept. 16

- Sidney (3-3) swept by Chadron (4-1),

sweeps Bridgeport (4-5)

- Leyton (4-1) def. Paxton (3-2), 3-2

- Burns (1-1) def. Potter-Dix (3-3), 3-2

- Peetz (2-7) def. Briggsdale (7-4), 3-1