NM State Aggies vs UMKC Roos Volleyball 11-15-18

Ah, isn’t this nice?  Thanks to the Veteran’s Day holiday on Monday and me taking a day off to see Aggie Volleyball, I get three-day work week.  Even better, thanks to Thanksgiving and another day off to see Aggie Women’s Basketball, I get another one next week.  I’ll probably be paying for it in work not done in my absence, but for now, I’m savoring this. 

Okay, I can’t account for my day until Ron picked me up late in the afternoon to go get dinner.  What the hell did I do with my precious day off?  I woke up early.  I didn’t take a nap.  What happened?  This is embarrassing.  We went to Raising Canes because Ron always asks me to pick, and I didn’t know where to go this time, and that was the first thing I blurted out.  It was a good choice, though I did have some indigestion later which I have to blame on them.  At least it tasted good going down.

At the Pan-Am, they still had replica 1968 programs there to giveaway.  (I’ve made scans.  I’ll do a post in the near future.)  I picked up a couple for co-workers who wanted one after I showed them mine.  On court, I could see Cat Kelly warming up, so she was well enough to play.  I didn’t see anyone new injured, so that was a good sign too.  Ron asked for a scouting report on the UMKC Roos.  I would have liked one too.  All I could mention was that I’d seen the Aggies beat them in straight sets in Kansas City (10-4-18), but they may have been missing one of their best players at the time.  Currently, the Roos have a better conference record than the Aggies, so they are a good team.

PA Ed was not there, but there was a capable familiar replacement doing the duties tonight.  (I don’t know his name.)  Adam Young and lovely Kelsi Meredith were doing the TV duties below us.  There was a decent crowd, though not as many kids as I’ve seen before on week nights.  The Rolling Stones got back-to-back songs played during the pregame, which was surprising.  The bass was turned up on the Pan-Am sound system tonight.  On some rap songs, it set the metal rails in the stands vibrating.  During the player intros, the starters tossed out small balls to the crowd as usual, then the reserves suddenly bombarded the crowd with balls as well. 

One of the officials was hard to miss.  She was an attractive young woman and rather short, especially compared to that one tall young man that seems to work every other WAC game.  Wait-a-minute.  Is that Kaylee Neal, graduated senior from last year’s team?  I’ll have to look this up later.  [Edit: It was her.]  I can’t believe they’d let her work an Aggie game.  In any case, she only worked the first set and was then replaced by another ref.  She wasn’t involved in any controversial plays, so I’ll assume she did a good job.  Was she filling in temporarily?  Is she in training?

Set 1

This match did not start off well for the Aggies.  They looked completely disorganized, like this was their first practice session of the season.  They looked rusty receiving, passing, digging, and attacking, basically all facets of the game.  There had to be an actual reason for this, because the Roos were not playing that well.  (Actually, it was hard to tell since the Aggies were sabotaging themselves mostly.)  This was a bit shocking for such a big game.

At 0-2 Roos, libero Halle Razo took a spill by the bench trying to save a ball, so there was some hustle.  Coach Jordan finally called a timeout at 1-6 Roos.  The Roo reserves had an interesting ritual during every timeout.  They ran a sprint across the court.  I’ve seen softball girls do something like that, but not volleyball players.  Freshman Lindsay Blakey came in at 1-9.  She got a swing in, but was still only tipping the ball.  I saw her doing that in practice too.  I can’t understand why she’s not taking full swings.

6-12 the Aggies finally got some momentum.  Savannah Davison was using her running jump serve to good effect.  Julianna Salanoa got an overpass kill on this point.  7-13 Sav got in two good serves, but foot faulted on this one.  At 9-13, the Roos took a timeout.  12-13 Halle went on a run on serve.  The Roos were having trouble with her serve as well. 

12-15 on this point, both teams looked disorganized.  The Roos took this point, by making fewer mistakes.  15-19 seniors Tatyana Battle and Briana Ainsworth collided on a dig.  The team follies kind of apexed here.  Timeout Aggies.  16-19 Kiley Tonge came in to serve for beautiful Megan Hart.  (Kiley’s pretty nice too.)  I can’t figure this move out, since Megan is a really good server.  16-22 Halle dove and slid off court trying for a save.  She was going all out.  Cat Kelly came in for a point late.  18-24 Natalie Mikels served up an ace that just dropped over the net.  However, the Roos eventually took the set 18-25.

