Lady Raiders Win Western Conference Tournament

Sidney's Lady Raider Volleyball team continued their outstanding play this season, traveling to Scottsbluff over the weekend and going undefeated in the Western Conference Tournament.

Sidney entered the tournament as the top seed, and faced Gering first Saturday morning. After winning the first set 25-to-20, Gering rebounded and took the second set from Sidney 25-to-21. Sidney regrouped in the third set, and after a hard-fought battle the Lady Raiders were finally able to put away the Lady Bulldogs 26-to-24 for the 2-to-1 match victory. Junior Karsyn Leeling led the offense with 17 kills and three ace serves and had 18 digs in the match. Senior Reese Riddle had 25 assists in the win.

Sidney next matched up against Chadron, and were able to put away the Lady Cardinals without much difficulty in straight sets, 25-to-14 and 25-to-17. Leeling again led the offense with 13 kills and Riddle had another 22 assists in the victory.

Sidney then faced number two seed Scottsbluff in the championship game. Scottsbluff earned their place in the contest by defeating Mitchell and Alliance earlier, and started hot against the Lady Raiders, taking the first set 25-to-18. But the Lady Raiders regrouped and dominated the second set 25-to-15, then sealed the victory with a 25-to-18 third set win for a 2-to-1 match victory. Leeling again led the offense with 17 kills while sophomore Kayla Westby added 10 kills. Riddle had an astounding 32 assists in the win. Riddle passed 1000 career assists in the tournament, and senior Rheagan Stanley set a new Lady Raider record for career digs with 1,323. She also holds the Sidney record for season digs at 551 in the 2021 season and digs per match at 36 in a match against Alliance in 2021. The Lady Raiders were next scheduled to match up with Chadron on Tuesday, October 11.