Lady Raiders Defeat Chadron

Sidney's Lady Raider Volleyball team had split their first two meetings with Chadron, and hosted the Lady Cardinals on Tuesday at the Cabela's Athletic Center. Chadron had just beaten the Lady Raiders three days prior, and Sidney Head Coach Marcus Ehrke knew that adjustments had to be made and his team needed to stay focused to beat the visitors.

The first set was tight until Sidney's defense stiffened and Chadron had difficulty finding any weak spots to score. Senior Mattie Johnson powered 7 kills in the opening set while junior Karly Sylvester registered 6 kills while dominating the front line. Senior Nicole Birner took advantage of Chadron's defensive confusion during the set, dropping in shots and playing great defense. Sidney took the first set 25-to-16.

Sidney started slowly in the second set, and Chadron jumped out to a 10-to-5 lead. The Lady Cardinals improved their defensive play, causing Sidney problems with their offense. But the Lady Raiders kept battling, with kills from junior Logan Holly and great defense by Sylvester got Sidney to within one point at 20-to-21. But a few hitting and serving errors stopped the Sidney rally, and the Lady Cardinals took the second set 25-to-21.

Sidney again started slowly in the third set but was able to tie 6-to-6 on a Logan Holly kill. The teams battled for points until Sidney was able to pull away after tying the set 17-to-17. But Chadron fought back to tie at 23, but Mattie Johnson was able to get a kill to give Sidney a 25-to-24 advantage, then registered an ace to take the set 26-to-24. In the final set, Sidney again started slowly, but errors and mishits by Chadron let the Lady Raiders right back in the set and the home team took advantage. Kills and aces by Johnson and great defensive play by Sylvester and Holly pulled Sidney out to a 17-to-11 lead. But Chadron regrouped and went on a 9-to-1 run, closing the lead to 20-to-19. Sidney fell behind, but battled back to tie the score at 24 on a Holly kill. Another Holly kill gave Sidney a 25-to-24 lead, then a hitting error by Chadron ended the set with Sidney winning 26-to-24 for the three sets to one match victory.

Ehrke was pleased with the effort, saying, "I was very proud of the girls in bouncing back from a very tough and disappointing defeat to Chadron just three days prior. They attacked the ball so much smarter, and relied on the communication from their back row to help beat the block of Chadron. We focused on the Chadron hitting tendencies in practice on Monday, as well as watching film to help make adjustments to change the end result. I thought the girls did a great job of listening to their coaches and teammate's advice, and playing with much more consistency."

The Lady Raiders were scheduled to travel to Gering and face the Lady Bulldogs on Tuesday.