Kirt Manion
kmanion@cherryroad.com
A Sidney volleyball season that began with modest goals of conference competitiveness ended with a conference championship and narrowly missed on an attempt to qualify for the state tournament.
Olivia Larsen, the team’s first-year head coach and a member of the 2019 state championship winning Sidney volleyball squad, said the 2024 squad’s focus was a day-to-day operation from the outset of the fall.
“I knew we could get there, but it was going to take a little time to build teamwork,” Coach Larsen said, adding that her team wasn’t thinking about the postseason.
The focus was on the Corner Conference, a league where Sidney has been extremely successful in recent history.
That success continued in 2024 as the team put together a one-loss league record and claimed a regular season conference championship.
East Mills, which handed Sidney its only regular season league loss, also kept Sidney from making it to the conference tournament championship match. Both of those matches were five-set decisions.
Looking back at the East Mills losses, Coach Larsen said the Sidney foe was a tough out for any team but seemed to cause Sidney particular match up problems that made the matches especially difficult.
The postseason began on Oct. 21 with Sidney winning the Class 1A Region 8 first round match against Nodaway Valley. Wins followed over Griswold in the 1A quarterfinal and Fremont-Mills in the 1A semifinals. All those matches were decided in three sets.
Sidney played on Oct. 30 against Don Bosco at Van Meter and fell in five sets. The Cowgirls rallied from down two sets. They won the third set 25-18 and the fourth set 25-23 to set up a fifth set which Don Bosco won 15-8.
“Getting to the regional final is something to be proud of,” Coach Larsen said. “We fought to the end.”
Sidney wrapped with a final record of 27-10.
Coach Larsen said seniors Addy Haning and Ava Osborn played major roles in the team’s success. Haning finished with 388 kills, but, more than her offensive production, Coach Larsen credited Haning for stepping up into a leadership role this season.
Osborn finished with 209 kills and seemed to get stronger with her performances as the season went along. She transferred back to Sidney this year after having been out of the district and Coach Larsen said she did a great job of re-introducing herself into the team dynamic and added that she played excellent ball in the finals.
The Sidney team has a bright future. Coach Larsen said the team will need to find hitters to replace the production they’re losing due to graduation. But the components of a solid team are present.
“I am looking forward to all our returners,” Larsen said.
