Lady Raiders Sweep Tri Match

Sidney's Lady Raider Volleyball team hosted a triangular meet on Thursday at Sidney High School, and the North Platte and Ogallala teams came in ready to set the tone to start the season.

First, Sidney played North Platte, and the teams squared off in the first set with no team gaining advantage through the beginning stages of the set. Sidney finally took a 7-to-5 lead on senior Mattie Johnson's block, and seemed to finally gain momentum against the Lady Bulldogs. But North Plate came back to tie at 7, and the set continued to be a back and forth battle until Sidney was able to open a three point lead 15-12, which it was able to maintain through the remainder of the set ending in a final of 25-to-20 for Sidney.

The second set started in a similar fashion as the first, but North Platte was able to pull away, opening a six point lead 15-to-9 in their favor. Sidney battled back through the remainder of the set, but was unable to get closer than two points, and fell in the second set 25-to-21. But the third set showed Sidney's determination, as they quickly fell behind 0-to-2 and found themselves trailing 5-to-8 before finally gaining momentum and overcoming a series of bad serves on offense. The Lady Raiders finally tied the game at 12, then continued to build momentum, turning back North Platte and ending the third set with a score of 25-17 to take the match against North Platte two games to one.

Coach Lu Howard of Sidney remarked in between matches that Ogalalla would be the real test, saying "We haven't beat them in four years. This win against North Platte was great, but we're really going to have to play our best to get past Ogallala tonight."

The Sidney girls were ready for the challenge, but it would not come easy for them.

Ogallala played tough and found the holes in the Sidney defense and took the first set 25-to-21. But Sidney regrouped and shook off their nerves, making adjustments for the final two sets by changing their service patterns and finding Ogallala's weaknesses, while maintaining their discipline and playing smart defense to take the final two sets 25-to-20 and 25-to-20 from the Lady Indians, to force the upset.

"The girls played like a team and had a lot of fun. If the girls compete like this going forward, we may be able to make an appearance at the state championships", Lu Howard said.

She added, "Many of the spectators told me that this was one of the most fun matches to watch. The girls started off really nervous, but we practiced hard and had good chemistry going in. It was a fun match to watch."

Sidney was scheduled to play Mitchell away on Tuesday.