FLORENCE – Volleyball dreams can come true, if you believe, and perform best when it really counts.

Now true believers in themselves after performing their best at the very best time, look who is going to State.

The Plains Trotters exorcised the volleyball demons of tournaments past in Florence last week, ending a 27-year state tournament drought in Plains, winning second place and the west’s No. 2 seed into the State B portion of the Montana All-Class tournament at Brick Breeden Fieldhouse in Bozeman later this week. It is Plains’ first State B volleyball berth since way back in 1999.

The Trotters open State B play at 4 p.m. Thursday against Shelby in the fourth match of the tournament. If the Trotters win versus Shelby they will face the winner between Jefferson County and Fairfield at 8 p.m. Thursday at the Brick.

In the end, last week’s Western B tournament was not about that 27-year drought Plains had endured, it was about this year’s talented Trotters. Turns out that it was also a dream come true, a dream the team had dared to talk about before the season even began.

“We have a large experienced group of seniors,” coach Kim Lakko said. “They got together before the season and put it out there, our goal was to go to State. And then they go out and make it happen, I can’t tell you how proud of this bunch I am.

“We spent the last 12 weeks doing every little thing we could do, the little things you have to do to get to a point like this, and here we are,” she said. “We have earned the opportunity, have made it to the big dance. We will go there, play our best and see what happens, it should be a lot of fun, a well-deserved reward for these girls.”

Jaycee Carr, Mila Rivinius, Aubree Butcher, Claire Lakko and Taryn Meredith were the seniors who met up before the season and charted the course for this year’s State B team of Trotters, and underclassmen Cooper Spurr, Jaden Cook, Hadyn Rice, Reese Meredith, Bri Kulawinski, Emery Josephson and Miranda Dawson the ones that eventually helped the Bozeman dream come true.

Defeating four Western B opponents and playing through six tough matches over the course of the three days and losing only to champion Florence, coach Lakko and her Trotters won second place last week the old fashioned way – they earned it.

The Trotters opened play as the No. 2 seed out of District 7B based on regular season action, and facing Deer Lodge, the No. 3 seed out of 6B, took down the Wardens three sets to one Thursday.

In the first semifinals Friday, the Trotters fell 3-0 to Florence, before rebounding to bounce Troy 3-1 in loser out play later Friday. Back on court in Florence Saturday morning with their season on the line in the loser takes fourth match, the Trotters stepped out to take on rival Thompson Falls with a Western B divisional trophy and a possible State B berth still in play.

Although the Hawks had defeated the Trotters twice in two close matches during the regular season, Plains got past Thompson Falls when it mattered most, winning the exciting back-and-forth battle 23-25, 25-23, 25-21, 21-25, 15-7 to clinch no worse than third in the Western B and PHS’s first divisional trophy in volleyball in quite some time.

Now facing Anaconda with the rare State B berth on the line, the Trotters received a welcome boost when the Florence team gathered on the sidelines joining their voices with Plains supporters to cheer the Trotters on late in the match.

Perhaps buoyed by the unexpected support from their rivals, the Trotters rallied and fought back to take that match from the Copperheads, again in five excruciating sets, clinching that long dreamed about State B berth.

Clearly running almost on empty nearing the conclusion of the Anaconda match, team setter and leader Claire Lakko fell ill at the end, left the match for a while, returning still in an obviously delicate state at the end. Recovering from a recent accident, Rivinius was nowhere near 100% either, coach Lakko said, noting that several other Trotters were also almost at their limits at that point.

With the Trotters clearly spent emotionally and physically – several sat out the match entirely - the Trotters lost to Florence in three quick sets in the championship match, the final contest of the four-day flurry of net action in Florence.

When the going got tough in Florence, Butcher and Rice did the majority of the work at the net for the Trotters, clobbering kills and blocking shots at key junctures throughout the tourney, Rivinius, Kulawinski and Meredith played strong all-around net and floor games and Claire Lakko and Carr starred from the backcourt.

Coach Lakko enjoyed the first ever running of the Super Western B although she did think the event could use a little fine tuning.

“The bracket was a little strange, some teams ended up playing a lot of matches with not much rest,” she said. “It was a great event but it might be nice to have another gym for loser out matches. Or some other way of spreading them out more.”

She says most of her players don’t know what to expect this week in Bozeman but that she and a couple of players should be able to clue the rest of the Trotters in. “Claire, Aubree and I have been to the tournament as spectators,” she said. “But this is the real thing, we’re going over there to play this time. Like I said before, it should be a lot of fun.”

    TROTTER SOPHOMORE Bri Kulawinski winds up on a serve during action in Florence Nov. 5 in Plains’ four-set win over the Deer Lodge Wardens in the Western B divisional tournament. (John Hamilton/vp-mi)
  

    SETTING EXPERT Claire Lakko sets a shot for teammate Mila Rivinius in front of the Plains bench during Western B divisional tournament action in Florence Thursday, Nov. 5. (John Hamilton/vp-mi)
  

    TROTTER SENIORS Claire Lakko and Aubree Butcher challenge Deer Lodge’s Morgan Danforth at the net during Plains’ four-set win over the Wardens in Florence Nov. 5. (John Hamilton/vp-mi)
  

    WE DID IT! The Plains Trotters celebrate on court after defeating rival Thompson Falls in five sets in the Western B tournament in Florence Saturday. Trotters went on to defeat Anaconda later Saturday to clinch Plains’ first appearance in a State B tournament since 1999. (John Hamilton/vp-mi)