I gave up a trip to Carlsbad to come to this game. You know, writing that out, it really doesn’t seem like that much of a sacrifice. The entry concourse to the Pan-Am Center was a bit deserted. There wasn’t anyone manning the courtesy tables, and the team gear table wasn’t there. This was too bad. I’d finally broken down and decided I’d buy a new hat. (The new ones look nice and old one is pinching my head too much.) The concession lines were full. I’d also decided to finally try a churro. I almost got blanked on that too as a concert last night (don’t know who it was) had nearly cleaned them out. I got the next to last one. On the one hand, it was pretty tasty. On the other, I got loose sugar and cinnamon all over EVERYTHING. Verdict: mixed feelings.
I’m guessing the crowd was around 900 from looking at previous attendance figures. It was a lot of older people and there were groups of teen girls in school team t-shirts. If I’m understanding this right, the Aggies give volleyball lessons to middle school teams, and it includes a game ticket as part of the package (The Spiker’s Club). What the crowd may have lacked in size, it made up for it in spirit. As I was finding my seat, leaving a trail of sugar and cinnamon behind me, the girls had finished their warm up and were going back the locker room. The crowd just erupted for them going out. The middle school teams also worked out cheers all the way throughout the game.
The cheerleaders arrived. They looked a little sedate. Perhaps they’d had a long Friday night. It was just the girls this time. When they did pyramids, it’d take three of them to hold one up, instead of just one guy holding up a girl. There was one slightly built guy with them, and he wasn’t going to be holding anybody up over his head. (More on him in a minute.) Pistol Pete was with them. Okay, there’s at least two Pistol Petes. This was the one with the fake mustache and two guns, as opposed to the one with the real mustache and one gun. Good to see either of them.
The Aggies came back out to another big cheer, as they did their pre-game dance. Our opponent today was the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros. No, I don’t know where that is either. They were introduced with Tomoyasu Hotei’s Battle Without Honor or Humanity (the Kill Bill cool walk out tune). Again, that’s really nice of the venue to give the opponents a little fanfare. Then the lights go out and the Aggie promo video plays. The UTRGV (these guys need a new name) girls were all watching it. The Aggie starters each got their spotlight and tossed balls to the crowd.
Set 1
The Aggies started off strong. On 5-3, UTRGV (forget it, let’s go Vaqueros, even though it seems like a misnomer for a female team) had several great digs on the point, but the Aggies won it. #12 Megan Hart cycled into the game. She made a couple of near standing kills. If she could jump better, there’d be no stopping her.
The cheerleaders came out during a timeout. I wasn’t really paying attention. They were waving to the crowd. The crowd was waving back, so I waved too. Then a shirt bundle dropped into my lap. Then I realized that the cheerleaders were throwing stuff to the crowd and people were signaling for stuff. I hadn’t meant to do that. That guy cheerleader, that wasn’t any bigger than the small young women he was with, has a great arm on him. He may have missed his calling in some other sport. (I gave this shirt to my dad, since I already had one.)
#20 Sasha-Lee Thomas put down a couple of spikes that were just dunked over the net. I hadn’t seen that move before. It worked pretty well. There was DJ in the house that the PA named. He was doing a good job with the incidental music. He played a bit after Aggie points, like Sasha’s kills. A team of young girls behind the Aggie bench let out a loud “Let’s go Aggies!” right before the end. Set One goes to the Aggies 25-19. Megan had three kills. Sasha mixed in some strong and crafty kills. #4 Ariadnne “Ari” Sierra was like a mop cleaning up the court of any balls heading for the floor. (I’m not sure if that’s a good simile or not, but I’m going with it.)
Set 2 Aggies 1, Vaqueros 0
As the girls changed ends, Pistol Pete took a seat with the crowd. He’s a magnet for attention. The PA was in great voice today, if I just knew his name. I’d make one suggestion: if there’s a point on a foul, could it be announced what the foul is? I don’t know the rules well enough to guess. (Maybe the PA doesn’t either.)
At 6-6, #3 Jordan Abalos gets a strong kill. She’d been mostly in the background so far. Jordan played hard, but she didn’t seem like she was fully putting her weight down on both legs walking around between points. She’s already got serious hardware on her left knee. 10-7 was a spectacular point with great saves on both sides. Megan finished it off with a kill. 15-10 was a Vaqueros’ point on serve. It dropped in the middle of the court. Ari made a valiant dive at it. Assistant coach, Ben Wallis, yelled loud enough at the girls from the sideline that I could hear it across the court. I’m guessing that was a missed coverage.
#14 Kassandra “KC” Tohm had the best kill of the match at 24-16. 24-17, Ari defied gravity making a great dig in the air. #6 Tatyana Battle finished it with a spike. The Aggies took the set 25-17.
Set 3 Aggies 2, Vaqueros 0
I missed the Intermission entertainment again. They don’t sell small drinks, so it’s got to come out sooner than later. I noticed there was a pretty blonde sideline official. Being tall and attractive, I assume she’s a former player. She had a nice smile (for a ref).
