Trotters hold off Troy in five sets

Nothing quite as dangerous as a caged, desperate animal, or in this case a wounded Trojan.

The women of Troy came close to seizing their first Montana high school volleyball win of the season Thursday, but in the end the Trotters from Plains hung on and escaped with a 3-2 match victory on the Lady Trojans home court.

From the outset of the match, the home standing Trojans made it clear they were serious about getting win number one.

They battled Plains back and forth in the early going of the opening set and eventually pulled ahead for a 25-17 first set win and a 1-0 match lead.

And if anyone was thinking that opening effort was a fluke, they were in for a long match, which it did indeed become.

Although Plains kept it close for longer in the set, Troy had enough to hold on for a narrow 25-21 second set win and a 2-0 lead in the match, which in itself was rare territory for the Lady Trojans to be in so far this year.

But the scrappy Plains bunch took a deep breath and refocused.

The third set was a see-saw battle from start to finish as both teams were diving and digging, chasing volleyballs and extending rallies. In the end the Trotters managed to keep the match going by pulling out a 25-22 third set win and pulling within one set of tying the match.

But just as Plains had reached deep into the extra effort barrel, so too did the Lady Trojans in what was a high energy fourth set that eventually went to volleyball overtime before the Trotters came up with the required two points in front and capped an amazing run with a 28-26 fourth set win.

Following the Trotters’ determined effort in the fourth set, the match was tied at 2-2 and the 15-point fifth set was put into play.

And just like the entire match, the fifth set, which by rule goes to the first team to get to 15 points and be in front by two at that point, the deciding set was a back and forth affair with momentum swings and lead changes the theme.

When the smoke had cleared and the dust had settled, Plains captured the tie-breaking fifth set 15-12 and wrapped up the 3-2 match win.

Troy standout Elaine Folkerts had a match-high 11 service aces in a losing effort for the women of Troy.

Plains, which was scheduled to play Florence-Carlton at home Saturday evening, next has a home encounter with Mission this Thursday evening.