NM State Aggie Volleyball Regular Season Recap 2019

I’m going to be doing a separate postseason recap (and hopefully have plenty to write about).  I simultaneously love and hate doing these recaps.  I like going back and rereading them, but it starts turning into work after the first couple.  Also, I’m not a volleyball coach or expert, so I’m hardly qualified at analyze a team’s season even after watching them play so much.  I hate the thought of unintentionally overlooking some great performances too.     

First up, Coach Mike Jordan’s motivational skills in getting the team to go undefeated in conference this year were unparalleled.  As good as the girls were, they needed his gentle proddings at times.  Well done, sir.  Senior Megan Hart was the overpowering force for the team for kills and blocks.  Other teams game-planned around her presence.  (And she’s beautiful.  I’m just not tired of saying that.)

Savannah Davison was the passion for the team.  In spite of all this team’s talent, they needed her fire to win.  (We saw that in the second Cal-Baptist game.)  Cat Kelly is a lot like Sav in terms of gameplay (big air, lots of swings, gets in on blocks, gets digs), but she’s the quiet one.  When she wasn’t there in the last two games, you noticed it immediately.  Congrats to senior Brigette Lowe, who filled in for her.  I think Brig fully realized her potential as a volleyball player in that last game.              

If you thought getting past Megan was tough, Julianna Salanoa is a national-level blocker.  She also gets her kills at a different set angle than most anybody else, making her hard to defend against.  Ashley Anselmo was right there on the other side with supporting blocks and kills.  Lia Mosher in the front court, flashed brilliance, but never seemed to be on court enough as this team was so loaded with blockers. 

Natalie Mikels and Krysten Garrison were steady on setting, though the team wasn’t that great in passing.  (Being out-of-system was almost a specialty.)  Nat got a long leash with service errors because she also led the team in aces.  Natalie also did a good job of positioning players, so I’m going to say she’s the brains of the team.  Krysten was converted into setting and grew well into the role.  Serving was an issue at times for the team, but her in particular.  She showed some real mental toughness in overcoming it.

Halle Razo was demoted from being a starter early on, but still saw regular playing time as a server and defender (as did Kiley Tonge).  I’m sure the coach wanted to keep her game-ready and her confidence up.  I expect Halle to make a comeback next year.      

Lastly, what more can you say about senior Analyssa Acosta?  There was even an article about her in the paper.  I think she made an off-season decision that she really wanted to play more in her final year.  She must have put a tremendous amount of work and it paid off.  She was like a freshman in enthusiasm, but with an upperclassman’s pose in playing. 

 

These little capsules will just include whatever highlights I found interesting about the games.  The actual game recaps are more detailed (sometimes).

8-29-19 Crimson and White Scrimmage: Senior Analyssa Acosta caught my eye immediately playing defense.  She’d been on the bench for three years.  I hoped I’d see her get into some games this season.  Setters Natalie Mikels and Krysten Garrsion both had swinging kills and blocks in the match.

9-6-19 vs Pacific Tigers: This was the Aggies’ first home match after sweeping three teams in straight sets at the Auburn Invitational, including host Auburn.  It was an auspicious start.  The Aggies straight-setted the Tigers to continue the roll.   

9-7-19U NM Lobos vs Pacific Tigers: This was one of the morning matches of the Borderland Invitational.  I only mention this here because the Aggies had come to watch and some of their freshmen ended up getting drafted as ballgirls for the match. 

9-7-19 UTEP Miners vs Pacific Tigers: For this match, the Aggie assistant coaches were acting as ballboys.  Coach Jordan might have been playing some headgames with his former assistant coach, Ben Wallis, the new UTEP coach.  Graduated Aggie star player, Tatyana Battle, was there as Coach Wallis’ new assistant.

9-7-19 vs UNM Lobos: It was another straight-sets win.  Freshman Katie Birtcil delivered a couple of set-winning kills. 

9-8-19 vs UTEP Miners: And this match was the wake-up call.  The Miners punched the Aggies in the nose taking Set 1, the Aggies’ first dropped set of the season.  The Aggies would win in five bruising sets.  Afterward, Coach Jordan was infuriated that the team wasn’t serving hard enough.  This would have terrible consequences for the first half of the season.

9-13-19 vs Portland Pilots: This remains the most inexplicable game of the season for the Aggies.  They took their first loss hosting the Springhill Suites Invitational.  Portland was a good team, but I’d never even heard of their university before.  I attributed the straight-sets loss to a mention of the flu running through the team earlier in the week.  The team was terrible on serve-receive.  I think this game ultimately cost Halle Razo the libro job.  Also, I wrote some terrible fan-fiction because of this match.

9-14-19 vs Grambling Tigers: The Aggies got back on track with a straight-sets win, but the Tigers aren’t a great yardstick to measure your team by.  The reserves got a lot of work in this match. 

