I’ve agonized over buying an Aggie Country Pass for the last couple of days. There are rumors of another lockdown. (A planned emergency may be declared next month for purely political reasons.) Finally, I found out on Friday that tonight’s Aggie Volleyball exhibition game versus Western New Mexico would require a paid admission. That, more or less, cinched it. I was miffed that there still weren’t any Volleyball posters yet in the ticket office, especially since I’d remember to bring a rubber band with me for them.
I decided I’d get something from the Concessions and settled
on the Pete combo. I didn’t really want
a hot dog, but it was cheaper than a pretzel.
When I got to my seat to eat, it was a miracle! The bun was fresh (and the dog was huge). I don’t know what to say. This is the first time this has happened to me
at an Aggie sporting event. Suddenly, I
felt a little better about buying the Pass.
Of course, they buy all their buns at the beginning of the school year
and they just get stale as the year goes on.
As mentioned at the Scrimmage, the Pan-Am Center is undergoing some
renovations. The obvious first change is
the lighting. It was like sunlight
inside over the court. I almost needed
my sunglasses. The court was now bounded
with a layout like bigger colleges have for their volleyball courts. The seats in the pullout sections next to the
court have been replaced with new ones.
Other seating sections are supposed to be replaced as well.
Alum player Lia
Mosher was back to watch the team.
She’s not working for them and I don’t think she’s going to
classes. She’s just there. That’s loyalty. Ashley
Herman and Darian Markham
weren’t suited out play. I was looking
forward to seeing Ashley play some more, and I suspected something was wrong
with Darian. Nothing obvious looked wrong
with them. Maybe they’ll be playing
soon. I didn’t see Kaitlyn Espiritu anywhere, though she’s still on the roster.
Morgan
Stewart has a massive bandage on her hip, but she’d be the libero
to start. (I’m sorry Ron wasn’t here to
see his favorite out playing.) Rilen Garcia was the surprise starting
setter. During a promo on the video
board, Rilen’s image came up, along the Sydney
McIntosh. The rest of the team
cheered them.
A pretty decent crowd came out. I didn’t see fan Danny there. I know he’s a fan of Western. I probably just missed seeing him somewhere. The team intro video had a couple highlights
featuring alum Molly Johnson, who
was there on the bench as the grad assistant.
(I still need to talk to her to gush on her.) I noticed a very pretty Asian lady working as
a line judge. I hope to see more of her,
though she did look very unhappy out there.
Set 1
The WNM Mustangs
went up 0-3 on the Aggies to start. This
team was not terrible. They’ve got some
height and were able to block. Starr Williams fired high a couple of shots. Mustang libero, Janey Cortez, made a nice off-court save on a point.
The Aggies made a comeback with Ryleigh Whitekettle on serve.
She ran off 5 points. Bianca Perez cycled in as setter. Kacia
Brown made a couple of kills on a tip and firing through a block. 10-6 Aggies, Sydney got a kill. Morgan made a great dive save on the
play. Timeout WNM. The Cheerleaders
came out and performed, though they were wearing t-shirts, not their uniforms. Pistol
Pete was here in his traditional Western garb.
11-6 Aggies, Mari
Sharp and Aleka Darko combined
on block. Aleka and Syd would combine on
a block later. 17-8 Starr got her first
kill and put in a couple more right after.
Late in the set, Peyton Castillo
cycled in as setter and Bella Castro
came in to serve. Aleka finished the set
with a kill, 25-14 Aggies.
Set 2
Aggies 1, Mustangs 0
The teams did not changes ends, probably because this was
an exhibition. Bella changed into the
libero jersey. She looked loose and
happy. Peyton would be the starting
setter. The Football team in the stands showed off for Flex Cam. I was pleased to see Ashley was still
high-fiving everyone, including the coaches, before each set.
The set started with a long rally that Mari ended with a
kill. WNM would take the lead 2-3 with a
kill and Kacia firing long on a swing.
The Aggies retook the lead 4-3, as Peyton made a low set and Mari came
in from the backcourt for a kill.
Assistant
Coach Hertel was actively moving the players around on court
before a point. 6-4 Aggies, Peyton snuck
in a dump shot. 8-4 Peyton made a
successful dive for a ball. Aleka made a
bump set and it fell in for a kill. Alex Connatser cycled in early. (Ron would have been so happy to see her,
too.) There were a couple of long
rallies that the teams split. Peyton
made a save on an attempted dump shot.
9-7 Aggies, Ryleigh missed a couple of shots and WNM got
back into it. 10-8 Alex made a bad miss
on the previous shot, but came back here with her first kill. 10-10 WNM tied it with a nice block. Ryleigh put the Aggies back up with a kill
down the line. WNM tied it again at
11. Bella made a great save at the net
on that point.
13-15 WNM, the automatic timeout came up. Coach
Jordan remained seated and talked to the team standing in front of
him. They were nodding along with what
he said. Coach Hertel talked to them some
more in a huddle. There were a couple of
ladies sitting in front of me that were like fan coaches. They were groaning and critiquing on every
bad play from the Aggies.
14-15 WNM, Peyton set Aleka for a kill. 15-16 Starr tooled a block. 16-17 Bianca hooked up Alex for a kill. Ryleigh finally put the Aggies up, 18-17,
with a kill. Timeout WNM. Kaylee
Peterson came in and served up the Aggies’ first ace. 20-17 Mari made a diagonal kill at the
net.
Timeout WNM again.
The Football team had fun with Bongo Cam. Assistant
Coach Whitis had a long talk with Mari.
