NM State Volleyball Springhill Suites Invitational Sept 1, 2017

Friday September 1, 2017

The tournament started on Thursday with the Aggies playing North Dakota.  As I mentioned elsewhere, the (I don’t know what their nickname is) North Dakota team won in five sets.  The Aggies went up by two sets, but lost the remaining three.  I don’t know what happened apart from that.  I never checked the game recap.  Friday night, I was having a bad and busy night at work when I discovered that the Aggies and UCLA Bruins were on Aggievision.  I would have loved to have sat down and watched, but I only got glimpses and ended up just watching the end.

The Bruins are ranked eleventh in the country, so this is likely the toughest opponent the Aggies will face outside of the NCAA tournament.  Adam Young and his co-host (a former player whose name I keep missing) mentioned the Aggies used to have Hawaii in their conference, who were really good and who the team used to measure themselves against.  Coach Jordan wanted a challenging pre-conference schedule. 

So given what I watched, all I can authoritatively say about the match is that UCLA won in three sets.  The first two were close, the last one wasn’t as close.  It wasn’t a blow out.  The Bruins were just better at finishing.  Though both are Underarmor schools, at least the Aggies had cooler uniforms.  I just got a few impressions of the Aggies from watching and listening to the commentary and taking a peek at some team stats on their website.

Freshman #21 Lia Mosher is a standout on offense and defense.  I’d noticed her in the Scrimmage, but Adam brought her up when we chatted briefly.  I can see why.  Coach Jordan definitely likes freshman #13 Brielle Sterns for her work on defense.  These two are going to be put in a lot.  I’d liked the looks of freshman #9 Julianna Salanoa, but I can see why she’s just playing in spots.  She has some defensive problems.  In an interview with the coach, he mentioned her asking him how she can get better, so I take that as encouraging.  Right now, she probably just needs to learn the game more at this level. 

For the veterans, #3 Jordan Abalos is, of course, awesome offensively and defensively.  #14 Kassandra “KC” Tohm is probably the second, if not first, option on offense and is blocking well.   #20 Sasha-Lee Thomas looked really good on offense, but I’m not sure how much she played.  Either the coach is saving her or she’s still not really right.  If the team can get all three of these girls playing all the time and at the top of their potential, it’s lights out for the rest of the conference.  On a bad note, I never saw #12 Megan Hart in the game.  Oh, I hope she’s not hurt again.  Lastly, who was that attractive blonde assistant on the sidelines?