Plains competes at Mission Invitational

ST. IGNATIUS – The Plains Trotters volleyball team got their fall season underway at the Mission Invitational Tournament last weekend.

The tournament was held on Saturday, Aug. 30, with competition starting in the morning and matches running throughout the course of the day.

The first competitive games for many area teams, the tournament consisted of Class B competitors with Plains, Thompson Falls, Ronan, Eureka, Bigfork, St. Ignatius, Troy and Deer Lodge as the eight teams in attendance.

The day-long competition was the first time Plains Head Coach Annawyn Griffin, who is in her first year on the job, got to see her players in action.

Griffin looked forward to the match up and was excited to be able to employ the techniques the team has been working on in practice in a competitive game environment.

“We will be ready to play on Saturday. It will be nice to compete against someone else for a change,” Griffin said before the tournament.

Throughout the season the team’s two seniors, Hailey Phillips and Rebekah Barnard, will lead the team.

The experience of Phillips and Barnard will be especially useful as Griffin settles in as head coach.

Additionally, the Trotters welcomed four incoming freshmen volleyball athletes to their team.

The Trotters impressed in pool play to start off the tournament netting 102 points in the early round competitions.

This total placed the Plains girls in fourth right in the middle of pack, slightly ahead of Thompson Falls, who had 98 points and right behind Bigfork with 105 points of their own.

“The girls on the team are really great to work with,” Griffin said.

As the fourth seed in the tournament, Plains earned a spot against fifth seeded Thompson Falls for their first round match up in the opening competition of the year.

The first round match up consisted of two sets, both of which were played to 20 points.

However, in the event of a tiebreaker a max of 22 scored points was allowed if the scenario of the match required extra points.

The Lady Hawk volleyball team defeated the Trotters in both of the first round sets.

In the first match Thompson Falls carried the contest by a score of 20 points to Plains’ 14 points.

The final competition of the day for the Trotters was a closer contest but Plains ultimately fell to Thompson Falls by a score of 20-17.

Despite being seeded fifth after pool play Thompson Falls would surge through the tournaments semi-final and final round match ups, defeating Deer Lodge and Eureka on their way to a first place finish in the tournament.

Griffin understands it is going to take time for her and her athletes to become familiar with one another.

“We are kind of feeling the situation out and getting on the same page,” Griffin said.

With the advances the team has made during their preseason practice regimen, and their strong showing in pool play last weekend, the team is pulling together and looking to compete as the season progresses.  

For their next match the Trotters will travel to Missoula to face off against Loyola High School at 5 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 4.