I was really in a quandary. I wanted to stay home. There was a Giants’ playoff baseball game on tonight and the season premiere of Arrow was on. But, I also really wanted to go this volleyball game since it was against rival UTEP, and I hadn’t done much during my vacation. I’d already asked my boss about going last week and called him to settle it. Ron was all for going, so that was that. I asked if his wife was okay with him going. As far as he was concerned, she didn’t need to know about it and hopefully the match would end quickly.
You can’t say they aren’t fan-friendly, especially at Aggie volleyball. As promised at the last home game, they were handing out free rolled tacos at the entrance. Unfortunately, I don’t like rolled tacos, even when I haven’t had dinner. (What’s wrong with regular tacos? Why does everybody serve rolled tacos?) At the concession, I got another pretzel with a Dr. Pepper. Ron was surprised that my big cup was called a “Medium.” This time had them hold the salt on the pretzel and found out they also sold cheese dipping sauce to go with it. That was a definite improvement. I also found a Jordan Abalos schedule poster up front. This made my night and made me feel a lot better about my decision to come.
Ron picked the seats across from the benches, just off center court. The center sections were filled with teenaged girls on various school volleyball teams. (Pity teenaged boys don’t know about this place.) On the way down, I saw a guy with an iPad watching the baseball playoff game. That would have been the way to do it. The crowd filled in nicely. The section behind the benches was pulled out for more seats. Ron and I could hear his nemesis, the old man, cheering on the other side of the court, but we couldn’t see him. A group of football players sat behind one end of court. Later, a group of basketball players came in and sat in that section, though on the other side from the football players. I didn’t see any interaction between the two groups.
For the anthem, the girls on both teams lined up on court. The UTEP girls held hands (like the Aggie soccer team did when I saw them). For the player introductions, they actually played cool music for the Miners. That was unexpectedly polite. Starter #7 Sarah Villa even got a big cheer as she was from El Paso. For the Aggies, it was showtime. The house lights dropped. The big music started. The video board started playing team highlights. The girls were introduced with a spotlight. Last week on the local El Paso TV sports news, they showed the Miner volleyball team playing a home game. They play in Memorial Gym. I’ve been there. It’s a big gym, but it’s just a gym, not a sports/entertainment arena like the Pan-Am Center. I was watching the Miner girls during the intro’s. They were clearly impressed with the spectacle.
I was wrong about last time, the Aggie girls were actually throwing small volleyballs into the crowd as they were being introduced (and not balled up shirts). Their throwing has also gotten much better for the most part. Maybe a little too good. One of the girls accidentally nailed a guy in the stands. She was mortified. I was conflicted. The little balls looked really cool, but baseball etiquette demands that adults give such freebie balls away to nearby kids. Thankfully, the dilemma didn’t manifest.
Set 1
Both teams played this one close. The Miners seemed really good at blocking at the net. #3 Jordan Abalos was stuffed at least four times (and had a net serve). But, the Aggies were getting their points, and the Miners couldn’t pull ahead. I’ll give thanks to #4 Ariadnne Sierra for some great digs.
The first set was busy for the cheerleaders. The guys were making their presence known with some loud megaphone work. During a timeout, the PA mentioned the free rolled tacos and asked, “Who wanted some more?” The cheerleaders came out with trays of rolled tacos. For a brief, terrifying moment, I thought they were going to throw them into the stands. No, they nicely delivered them to people waving for them. The girls in the crowd were screaming for them.
#13 Alexsa “Crash” Parker came up to serve and went on a three-point run. She was serving what looked like a curveball as it dropped in. There was a different Pistol Pete than the last time, but he still worked the crowd well. He fell on a couple in their seats and then sat in with them for a while. In another timeout, the cheerleaders tossed more stuff into the crowd, which got the place good and loud.
