Plains has volleyball senior night spoiled

PLAINS –The Plains Trotters got off to a slow start and could not recover from it on senior night Saturday 16-25, 12-25, 29-27, 22-25.

For five Plains ladies they played their last home game in high school and put up a good fight starting in midway through the third set.

“I blame myself for the second set,” Head Coach Kim Earhart said. “I was playing a girl out of position and that creates a lot of confusion for her and her teammates.”

After miscommunication between the Trotters ended, the team kicked it in to gear winning the third set in exciting fashion 29-27. The Trotters were down early and fought back hard to win their only set of the match.

“Watching these girls play I see different things happening,” Earhart said. “Sometimes we just get into a ditch and can’t get out. I changed up the rotation. I came up with a rotation to bring out strengths in the girls.”

The rotation was new for the Trotters but failed in the second set only to recover in the third and fourth but it was too late for the Trotters to amount a comeback.

Sophomore Leah Thompson did her part to start the match. Her service rather than net play helped the Trotters early before falling into a rut that would last until the third set. She still however led the team in blocks. Coach Earhart said he believes she has more blocks this year than any team’s combined block total he’s coached over the past few seasons. The young player will be a force in the middle the rest of the way this season and beyond.

Senior Felicia Earhart led the team in assists on the afternoon. The Trotters” setter played in her final home game and played with passion and zest. She left it all on the court with tears in her eyes. The captain did her best to motivate her fellow Trotters.

Felicia also leads the team in aces this season and is followed closely behind by fellow senior Keely Benson. Benson added three aces to her total on Saturday with Felicia adding four.

Hailey Phillips and Corle Morefield led the team in kills, combining for 18 on the afternoon. Phillips, the junior gunslinger, provides Coach Earhart peace of mind knowing he has a strong left-hander to turn to.

“Hailey is a good player, a smart player,” Earhart said. “She has some power behind her and it’s what we need and Corle really stepped it up today when we needed her to.”

The Trotters also struggled when serving the ball. Several times during the match the Trotters found themselves giving up easy points to Eureka.

“I look back at my stat sheet and I see we hit six serves in the net,” Earhart said. “When you calculate that, it’s about 12 to 14 points you’re giving them. We need to clean that up and I know we can do it.”

With only one conference game remaining against Bigfork, the season is still wide-open going into districts. The Trotters are in a must win situation to put themselves in better shape to end the season.

Scores for Tuesday’s action with Hot Springs were unavailable for press time. The Trotters are next in action Friday on the road against Bigfork.