Set 2: Roos 1, Aggies 0

Things got really quiet in the arena.  These are the times that having a good crowd sort of works against the team.  1-0 Aggies, Megan won a joust at the net for a block and the first point.  2-0 Taty hit the net on her serve.  The ball sat on top of the net for a moment before falling over on the Roo’s side.  2-2 Ashley Anselmo hit a ball out.  I could see Coach Jordan burying his head in his hands on the bench.  3-3 the Roos made a great dump shot here.  6-6 the Aggies had two bad digs on this point.  It was like they had lead hands out there sometimes tonight.

8-6 the Aggies started to get rolling here.  Megan slapped a popup that went over the defenders and touched down in the undefended backcourt.  This got the crowd into it.  12-9 Meg and Sav combined on a block.  15-11 media timeout.  They played some new song in Spanish during the break.  It was really catchy, whatever it was.  (I need Shazam . . . and a smart phone.)  16-12 Jordan Pleasants came in to serve for Sav.  Still not sure about some of these subs, since Savannah is serving pretty well, but it is getting some more girls some work.

17-12 Nat scored on a dump shot.  Timeout Roos.  21-17 the Aggies won the point, but two Roo girls ran into their bench trying to save it.  I think the crowd gave them a share of the applause.  21-19 while as usual I’ve been highlighting Megan’s good plays, she wasn’t actually having that great a game tonight.  Here she fired one out again, which prompted another Aggie timeout. 

A senior lady sitting behind us tapped me on the shoulder and apologetically asked if I was writing for the paper or something.  I had to tell her I was just a fan.  She was impressed, but probably thought I was a little nuts.  I’m glad I can’t see myself at these games.  I must be an odd bird.  When I’m at baseball or softball keeping a scorecard, there are usually a couple other people there doing it too, so it’s not so weird.  Nobody takes notes during volleyball.

22-19 Kiley was in again to serve for Megan.  23-21 Ash got a power kill here.  The ball ricocheted deep into the stands.  24-22 Sav buried one into the court.  25-22 Taty ended it with some heat to take the set for the Aggies.

Set 3: Aggies 1, Roos 1

Ashley went over to talk to the cameraman on a rolling stool by the side of the court before the set started.  I think she was warning him that he was in a dangerous spot at that particular place.  I’m not entirely sure, but he did move.  3-0 the Aggies came out immediately digging and hitting better.  What did the coach say during that five-minute halftime?  6-3 Bri made a dump shot.  The Roos did make two acrobatic saves on the point.  6-4 the Roos did their own dump shot.  Dump shots seem like a petty insult that always prompt the other team to return the offense.

7-5 Jules pounded one on the Roos.  9-7 Sav hit a thunderous ace here.  The ball deflected way off court.  10-7 another ace for Sav.  This one hit the net and fell over.  13-11 there was a long rally on this point that went to the Roos.  Coach Jordan was furious about something.  He sent Taty over to talk to the up official.  The coach didn’t like the answer and yelled out at the ref, “Do your job!”

15-15 Ashley was blocked.  The Roos were pumped.  15-16 Roos, timeout Aggies.  16-16 out of the break, Sav killed it.  17-16 Brigette Lowe and Julianna combed on a block.  18-16 Nat put in an ace.  That was a good timeout.  18-17 the Roos eventually took this point, though Taty and Halle both made off court saves and Brigette made a full court, back-to-the-net, free ball to get the ball back over.  20-17 Aggies, timeout Roos.

21-17 Taty and Jules combined on a block.  The Roos started a late comeback.  22-21 Aggies timeout.  24-22 Bri dropped in an ace.  The Aggies would finish it 25-22.  On the last point, the Roos made an off court save, but Taty buried a kill in a corner to end it.

Set 4: Aggies 2, Roos 1

2-2 Kelsi Meredith got a dig off of a Savannah mishit as the ball flew into the media table.  She’s still got it.  5-3 Aggies, the Roos got this point.  Briana got a tremendous fist dig off the floor on the point and knocked it over the net.  Everyone heard the Coach afterward though, “Get your head in the game!”  Sheesh.  7-4 Nat put in another ace.  9-8 Taty slammed a kill.  10-8 she painted the corner with a kill.  10-9 Nat dove head-first into the media table trying for a save.  She thankfully avoided hitting the table and wasn’t hurt.  I wish they’d pad the sidelines. 

