Trotters drop rough game to St. Ignatius

The Plains Trotters had another hard night on the volleyball court last Friday after Mission’s Lady Bulldogs shut the Trotter’s varsity out 3-0, pushing the team to 0-3 for the season.

Despite the seemingly dramatic shutout, the game could have gone either way. The individual scores of the first and last matches were a close battle.

The Trotters lost by only four points in their first match, 25-21, and lost only by three points in their third match, 25-22, while their second match was an 11-point loss at 25-14.

Throughout the night of numerous almosts and close calls Trotters Coach Jesse Cahala was calling time outs and calling out from the side lines to try and focus her team.

“You guys need to make the choice! Keep on the balls of your feet! If you’re going to take it, step in and take it!” she’d shout.

“The team has to make the choice to get it done. They have the ability to win, it’s making the conscious decision to do it. It’s now or never,” Cahala said after the game.

She added that while the team has the positive trait of never giving up, they have had the tendency of letting up.

This observation might have held true in the varsity’s third match with Mission.

Out of the three matches during the night this one was the most hotly contested. The Trotters were tied with Mission 16 to 16, they then held the tie to 19 to 19 and then moved it still upward to 22 to 22. It was here in a time period of about five minutes the game and match was lost as Mission sent three continuous volleys over the net to take the win.

Reflecting on the game Lacey Hermiston, a junior, said that she thought that the team still had a few things to fine tune.

“We’re doing good we just need to pull ourselves together,” Hermiston said. She thought working on timing hits would be a good technique to practice in the future.

Cahala said that one of the team mottos that they have is “break the mold.” The motto was created by Cahala to give the team incentive and focus on making the decision step up their game like she knows they can.

Proof of the teams potential to do better could be seen in the game as the team didn’t hold back when a dive to the floor was required. Hermiston and Alexis Kunzer, a junior, took repeated dives throughout the night. These hard efforts saved quite a few points from going to the Bull Dogs and were a signature reason why the matches were so close.

The teams next home game will be on Oct. 4 against Darby and then again on Oct. 7 with Loyola.