19-18 was #6 Tatyana Battle’s best point, as she was blocked twice on the point, but on a third try, just gave it a soft touch that dropped to the floor. #20 Sasha-Lee Thomas made a couple of great kills late. [While I was writing this, I stopped to watch the Aggie Profiles show on NMSU’s PBS station, and she was featured on it. I was disappointed that Sasha-Lee doesn’t have a Jamaican accent (at least, not all the time). She’s quite a gamer, coming back from a bad injury on the court last year.] Jordan, still attacking, got a great kill to bring the score 24-22 and set point. But, the Miners fought back to 24-24. Finally, the Aggies would finish it at 26-24.
Set 2 Aggies 1, Miners 0
I ran back out up front to grab a program, which I’d forgotten, during the break. The concession area was a madhouse, which was surprising, since it had been pretty quiet when we’d come in. I guess people needed something to wash those tacos down with.
The second set began and was again very tightly fought. With UTEP’s blocking ability, the Aggies mixed in a bunch more soft shots to get past them. For their part, the Miners were very steady in attacking and defending. It’s hard to watch and note players on both sides of the court in volleyball. The Miner team felt like a unit, perhaps because most of the girls were all about the same height and build. Ron thought the Aggie girls were taller, but actually they go from 5’0” to 6’5”. The Aggies had a couple of girls that were much taller, but also much shorter than the Miners.
13-10 was an impressive long point with some great digs on both sides. At that point, I unwisely started trying to count touches on points to quantify the term “long point,” and promptly went nuts. From a small sample, I’m counting about 6 to 9 on a short point, which are most of them. Something in the teens on medium length points. The epic points go for about 20 or more. If you think about how hard they’re generally hitting the ball over the net, that’s pretty amazing. Maybe I should try counting how many times the ball crosses the net instead.
#12 Megan Hart came into the game. At 13-10, she gets a great kill, and then right after at 17-13 gets a great block with #14 Kassandra Tohm. I was surprised Megan wasn’t in the game more. From even a few short appearances, the Miners didn’t seem to have any answer for the 6’5” tower of power. During another timeout, the officiating crew got together and shared a laugh. I wonder what that was about. The multitude of teenage girls screamed to get on camera on the video board. I haven’t mentioned the timeout music like I did last time. Either it wasn’t as good, or I couldn’t hear it over the girls.
My notes become more disorganized than usual at this point. Tatyana served up an ace and the Aggies won four points on her serve. The Miners came back and took the lead. With Ari serving, Jordan hit a kill to tie the score at 23-23. Ari ended the set on an ace, 25-23 Aggies. (I know I was watching and writing events down. I don’t know what happened to me here recording this.)
Set 3 Aggies 2, UTEP 0
Again, my notes are terrible here. The Aggies start off the set 7-1. The break clearly didn’t help the Miners. Pistol Pete starts leading the high school girls in doing the Macarena. Later, he interacts with a ref. I wonder what that was about. The game goes to 10-1 on an ace by Tatyana. 22-4, Ari makes an impossible dig, but UTEP gets the point. The Aggies make a few sloppy plays that give the Miners a few points. Much of the Aggie bench is cycled in and the starters out. Even then, Ari serves an ace that hits the sideline untouched, 22-10. At 24-11, Ari makes another impossible save. The Aggies would finally take the set, 25-15, and the match, 3-0. Did the Miners lose heart at the end? Become fatigued? Or were they just dominated?
My players of the game are #3 Jordan Abalos for her clutch offense with 13 kills, refusing to be denied after some early setbacks (which is what makes her great), and #4 Ari Sierra for her incredible defense. Forgive me for being greedy or wishy-washy and not picking just one. #20 Sasha-Lee Thomas was also great on offense. #1 Brianna Anisworth was crucial in setting up many of those kills. (I’m getting stats from the newspaper account. When the starters left the game, I missed getting their stats off the scoreboard.) The crowd was bigger than last Saturday at 1,500. The music wasn’t as good though, but I think the teen girls cheering made up for it. Okay, Ron had a good time and, as far as I know, he didn’t get in trouble with the Mrs. I missed some stuff on TV, but got to watch the girls get a great win and took home a Jordan Abalos poster. Seems like a good trade off.
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