11-9 Taty buried another one.  12-10 Taty with kill #21.  But, the Roos came back.  13-14 Roos, timeout Aggies.  13-15 the Roos got two overpass swings on this point.  They were really deadly on those overpasses.  Eventually, the Aggies would make a concentrated effort to keep their passes on their side of the net.  14-15 Cat made another appearance for one point. 

16-18 there were two off court digs by the Aggies, trying to keep it alive.  Sav dove into the Aggie bench on the final hit.  18-18 Meg tied it up on a kill.  Timeout Roos.  The camera caught a little boy dancing the aisle to the music.  He got a cheer from the crowd.  19-22 the Roos went back on a run.  Timeout Aggies.  A group of ladies across the court did the Macarena while it was playing during the break.  The Cheerleaders couldn’t quite figure it out.  The Roo bench did it right before play restarted.

Cat came back in.  She got a kill at 20-23 on a touch that went out.  Kiley came back in to serve for Megan.  Cat came right back out.  The coach was obviously being careful with her.  22-23 Kiley put in an ace.  23-23 Jules got a kill after multiple fire drills on the point.  Unfortunately, the Roos went on a two-point run to win it 23-25.

Set 5: Aggies 2, Roos 2

Me and Ron didn’t want a fifth set.  This was getting too intense.  The Roo players huddled up together and did a cheer.  The Aggies were huddled up with the coaches.  A guy down below was really working it Gangnam Style to the music.  Actually, he had some pretty good moves on some other songs too.  He didn’t look like a dancer, but you can’t tell by that. 

1-0 Taty killed it to bring the crowd into it.  But, the Roos went up 1-3.  Taty got blocked on three swings on one point.  Timeout Aggies.  1-4 Roos, Cat came in.  2-4 the Roos hit a block out on her swing.  Cat looked okay playing, but she must have been kind of weak for the coach to keep taking her out so quick.  3-5 Kiley was again in to serve.  4-6 Sav got a kill on a quick set. 

6-6 Jules and Ash tied it on a block to start the Aggie comeback.  Timeout Roos.  I finally noticed AD Mario Moccia was there across the court with his two daughters.  It was a cute scene.  8-7 Taty fired a kill through two blockers.  The teams changed sides, but the Aggies kept rolling.  9-7 Jules and Taty got the block.  10-8 Julianna threaded a needle for a kill.  11-8 Halle put in an ace.  The Roo defender nearly ran into the sideline table trying to get it.  I was covering my eyes.  After this many near misses, I was afraid I was going to see somebody come off on a stretcher.  Timeout Roos. 

12-8 the match may have been decided on this huge rally.  I nearly jumped out of my seat going for a dig during this one.  Taty, of course, won it on a kill.  The crowd roared.  Mario was standing and pumping his fist.  14-10 Taty got another crucial kill to end the final Roo run.  The Aggies would close it out, 15-10 and 3-2. 

Three Roos were in double digits in kills.  Tatyana Battle led everyone with 27 kills.  She came up big.  Savannah Davison was a steady force with 17 kills.  The rest of the Aggies were relatively quiet.  Julianna Salanoa had had a career game against the Roos last time.  Megan Hart seemed a bit off tonight.  But, they did get some big kills.  There were no long point runs for either team.  They were very closely matched in skills and abilities.  The Aggies won a tough one tonight, thanks a lot to Tatyana just willing it. 

As much as I would have liked to have heard the pregame, I really wish I could have heard the postgame.  I wonder what Coach Jordan said about that first set.  The girls seemed so unprepared.  Or was it some nerves?  In any case, they did a good job of getting it together after that.  I don’t know if could have gone down and sat near enough to Adam to hear his interview with the coach, but Ron had to leave to get to his job anyway.  I couldn’t even talk him into getting ice cream afterward because (everybody together), “Ice cream is for winners!”    Only one more live in-person volleyball game Saturday.  No, it’s too soon to end!  I want more!