Sidney volleyball in the midst of important week

The Sidney High varsity volleyball team has quite an important week in front of it.

Between a home triangular against Chadron and Bridgeport – two teams that are a combined 6-4 – the Lady Raiders face their first district match of the 2014 season on Thursday against Alliance on the road.

The Lady Raiders come into Tuesday's triangular at the Cabelas Athletic Facility with some momentum on their side. They have picked themselves up about as well as they could have after a rather ugly start against two of Nebraska's top teams in North Platte and Ogallala.

An emotional five-set win last Tuesday in Mitchell as well as a sweep of Sutherland at home last Thursday has brought Sidney back to an even record of 2-2 on the year.

On the difficulty scale, Chadron and Bridgeport should be tests that register somewhere in the middle between those of North Platte/Ogallala and Sutherland.

The Lady Raiders know not to overlook these two teams in favor of their Thursday matchup with Alliance.

But the road match is definitely one for Sidney to circle on its calendar. The Bulldogs are also currently 2-2 and 1-1 in district. They swept Scottsbluff at home back on Sept. 4 and fell to Gering, 2-1, on Saturday.

So with a win on Thursday – granted it is early – Sidney has a chance to take over first place in B district 8.

Alliance's star player, senior middle blocker Kennedy Cyza, is a player who is similar to Sidney's Savanna Rosenbaum. Cyza, a 6-foot, 2-inch senior has 35 kills, a 45.5 kill percentage and 14 blocks on the season so far.

In all, the Bulldogs have four players with at least 15 kills after four matches.