Lady Raiders Getting It Done

Sidney’s Lady Raider Volleyball team racked up another three wins over the course of the week, with the third victory a thrilling come-from-behind win on the road in Alliance. The Lady Raiders started the week last Tuesday with a Triangular at home against Chadron and Bridgeport, their first matches of the season at Sidney High School. First up was the Chadron Lady Cardinals led by senior standout middle hitter Anika Burke. The Chadron team entered the match with a record of 3-and-2, with the losses coming from rivals Alliance and Gering, while the Lady Raiders came into the match on a six match win streak after dropping their opener to Scottsbluff. However, the Lady Raiders would have to face the Chadron and Bridgeport squads without one of their team leaders, senior outside hitter Logan Holly, who was sidelined with a shoulder injury.

Sidney scored the first point of the match, but the Lady Cardinals went on a run to open a 6-to-1 lead. Sidney battled back and kept pace until Chadron took a time out with the score 15-to-16 in Chadron’s favor. The teams traded points until Sidney evened the set at 21-to-21. Senior Karly Sylvester pounded down a big kill to tie the teams at 24, but Chadron took the next two points to take a set that could have gone either way, 26-to-24.

During the break, the Sidney girls got together and the smiles and laughter in the huddle showed confidence that carried over into the next set. After Chadron went up 11-to-7, Sidney went on a run with a great kill by senior Morgan Jaggers kicking off a flurry of scoring capped off by an ace serve by senior Emma Wintholz that tied the set at 11. After another Sidney hit that dropped and left the Chadron team standing around the campfire, head coach Blakelee Hoffman called a time out to stop the Sidney momentum and get the Chadron team refocused. The teams then traded points until Sidney started pull away, eventually taking the second set by a score of 25-to-20. In the third set, Sidney started a bit slowly, then built momentum and after going up 10-to-9, never trailed again and took the third set 25-to-19 for the 2 sets to 1 match victory. Sidney out hit the Lady Cardinals 37-to-21 led by Sylvester’s 14 kills, followed by Jaggers with nine kills in the win.

Sidney next faced Bridgeport in the final match of the night, and the Lady Bulldogs had just come off a 25-to-7, 25-to-7 straight set drubbing at the hands of Chadron. However, the Bridgeport girls found their rhythm against the Lady Raiders and surprised the the Sidney squad with a 25-to-18 first set victory. The Lady Raiders battled back to take the second set 25-to-22 and the third set 25-to-18, but the match showed the Sidney squad still had work to do with setting, communication and court coverage. Sidney outhit Bridgeport 38-to-28 with junior Alecca Campbell leading the Sidney offense with 11 kills while junior Brynna Ross had 13 assists in the win.

Sidney next traveled to Alliance Thursday night to take on the rival Lady Bulldogs, and although the Alliance team came into the match with a 4-and-5 record, the Lady Raiders knew that the Lady Bulldogs were always tough to beat at home. Still without Logan Holly, the Lady Raiders came out flat and quickly dropped the first set 25-to-13, victimized by unforced errors. Sidney was able to regroup and play better in the second set and outlasted the Alliance squad for a 25-to-23 victory to tie the match at one set each. In the third set, the Lady Raiders started to show their dominance opening up a lead and eventually getting to 23-to-17 and in position to take a two sets to one lead. But the Lady Bulldogs wouldn’t go away, and the Sidney girls seemed to lose focus and let the lead start slipping away. Alliance survived three set points, and eventually tied it all up at 24. Then the Lady Bulldogs took the next two points, won the set 26-to-24, and took a two sets to one lead.

If the Lady Raiders are able to repeat as District Champion and earn another trip to the State Tournament, they can look back at the last two sets in this match as proof that they had the grit and fortitude to overcome adversity and play together as a unit. After opening a 5-to-2 lead in the fourth set, Alliance battled back to tie and then take a 9-to-5 lead. Sidney bore down and got fired up, going on a 7-to-1 run to take a 13-to-10 lead and force an Alliance time out. The teams traded scores with Sidney staying ahead until the Lady Bulldogs went on an 8-to-3 run after being down 19—to-15 to take a 23-to-22 lead. After getting to match point, Sidney was able to pull out the set victory when a kill by Sylvester, a kill by Biesecker and a hitting error by Alliance’s Shelbee Burke sealed the set victory for Sidney, and took the momentum away from Alliance. Sidney then went into the fifth set and battled back and forth with Alliance, but eventually pulled away going on a 4-to-1 run to end the set 15-to-11 and take the 3-to-2 match victory. Sidney outhit Alliance 52-to-42 and Karly Sylvester had 20 kills in the victory. Sidney was scheduled to host Chase County on Tuesday.

On the upcoming match versus Chase County, Sidney Head Coach Julie Smith said, “We expect a battle with them, as they’ve split with Alliance and had two wins over the weekend. They’re long and athletic, se we’re going to have to come ready to play.”

Smith expects to find out more about Logan Holly’s shoulder injury sometime this week.