NM State Aggies vs Southern Utah Thunderbirds Volleyball 9-29-22

Let me tell you, Southern Utah is the toughest two and nine team ever.  And NM State Volleyball’s Setter drama took a dramatic new turn.  I almost lost my dinner.  Watching this match was more stressful than work.  The only good news is that I’m reporting on a win.  Okay, the usual drill.  I had the night off.  Me and Ron went to dinner and then went to the game.  Actually, I almost lost my dinner without the aid of a scary volleyball match.  KFC’s chicken sandwich was a bit subpar.  I apologized to Ron, but he liked it. 

 

At the Pan-Am Center, we ran into everybody.  AD Mario Moccia walked by and I said, “Hi.”  We ran into Assistant Coach Hertel.  He waved at us.  Ron asked him if we were going to win tonight and he gave us a thumbs up.  (Five minutes later, he met with Coach Jordan, who updated him on the Setter situation.  His attitude suddenly changed for the worse.)  I greeted Aggievision producer Rito.  Finally at my seat, I waved to Marketing Director Nicole Sack.  She was probably glad Ron wasn’t with me at the time to bother her with more of his marketing ideas.

Honestly, I’d never heard of Southern Utah.  I had no idea what their nickname was.  They must have been one of the teams that suddenly joined the WAC right before the start of the season.  Coach Jordan wasn’t on this week’s Aggie Coaches Show, so there was no scouting report.  Their record didn’t look good on tonight’s program.  They were a happy, pleasant-looking group on court warming up.  Their jerseys had their names on the back, a college rarity.  Their Coach, Kacey Nady (pictured), and Assistant Coach, Berkley Oblad, were both very attractive blondes.  Both women were accomplished players (from Oregon and Utah respectively).  Berkley, while very stylishly dressed, still looked intimidating on court with her height.       

 

Then the Aggies came out on court.  The first warning sign was seeing Setter Bianca Perez (pictured at the top, kind of like a cover jinx) wearing a heavy wrap on one of her wrists.  Maybe it’s not as bad as it looks, I thought hopefully.  Setting only requires the use of two good hands.  Warning sign number two, I frantically looked for Alana Embry on the floor.  She wasn’t there.  Uh, oh. 

 

There was radio call for tonight.  Broadcaster Adam Young confirmed Bianca’s thumb injury and that it was probably season-ending.  That hurt, because even as a freshman, she’d won the starting job setting and was also doing well serving.  Bianca didn’t seem like a freshman and she was starting off with a good physical build for the position.     

 

Rylee Fay is also doing a good job setting and serving, but with the 6-2 system Coach Jordan uses, the team has to have two setters.  (As if I understand technical volleyball.  You might use other system, 5-1, if you have a really good setter.  In 6-2, you get more attack options.)  With Alana not there, I’m frantically searching the roster.  On the pregame, Adam and the Coach tagged local (-ish) freshman, Rilen Garca as the alternate.  She’d be making her collegiate debut.  I have to think she didn’t really think she’d be playing this year as the fourth setter on the depth chart.  The Coach often takes in walk-ons to be nice (or to have more girls to yell at).  

The disturbing thing was that neither Adam nor the Coach mentioned Alana.  That’s a real bad sign.  Alana’s reintroduction as setter did not go well for the team against UTRGV last week.  She was not used in the next game against CBU, a win, but she seemed happy enough on the sidelines.  Certainly after Bianca’s injury, the team needed Alana.

 

Given the lack of comments and necessity, the split was acrimonious and sudden, like right before game time.  (She was still listed on the roster until the next day.)  I kind of hate to speculate, but maybe Alana didn’t like whatever position she was offered.  If Alana wanted to quit and hurt the team, she really picked the right moment.  Whatever happened, good luck to Alana in her future endeavors.  Sorry we didn’t get to see you play more.

 

Oh, well.  What’s one player?  It’s not like the Setter handles the ball on just about every play and directs the offense.  What’s the worst that could happen?  (See that UTRGV game recap.)  The team captains and the refs gathered for the coin flip to determine first serve.  I picked up a couple of loose balls in the stands from practice and returned them.  Usually there are fans closer to the court that retrieve them.                       

