Cue the ominous “Jaws” sound bite that was played when a shark was about to attack.

Not to warn off tourists or swimmers, but to let folks know a carnivorous beast is on the prowl in Plains.

The spooky sound is instead a warning to those who seek to enter the volleyball realm of the Plains Trotters who have suddenly developed a voracious appetite for victories.

The now 5-3 Trotters have won five of their last six games, their latest victim being Sanders County and Western 7B conference rival Thompson Falls, which found the “waters” of the Plains High gym to be less than an ideal place to play.

In a hard fought match that went the distance, Plains posted another “W” in their growing victory column after defeating the visiting Lady Hawks 3-2 last Thursday.

The win improved the Trotters record to 5-3 on the year and 4-3 in conference play with three games left in the regular season.

Plains hosts the Western 7B conference tournament October 27-28.

But first things first.

Against T Falls, the visitors found a fired up Plains team riding a three-game win streak. However, if the Lady Hawks thought it was unsafe to go into the world of Trotters, they didn’t show it, grabbing a 1-0 match lead via a fairly routine 25-19 first set win.

That’s when folks with an imagination would have noticed that weird Jaws sound as if a predator was circling nearby.

And although the meal was not easy, Plains sent a message that this was their house when they regrouped from the first set loss and squared the match at 1-1 with a 25-21 second set win.

And the first sign of danger may have surfaced in the pivotal third set, which Plains won by a 25-18 count to take a 2-1 lead over the 6-2 Lady Hawks.

But Thompson Falls’ young, athletic roster bounced back to even the match at 2 with a hard-fought 25-21 win, setting up a fifth set tie-breaker.

In what was a reflection of the first four sets, both teams traded punches until the Trotters were able to pull away in the end for a 15-12 tie-breaker win that clinched the match victory, 3-2.

The win lifted Plains into third place in the conference, behind 7B leading Eureka and Thompson Falls, which ran into a tough stretch of matches as the regular season nears an end.

Human assist machine Claire Lakko had an astounding 52 assists for Plains during the match. She also contributed four blocked shots to the Trotters effort. And the Saner sisters, Teagan and Taylor also posted eye-catching numbers, led by Taylor’s 29 digs. Teagan, meanwhile, had a team high 19 kills and five blocks. Junior Lexi Deming also had a solid game, leading the team with five service aces and adding 10 kills.

Claire Lakko’s assist total was 17 more than the entire Lady Hawks team recorded.

Annalise Fairbank topped the Lady Hawks with 20 assists to go with her seven kill shots. Addi Pardee contributed a team high 15 digs and 11 kills for T Falls, which also got 13 digs from Olivia Fitchettt. Hannum had 10 kills and four blocked shots for the Lady Hawks.

T Falls closes out its regular season with games tonight at home (Tuesday October 17) versus, then travels to Eureka in a repeat of the first-place second place showdown with the Lady Lions this Saturday.

Plains looks to keep the momentum going with a match tonight (Oct 17) in Hot Springs, followed by a home match against Eureka Thursday. The Trotters close out their 2023 regular season schedule with a road match this Saturday in Troy.