Plains Trotters beats Noxon in three

After a hard-fought match, Thursday, the Plains Lady Trotters defeated Noxon’s Lady Red Devils in three sets.

As the game began, things were close with a number of good exchanges between the teams. While Plains got on the board first, Noxon was able to take the lead and start to pull ahead. The Lady Trotters were able to come back to tie the game, though, before pulling ahead to a strong lead.

As the set continued, the Lady Red Devils worked to regain their lead, but kept getting blocked after recovering only one or two points. They put up a good fight, though, and had some good moves, keeping Plains on their toes. The set came to a close with a score of 25-10 in Plains’ favor.

In the second set, the Lady Trotters got a quick head start on the court. Noxon fought back just as hard, though, and kept the Plains girls within five points. The Lady Red Devils quickly turned things around, tying the game and keeping the home team from getting ahead. It was not quite enough, though, and Plains was able to break away; they opened their lead and continually blocked Noxon’s attempts to come back.

There were a number of good plays in the set as well. The teams exchanged several good volleys, making each other work to get the ball into an opening. The Lady Trotters got a good block in, bumping the ball back as it went over the net and causing it to drop right in front of the Noxon player; in the confusion, the Lady Red Devil could not keep the ball in the air and it dropped to the floor.

Noxon had an equally good block, bumping the ball back toward an opening in the Lady Trotters defense; the Plains girls were able to catch it, though, and keep it in play. After a number of good plays, the second set ended with a score of 25-13 to Plains.

For the final set, Plains shot out to an early lead. The girls quickly got a five-point advantage, pushing forward toward 10 points. However, Noxon was still in the game and was able to edge up to bring the Lady Trotters back under a five-point lead. For a while, the Lady Red Devils were able to keep within three to five points.

After using a time out, though, everything changed; Plains exploded out, quickly pulling ahead to a 10-point lead and beyond to close the game. The set ended with a score of 25-11 to Plains.

Lady Trotters Head Coach Jessica Butcher was happy with the how the game went. She said it was nice having the team at 2:0 in conference games and it was a good start to the season. Butcher especially noted the girls had a good offense and several good serves during the game.

While the team did well as a whole, a few players stood out to the coach. The team’s leaders were doing a good job starting the game and getting everyone motivated.

“When we’re not getting energy from outside, they’re building it from within,” Butcher said.

The Lady Trotters will play an away game against Charlo on Thursday, September 10. Butcher felt they would be a tough team to beat, but did not know much about their specific build; Plains will also play against Arlee on Saturday, September 12.

In practices this week, the girls have been working on a little of everything to prepare for the games.

Noxon’s head coach, Teri Wilkinson, felt the team’s issues in the game were the result of their youth. With only one returning player, the Lady Red Devils are not as experienced as other teams. Individually, though, there were a few good performances.

The two freshmen, Delaney Weltz and Kristina Brown, both stood out to Wilkinson as having good performances. Weltz got two blocks and Brown made eight digs, the most of anyone on the team.

“Both of the freshmen did real well for their first high school match,” Wilkinson said.

Noxon’s coach felt their passing needed work the most and noted it would be their focus in practices leading up to their next match. Wilkinson hopes working out the kinks will help improve things and they will have better play experience by mid-season.

The Lady Red Devils will have three games this week. Thursday they play in Troy, Friday they play in Charlo and Saturday they go to Hot Springs.