Monday, November 22, 2021

Late Season and Postseason Aggie Volleyball Part 1


To follow up from last time, the good news was that I didn’t get sick.  The bad news was that I had to go into quarantine anyway.  Aggie Volleyball’s last two games of the season were on the radio, so I at least got to listen to them.  I made a few notes during the games, but these aren’t comprehensive at all.

 

11-10-21 vs UTEP Miners

I had scheduled to take the day of this mid-week game off from work anyway.  The pregame interview with Coach Jordan was enlightening.  As I thought, he would have preferred to have rested some of his hurting regulars.  However, this being a rivalry game, he was sort of obligated to put out his best possible team, but only as long as the game was close.  In about any other year against UTEP, that would have meant when the Aggies were up big. 

 

However, former Aggie assistant coach and current UTEP coach, Ben Wallis, has really gotten their program up to a very competitive level.  Coach Jordan called them, “Probably their best volleyball team in program history.”  They are one of the top ten offenses in the country.  This was not going to be a game the Aggies would be able to just coast through.

 

Coach Jordan did start putting in subs immediately in this match, as opposed to just playing seven the last game.  Freshman Sydney McIntosh, whom I haven’t seen play, came in for the first set and got a kill right away.  The Aggies went down six late in Set 1 and fended off three set points, but managed to come back and win with a five-point run, 26-24.

 

The Aggies took Set 2 handily, 25-19.  The coach got into the action when he was hit by an opposing player’s kill.  Sydney and Cat Kelly collided on one point.  Syd still managed to get a tip kill on it.  The girls shared a giggle afterward.  Set 3 was close.  UTEP took it 23-25.  There was a double touch called on Syd during a free ball bump.  The coach and the crowd were furious at the questionable call.  Adam Young on the radio call was incredulous.  There was a girl’s voice that I didn’t recognize doing the PA duties.  During this set, she made the announcement about NM State joining Conference-USA and that the Aggies and Miners would become conference opponents.

 

UTEP jumped out to a seven-point lead early in Set 4 and never looked back, winning 19-25.  The Aggies were hitting well, but having lots of service errors.  The Miners kept the momentum into Set 5.  They went up by four and closed it out 13-15 and took the match 2-3.  Coach Jordan was fairly salty in the postgame interview.  He concurred with what Adam was saying during the match, that Lia Mosher was constantly double-teamed.  The coach then blamed setter, Carly Aigner-Swesey, for not distributing the ball better.  I hope she takes that constructively and not personally.

 

I can’t blame the coach entirely for being angry.  Adam pinned the loss on a questionable call in the third set.  The Aggies were so close to finishing it in three sets.  Now all the coach has to show for the game is another home loss and additional wear and tear and his players.  It didn’t help that the UTEP players were celebrating behind the coach the whole time.  “I guess this is going to happen every time an opponent wins here,” he reflected.  At least some of the Aggie players had good games.  Katie Birtcil led with 25 kills.  Cat Kelly had 12, Shaney Lipscomb 10, and Sydney McIntosh had 6.  Syd had some freshman moments, but did well considering.

 

 

11-13-21 vs Chicago State Cougars

This game wasn’t on the radio when I tuned in on time.  I didn’t know what to make of it, since there was a triple-header scheduled at the Pan-Am Center today: one volleyball game, one Women’s basketball game, and one Men’s basketball game.  My dad had reminded me during a phone call that the Aggie Football team was playing Alabama this morning.  I tuned over to that.

 

It was the expected close contest.  After the Aggies took a 3-0 lead, Alabama had taken a slim 49-3 lead into halftime.  On Stadium’s college football preview show, they said about this match up, “With apologies to our friends at New Mexico State, this is a glorified scrimmage.”  The Aggie halftime show at least told me that the volleyball game was in a delay.  Broadcaster, Jack Nixon’s, talk with Athletic Director Mario Moccia was interesting.  Parking at the stadium there in Tuscaloosa ranged between $30 to $60.  “If I tried to charge $2 for our dirt lot, I’d never hear the end of it,” Mario said.  He also thought that changes in the SEC might dry up these “money” games for NMSU.  SEC teams may start scheduling far cheaper FCS-level teams. 

 

I went back to the volleyball coverage, which was now on.  The reason for our delay: the officials weren’t there.  Why?  They had the time wrong.  This game had been rescheduled from 1:00pm to 11:00am at least a week ago.  Mario insisted it wasn’t their fault the referees didn’t know.  The conference apparently hadn’t told the officials about the time change.  Given that they had to come from El Paso, it was fortunate there was only an hour delay.  I’m sure the Pan-Am staff was nervous about the delay, given the upcoming scheduling.

 

This incident was nowhere near as surprising as Adam Young’s announcement before the game that this game between the Aggies and Chicago State Cougars was for the WAC West championship.  The winner takes it. 

 

Huh? 

 

I’d said multiple times that Chicago State was no joke this season with their new coach.  He’s recruited an international roster from seven countries.  CBU and GCU had been right there near the top of the standings with the Aggies.  Chicago State had delivered GCU their first home loss earlier this week and were now tied with the Aggies.  The Cougars are leaving the conference after this season in style with their best one. 

 

There was definitely something to play for today, but Coach Jordan was still considering sitting out Katie Birtcil for the tournament.  The Aggies weren’t playing for the top seed, maybe not even the second, but they were in.  In spite of her sore shoulder, Katie wanted in anyway.  Lindsay Blakey started for her, but I never heard her name called again after Katie came in.  Alana Embry came in several times as a server.  It was Senior Day.  Cat Kelly and Shaney Lipscomb would be leaving.  Seniors Carly Aigner-Swesey and Lia Mosher would be back. 

 

Chicago State did look good in Set 1.  They went on a nine-point run mid-way through, leading 10-16.  The Aggies came right back with a six-point run, but lost it 21-25.  Adam, and later the coach, were incredulous that the team had hit at a .340 clip, but still lost the set.  It was a combination of bad serving and receiving, the team’s bug-a-boo this season. 

 

One girl on Chicago State, Yanlis Feliz, was getting most of their kills.  Finally in the second set, the Aggies started double-teaming her.  The Aggie took the set, 25-17.  Katie’s shoulder showed no signs of fatigue.  Cat was playing inspired ball.  Lia, after being frustrated in the last game, was busting out here. 

 

Continued in Part Two

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