SIDNEY – The Sidney Lady Raiders rode fast starts in every set and held off late rallies to sweep the Alliance Bulldogs 28-26, 25-18, 26-24 Thursday night at the Cabela’s Athletic Facility.

Sidney jumped out to an 8-2 lead in the opening set behind four early kills from Reagan Nesbitt. Alliance answered with a 6-1 run to close the gap, eventually pulling even at 13. From there, the teams traded points in a back-and-forth battle that featured eight more ties. Both squads fought off set points before Sidney finally sealed the win, 28-26, on a kill by Rylan Misegadis.

The second set belonged to the Lady Raiders from the start. Sidney never trailed, stretching an 11-4 lead and keeping Alliance at arm’s length the rest of the way. Three service aces and a strong defense carried the Raiders to a 25-18 victory and a 2-0 lead in the match.

Once again, Sidney started fast in the third, building a 12-5 cushion, but Alliance wasn’t done. Behind the hot hitting of sophomore Ryli Poss, who tallied four key kills during the surge, the Bulldogs clawed back to tie the set at 19 and later earned set point at 24-22.

But the Lady Raiders had the last word. Sidney fended off both set points, tied the score at 24, and closed on a 4-0 run to secure the set 26-24 and the sweep.

Nesbitt led Sidney with 13 kills, hitting .205 on the night. Kierra Schrader added nine kills with a .216 efficiency, while Misegadis and Jordynn Schnell chipped in six kills apiece to balance the attack.

For Alliance, Poss tallied 11 kills while hitting .375. Addison Weber also reached double figures with 10 kills while hitting only .061.

Sidney improves to 7-4 on the season while Alliance falls to 5-9. The Lady Raiders will travel to Imperial next Tuesday to battle the Chase County Longhorns. Catch all the action Tuesday on 1340 AM/95.7FM Cheyenne County Country, online at thebigboy987.com, or on the News Channel Nebraska App.