The Vaqueros came out focused. They’d made some adjustments and took an early lead. The Aggies take a timeout. Wallis and Coach Mike Jordan were both up yelling at the players from the sidelines afterward. I blame the DJ. He was missing for a few minutes at the start of the set. Things didn’t stay quiet for long. The girls team next to me made up for it with some inspired chanting, (truly, I love it) until he got back.
The Aggies didn’t get a hard-fought lead until 16-15. Timeout Vaqueros and the cheerleaders came out to perform. After a couple more Aggie points, there was another Vaqueros’ timeout. This caught the cheerleaders off guard. They were also a bit gassed from having performed a minute before, but they got out and cheered.
From here it got tense. 22-22 tied. 22-23 Point Vaqueros. 23-23 Sasha-Lee gets a kill to re-tie it. 24-24 tied. 24-25 Set point Vaqueros. 25-25 KC with the kill. 26-25 KC with another kill and set point Aggies and they would take it on the next point. 27-25 Aggies and 3 Sets to 0 Aggies.
I was trying not to jinx anything, since autographs were scheduled afterward, so I didn’t look at the Vaqueros’ record on the program during the game. After however, yikes! These guys are good and the Aggies mauled them. [Edit: There’s a potentially relevant predictive stat from the paper. NMSU is 12-0 lifetime versus this school. And, I also apparently could have been listening to a radio play-by-play of this game if I’d known it was on.] They’re also a very international cast hailing from Norway, Mexico, Senegal, Brazil, Poland, and Serbia. I don’t even know where this university is, but they do some heavy duty recruiting. This was an impressive win for the Aggies [or business as usual, depending on how you want to look at it].
My player of the game is Sasha-Lee, who led the team with 11 kills. It was a pretty well rounded team effort, as several of the girls got into the scoring (#14 KC Tohm with 8, #6 Tatyana Battle with 9, #12 Megan Hart with 6 were the ones I got off the scoreboard at the end). Ari was bundle of energy, diving at everything headed for the floor. It was a good effort. Jordan had a quiet game, but gave a steady effort on offense and defense.
The autograph session was announced right after the game. I watched the line form up. If it was all teenaged girls, I was going to be too embarrassed to go. Thankfully, it was a reasonably diverse group. The girls knew the young man who was in front of me, who may have been either on the event staff or maybe a trainer. There were some guys who looked like they were either with the football or basketball team in line. Who could blame them?
I had some superstition about stepping onto the court, but got over it as I saw some girls and some guys playing out on the court for fun. I got to shake hands with assistant coach Ben Wallis (put the coaches’ names on the program) and congratulated him. I got to see the DJ beside the table. He was still spinning it. It was about 20 minutes to get to the front, which gives you an idea how many people were in line. In the meantime, I saw some people getting pictures with the girls. One of the teen volleyball teams gave the girls a rousing cheer after they’d all gotten autographs.
Here, I really have to hand it to the girls. They just went from playing to signing autographs for the better part of an hour, without a shower or even a bathroom break in between. The girls were all smiles, thanking fans, and being charming. These girls want your sports/entertainment business. And they give volleyball lessons to middle school girls before the match too.
I was nervous (hey, I’m meeting a line of pretty girls here and asking for something), but thankfully I was prepared since I’d watched the game and taken notes. #20 Sasha-Lee Thomas was first up. I congratulated her on a great game and told her I had seen her profile last night on TV. “So where’s your accent,” I asked the Jamaican born player. She smiled and said, “It comes out from time to time. It comes out.” I asked #13 Alexsa “Crash” Parker the obvious question about her nickname. She’d had an upsetting bike accident as a kid. Her mom and teammates had given her the moniker to help her get over it. #11 Megan McGuire was very friendly, and #2 Analyssa Acosta was sweet.
I told #4 Ariadnne “Ari” Sierra I was really impressed with her digs, especially the one where she went acrobatically airborne. She remembered that one and liked that description. #8 Kaylee Neal lit up a bit that I’d seen her on Sasha’s profile on TV, and she’d said she’d have to watch it. I wasn’t able to tell #12 Megan Hart that I was impressed with her game unfortunately, and ask her if she’s going to get more playing time.
Last in line was #3 Jordan Abalos. I wonder if I was blushing. (I actually shaved on a weekend for the possibility this moment.) She was as polite and nice as you’d hope a star would be. I told her she’d had a good game and asked how she was doing, since she seemed to be walking a little gingerly out on court. “Oh, I’m just trying to play through it,” Jordan said with a little relief and a smile. I called her a “gamer.”
Okay, the other sports have their good points, but Aggie Volleyball is the most fan-friendly experience you can get at New Mexico State sports. In three games, I’ve gotten two free t-shirts, been offered free rolled tacos, a team-signed poster, and face-time with these lovely, charming young women (not to mention, some great sports action). And all for a $5 general admission ticket. That poster went right up on my fridge when I got home, and I spent rest of the evening glowing.
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