If it sounded like the echo of far off pounding hooves that seems to be getting louder, it is likely caused in part by the rapidly improving Plains High School volleyball team.

The Trotters split a pair of matches this past week, beating Troy 3-0 on the road this past Thursday after suffering a similar fate at the hands of conference foe Loyola of Missoula.

The road game in Troy was evidence the young and talented Plains squad will be an increasing factor in the Montana Western 7B standings, as they put together a convincing 3-1 win last week in Troy.

Plains opened their early dominance of the home-standing Lady Trojans in the first set of the game, grabbing a double digit lead on their way to a 25-10 set win and a 1-0 match advantage.

They continued to attack in the second set, rolling to a 25-11 win and taking a commanding lead in the match behind solid passing and play at the net.

Troy finally got things going their way in the third set, with the match on the line. In the pivotal third set, both teams traded rallies amid long volleys, that saw the Lady Trojans emerge with a narrow 25-23 set win. That victory put the match score at 2-1, Plains.

Plains was able to regain its defensive pressure and continued to attack the net in the fourth set, winning 25-16 and wrapping up its first conference match victory, 3-1.

The effort and outcome were both good news for coach Jessie Butcher.

“We have a really young team,” she said. “And they are growing”.

Earlier in the week the Trotters ran into a buzzsaw in visiting Loyola. The girls from the Western 6B conference were eager to get their first win of the season and that they did, rolling to a 3-0 sweep of the home team.

Loyola jumped to early leads in all three sets, winning 25-9, 25-14 and 25-14 to pick up the win.

Plains hits the road this Thursday for an encounter with Bigfork, then returns north on Saturday for a match against Eureka.