 

A pretty good crowd came in with attendance of 750.  A big group of teen girls came in wearing the same t-shirt.  They seemed too big to be a team.  On court, an itty bitty little girl was brought over to meet Pistol Pete and get a picture.  It was too cute.

 

Set 1

Our starters were Rylee, Lia Mosher, Katie Birtcil, Mari Sharp, Molly Johnson, Taylor Snow, and Darian Markham.  It all started so well.  The Aggies went up 12-1 to start the set.  Kills were being distributed around.  Fay, who’s leading the conference in aces, put in another.  Thunderbird Rylee Achtzehn (pictured above) had a nice off-court save.  (Yes, I put up her picture because she’s pretty.)  On that point, 11-1, the up official’s ladder got bumped and knocked off its spot. 

 

At 16-2, Rilen came in for the first time.  (Two Rylee’s, one Ryleigh, pronounced the same, who also came in with Rilen.  You think I’m not getting confused?)  Rilen had her first service error, but also her first assist on a bump set to Ryleigh.  20-7 she also made good set to Taylor and then came off.  The Coach immediately started talking to her on the sidelines.  22-9 Fay (easier to type) made a one-handed save on a dump shot by Thunderbird setter Macy Short that went over for a kill.  That’s when you know things are going well.  Fay also had pancake save.  Katie finished the set with a kill, 25-12 Aggies.       

 

Set 2: Aggies 1, Thunderbirds 0

At this point, I was feeling sorry for SUU.  (Can’t use “SU,” since that’s Seattle U.)  That was about to change.  Dramatically.  The teen girls were posing for Flex Cam in the break, along with one of the Cheerleaders.  The main distraction in the crowd was a beautiful, stylish young woman on crutches.  It was an odd sight.

 

The Aggies started off well again, going up 5-1, including an ace by Mari.  On the next point, Macy put in a dump shot.  That was her fourth attempt.  She’s apparently known for being an offensive setter.  Katie was called for a Backcourt Attack to tie the score at 8.  At 8-9 SUU, the Coach called a timeout.  I noticed with Rilen setting, the Aggie hitters were missing high consistently.  Teammates and coaches looked angry as they were talking to each other.

 

The score stayed close with the Aggies generally staying in front.  The Aggies were getting aces.  Lia had a kill off a great feed by Rilen, but she later had her second service error.  Jayde Shelton, who’d had an overpass kill earlier, got a kill that was described on the radio as, “Wasn’t pretty.”  Lia got a kill on an awkward left hand tip kill.  Points were even until 23-24.  SUU had a great off-court save and got a free ball kill as the Aggies watched in shock.  The Aggies took a timeout.  The teen girls did the Chicken Dance as a group.  The set ended 23-25 SUU on an Aggie Net Violation.

 

Set 3: Aggies 1, Thunderbirds 1

The teen girls were now doing the Macarena.  They were having a great time.  A very stylish-looking little tweener girl was doing it in the aisle.  (She seemed to be with her grandparents.  I wanted to tell them to tell her parents that they’re letting her grow up way too fast.)  On court, the Aggies looked serious.  The Thunderbirds looks loose.

 

The Aggies got off to another fast start thanks to three aces by Fay (which also activated the Raising Cane’s Challenge).  5-1 SUU got their first point off of Darian and Katie’s confusion on court coverage.  Kaitlyn Espiritu and Cat Kelly seated on the Aggie bench both covered their eyes after the play.  A couple of out-serves got the Thunderbirds back into it.  The kill of the match was 12-7 where Mari got an overpass slam. 

 

SUU kept hanging around.  They got to within 13-12.  Lia and Katie combined on a block, 15-13.  17-15 Katie had another of her steady stream of kills in the match.  That was her 15-th.  Adam on the radio exclaimed, “She’s putting the team on her back.”  The Coach started to work in some more players.  Mia Peterson and Anji Vishwanathan came in.  18-15 Anji had a beautiful swing for a kill. 

 

It started to get weird, though.  18 all, Katie was called for another Illegal Attack.  Also, both setters were on the court at the same time.  18-19 SUU and the Aggies took a timeout.  The Coach talked to Fay separately.  21-20 Lia got an overpass kill off a great serve by Fay.  Timeout SUU.  22-20 Lia got a tip kill on a low set.  23-20 Lia got the kill hitting the sideline.  24-20 Fay with an ace.  The Aggies finished the set with a 6-0 run, 25-20.

