Sidney Opens Season with pair of Straight Set Wins
The Sidney Lady Raider volleyball team opened their season with a pair of straight set wins at the Cabela’s Athletic Facility. A 25-15, 25-18, 25-15 win over the Sterling Tigers on Thursday, then a 25-14, 25-16, 25-22 win over Yuma Colorado on Saturday.
By News Channel Nebraska
SIDNEY – The Sidney Lady Raider volleyball team opened their season with a pair of straight set wins at the Cabela’s Athletic Facility. Sidney began their season on Thursday with a 25-15, 25-18, 25-15 win over the Sterling Tigers and then finished the weekend with a 25-14, 25-16, 25-22 win over Yuma Colorado.
Sidney trailed early in the first set on against Sterling on Thursday, the last time at 4-3, before the Lady Raider offense caught fire. Five kills and three ace serves sparked Sidney to a 12-2 run to take control of the set. Sidney did not trail in the match the rest of the afternoon. Sidney’s aggressive serving and scrappy defense disrupted the Tigers’ offense, holding Sterling to only 13 kills as a team. Sidney’s aggressive serve produced seven ace serves on the day but also 15 service errors.
Junior Karsyn Leeling led the Lady Raiders with 10 kills on .261 hitting while adding four ace serves in the match. Sophomore Kayla Westby added 9 kills on .381 hitting. Sidney outhit the Tigers 35-13 on the evening. Sophomore Ady Santomaso led Sterling with 6 kills on -.050 hitting as the Tigers suffered their first loss of the season to fall to 2-1.
Lady Raiders returned to the court for a match against Yuma Colorado on Saturday, and picked up where they left off on Thursday. Sidney’s aggressive serve held Yuma offense to just 14 kills on the afternoon while the Lady Raiders offense generated 39 kills. Sidney served seven aces in the match and was able to hold their service errors to just eight.
Karsyn Leeling led the Lady Raider attack once again with 14 kills. Kayla Westby added 9 kills in the win. Junior Caddis Robinson paced Yuma with 8 kills on the day. Yuma falls to 1-3 on the young season while Sidney is off to a 2-0 start.
The Lady Raiders will be back in action on Thursday, September 1st at the Ogallala Triangular. Sidney will face Ogallala at 4:00 p.m. and then take on North Platte at 5:00 p.m. at Prairie View School in Ogallala. Listen to both games on 1340 AM and 95.7 FM, Cheyenne County Country.