9-14-19 vs Lamar Cardinals: The Aggies played against a team led by an alumni player, Coach Michelle Kuester.  Coach Jordan had to be so proud of her.  The Aggies won in four tough sets.  Halle Razo, who’d sat out the previous game, still wasn’t playing well.  The team had a terrible time serving.  They seemed to be trying too hard to get in a good serve and then it became mental. 

9-21-19 vs Sacramento State Hornets (neutral site): This was a five-set loss that could be summed up with one stat: 19 service errors.  The only reason this went the distance was because the Hornets had 17.  Coach Jordan’s postgame was memorable as he called the team, “Mentally weak.”  When asked about the evening game with the Wildcats, he said, “We’re going to get crushed.”     

9-21-19 at Arizona Wildcats: It was a straight-sets loss.  The coach was even putting in the reserves in the first set.  Analyssa Acosta came in as libero in the third set.  Krysten Garrison had 9 service errors on the day total.  That was a low point.

9-22-19 vs Alabama State Lady Hornets (neutral site): This was a morning game for the last day of the Wildcat Invitational.  Analyssa Acosta was now the starting libero after a great performance the day before.  This was a straight-sets win, but the serving issues continued.

9-26-19 at Utah Valley Wolverines: The Aggies won 3-1, but had a rough time serving and Megan Hart had a hard time with the Wolverines’ blocking.

9-28-19 at Seattle U Redhawks: This was a win in 3 against an unexpectedly bad Redhawks team.

10-3-19 vs UTRGV Vaqueros: Tatyana Battle took time off from her UTEP job to come and watch her old teammates.  Ashley Anselmo made her first two serves of the season to win Set 1 in extra points.  The Aggies won in 3 sets, though Halle Razo was bizarrely playing in the front court to end Set 3.  It was unintentional comedy.  The players won this match in spite of the coach’s rotation decisions.  Also, I think he wanted to work out a trade for the Vaqueros’ star, Barbara Silva.

10-7-19 at CBU Lancers: The Aggies won 3-1 in spite of 18 service errors.  Savannah Davison, Megan Hart, and Julianna Salanoa were incredible in this game. 

10-10-19 vs CSU-Bakersfield Roadrunners: It was a 3-1 victory.  The Aggies finally got their serving issues under control.  The team blocks and kills were tremendous in this game.    

10-12-19 vs GCU Lopes: This was the Aggies’ third game of the week and they were playing the number two team in the conference.  Megan Hart had 19 kills in a straight-sets wipeout.  To give the Lopes credit, since they had a great record, I wonder if they came in sick, like the Aggies may have been in the Portland game.   

10-17-19 at UMKC Roos: The Aggies blocked well in this 3-1 win.  They had 10 service errors, but 7 aces.   

10-24-19 vs Utah Valley Wolverines: The Aggies won 3-1 in four hard sets, two of which went into extra points.  The Wolverines were able to go block-for-block with the Aggies.  NMSU’s kills carried the day.

10-26-19 vs Seattle U Redhawks: They handed out free LED lightbulbs at this game.  I even got a Raising Canes coupon too.  The Aggies won in straight sets and were playing the reserves quite a bit.  Brenda Hernandez got in, but that didn’t go so well.  The coach actually apologized for putting her and Katie Birtcil on the spot like that.

10-28-19 vs CBU Lancers: This game was so epic, it required two posts.  (I think I might have overdid it.)  This was the third game in five days for the Aggies.  The Lancers won the first two sets as Savannah Davison seemed out-of-it.  Then they got her mad and she rallied the team to victory.  Megan Hart was a steady rock with 18 kills.  I give the crowd, with a bunch of young volleyball players in attendance, a lot of credit too.  There were autographs afterward and I was able to heap praise upon the girls.

11-2-19 at UTRGV Vaqueros: Another straight-sets win over the Vaqueros.  Barbara Silva was limited to only 3 kills.  The coach called off the trade.

11-7-19 at UMKC Roos: A big four-set win.  Two of the sets went to extra points.  Aggie blocking was overwhelming.  Aggies serving had double-digit errors, but also double-digit aces.

11-9-19 at GCU Lopes: The only information I got on this match was during an Aggie Football game.  The Aggies beat the number two team in the conference again in straight sets, but more importantly, with the win, they secured the regular season conference championship.

11-14-19 vs Chicago St Cougars: I started this report off with a bit of gossip.  I’m not proud of that, but for once I had inside information.  This was a classic trap game being played at noon on a weekday against a team with only one win in conference.  (The Aggies had already beaten them in 3 sets on 10-19-19.)  Not to mention the Aggies had little to play for.  Cat Kelly was also laid up for this and the next game.  The Cougars took the first set.  The coach threatened to put in the reserves and throw the match.  With that motivation, the Aggies came back to win in four.

11-16-19 vs UMKC Roos: Ah, the tears of Senior Day.  Before that though, it was another bruising four-set win over the Roos.  Three of the sets ended 25-23.  Senior Brigette Lowe had a career game with 11 kills.  The Aggies ran the table in conference, 16-0.  The only good news about the goodbye ceremony was that beautiful Megan Hart would be returning as a graduate assistant.  Yay!