 

Set 4: Aggies 2, Thunderbirds 1

The hot chick on crutches hopped her way up the stairs.  It was painful to watch.  I briefly considered running over and offering to carry her up the stairs.  Physical reality barred me.  Over the threshold, sure.  Up a long flight of stairs, probably not. 

 

Finally, the Thunderbirds did not allow the Aggies to run up the lead to start a set.  We had our first long rally at 1 all.  SUU took it when Mari went into the net.  Lia ended another long rally with a kill at 3-1 Aggies.  3-2 an exhausted Mari served a floater into the net.  SUU won the next long rally in an ugly fashion and served an ace to tie the score at 6.  At 6-9 SUU the Aggies took a timeout.  I’m starting to think that the Aggies have trouble playing on the south end of the court.  They always begin matches on the north end.  I’ve seen enough struggles to wonder if I’m actually on to something.

 

My co-worker, Taylor, who has met Mia (well, hit on her) was at this match.  I’d been telling him when the matches were this whole season.  He said he was going to be here tonight with his little girls.  (Taylor is still young himself.)  I looked for him and he looked for me, but we never saw each other.  He did arrive late and leave early.  Even with that, him and his girls really enjoyed the match and wanted to come back.  Taylor plays in a beach volleyball league, so he is interested in the sport.

 

I bring this up because Mia came in for a few points here.  SUU extended their lead on an overpass kill off of Mia.  I also noticed a couple times players on court were having to position her before the serve.  Eventually, she was pulled out.  Taylor was pissed the Coach didn’t leave her in more, but I told him that she was kind of lost out there.    

 

The Aggies were behind until Katie tied it at 14 by tooling a block.  Another dump shot nearly won that point for SUU.  On the next point, Macy was called for an illegal attack to give the Aggies the lead.  From here it was a dogfight with the Aggies just staying ahead.  The Coach challenged a block out and got the call overturned to make it 21-18.  22-19 was another long rally with incredible saves on both sides.  Katie finished it with a kill and the crowd erupted.

 

SUU called a timeout.  Their girls were still all smiles.  22-20 Macy got in her best dump shot with her back to the net.  A couple of SUU errors got the Aggies to match point, which was completely insane with the Aggies scrambling on their side of the net.  Lia whiffed on a swing and it was saved and hit back over.  SUU shot out to give the Aggies the win!

 

Wait a second, Coach Nady challenged the point as the fans were moving towards the exits.  To their credit, the exiting fans waited at the top of the stairs.  Rilen was with the reserves showing them her dance steps during the review.  The call was overturned and play continued.  SUU won the next two points.  Timeout Aggies.  The crowd was still there and they were loud.  I noticed Lia on court.  She’s often smiling, but here, she was grinning like she knew something.  There was a reason for that.  She’d seen the future.  Lia put a hard tap into the corner for the win, 25-23 and 3-1.            

 

Rilen got hugs from her friends and family.  Bianca got pictures with Pistol Pete.  Taylor Snow and then the rest of the team signed autographs for the teen girls in the crowd.  Everyone was pretty happy, even if long-term questions lingered.  Southern Utah was scrappy as heck and the Aggies were having problems and talented their way out of them.  If the Thunderbirds hadn’t dug themselves in a hole to start three of these sets, this might have turned out differently.       

 

Great as ever, Katie Birtcil led with 21 kills had 14 digs.  Lia Mosher had 16 kills and some of them were big time.  Mari Sharp had 9 with 13 digs.  It was an awesome game for her.  Makenzie Templeton paced the Thunderbirds with 10 kills.  Kills were 61 to 47 for the Aggies.  Rylee Fay had 7 aces and 36 assists.  She was on fire.  Aces went 10 to 3.  There were 9 service errors.  Rilen Garcia had 3 of them, but also 15 assists.  In the postgame interview, Coach Jordan said he wanted to have a talk with her Santa Teresa coach about her serving. 

 

Ron delivered me straight back home without going for ice cream.  On TV, I caught the final set of UNLV beating Fresno State on Stadium.  I was pleased to see some extra volleyball.  From here, I waited to see what would happen at Saturday’s match.