21-18 WNM got hit with a second Lift call in the set. Coach Whitis talked to Kaylee out on court
and got a smile out of her. 23-20
Mustang Maria Osorio got a clutch
kill. WNM took the next point with a
save off the net and a tip kill.
However, a serve that went long ended the set, 25-23 Aggies.
Set 3
Aggies 2, Mustangs 0
Morgan came back in as libero. Anji
Vishwanathan came in for the first time.
An excited little girl jumped up and down in front of me for Dance
Cam. The Football team declined to
dance. Bianca talked to the up official
before the set. It seemed official and
not chatting.
Once again, WNM started with the lead with an ace. Bella made a good dive save on the next
point. Serving had been pretty steady to
this point, but Morgan served out early and WNM followed suit. Maggie
Lightheart (be still my heart) came in for the first time to serve. Mari got her second kill of the set before making
a net serve.
Starr made the next two kills for the Aggies. 6-6 Maggie passed to Bianca, who got a tip
kill off a block. Starr got her third
kill, before Bianca made a net serve.
Starr pounded another kill, which was nearly dug out on the other side,
but went out. 10-8 Aggies, Ryleigh made
a flying kill. 11-9 Mari’s swing was dug
out, but Ryleigh put down a no-set kill.
There had been a muff at the net on the previous
play. Coach Whitis, upset by the play,
went over to the reserves to lecture them.
When Ryleigh came out, he took her aside and talked to her. 12-11 Aggies, Kacia had a tip kill and then
an “Excuse me” kill, but served out to tie the score at 13.
14-13 Aggies, Anji got her first kill. 16-13 Timeout WNM. Out of the break, Ryleigh hit the back corner
with a kill and made a solo block. Anji
made two solo blocks on the next point.
Bianca had been a long serving run by this point. She has an awkward jump motion, but it
works.
Aspen
Aldous finally came in to the match to serve and set. Kills by Mari, Kacia, and two by Ryleigh
finished off the set, 25-15. Aspen looked good setting. Her height allows her to have her have a
really light touch. The Aggies take the
match, 3-0.
Set 4
Aggies 3, Mustangs 0
“Hold on, folks.
We’ve got extra volleyball,” said the PA. I’m sure this was supposed to be a four-set
match regardless of the score. They
should have said something before the match started. The Cheerleaders left anyway, as did the
Football team, and some of the crowd.
(Of course, I have nothing better to do, especially nothing better than
watching beautiful young women play volleyball.) Bella was back in at libero. Rilen was the setter. I was getting cold. I need to remember to wear another layer in
the Pan Am Center.
Sydney started it off with a kill. Rilen served an ace to make it 2-0. Ryleigh tooled a block to make it 4-2. 5-3 Rilen had an assist to Kacia. Peyton and Alex came in, and Peyton had a net
serve. Starr had a kill and Mari added
two more. Peyton cycled out. Coach Jordan had her sit next to him and put
his arm around her for a talk. Who is
this guy? He’s not yelling. He’s being nice coaching.
Rilen went on a serving run. Mari and Ryleigh teamed up on a couple of
blocks and Ryleigh tooled a block for a kill.
Aspen subbed in to serve. 16-8
WNM blocked out Ryleigh. She hit the
antenna a couple of points later. 16-11
there was an overrule by an official that gave WNM the point. Bella made a dive save at the net, but the
Mustangs took the point, 17-12. Next
point, Syd fired a kill into a block.
Next, Kacia and Maggie teamed up on a block.
Then the disaster.
On a pancake dig attempt where a couple of girls were going for it,
Ryleigh went down hard. She sat up, babied
her left arm, and was crying. The
trainers ran out to her immediately. There
was uncomfortable quiet for a minute until Coach Jordan asked for some
music. The down official said back,
“They want you to sing.” It was a moment
of levity, but this was serious for the season.
Ryleigh got up and walked off and was tended to off court.
Jacqueline
Gomez-Gallegos was sent in to several cheers of the
crowd. (She must have had friends
watching.) But then she was pulled back
before the point started. Back to play,
20-13 Aggies, Aspen set Kacia for a kill.
Coach Jordan went over to check on Ryleigh. Kacia put in two more kills. Ryleigh went over to sit on the bench holding
her arm and appeared to be crying. I
don’t know if she was crying because she was in pain or if she just found out
her season was over. (I’m tearing up myself.)
Jacqueline finally came in for real and may have gotten a
tip kill to make it 24-13. (Freshman Mia Daniel never made it in to the
match, though she was suited out to play.
She was the last player in the reserves.) WNM didn’t quit and ran off four points. Finally, Maggie ran way off court for a
save. Bella took her hit and long bumped
it over the net facing backward. Maggie
made the kill that ended it, 25-17. 4-0
Aggies in sets.
The official story of the match had Kacia Brown with 12 kills, Mari
Sharp with 11, and Starr Williams
and Ryleigh Whitekettle with 8 kills
each. Morgan Stewart, Bella Castro,
and Rilen Garcia had 5 to 6 digs each. The setting situation for the team looks good
with four serviceable options. The team
has several good hitters and some good blocking. From these two games, the team doesn’t seem
to have an ace server, so they’d better work on being consistent.
However, the official coverage ended at Set 3. There was no mention of Ryleigh’s injury,
which was the only thing that really mattered.
I’m not sure if it was her elbow or wrist. It was her offhand, but she’ll still be out
quite a while if something was broken.
She wasn’t put in a sling, but she’ll likely be getting X-Rays. The team should still be competitive, but losing
Ryleigh likely ends their championship run.
More personally, Ryleigh was in terrible pain and that was awful to see. She didn’t strike me as someone who cries
over nothing.
I’m remembering seeing Megan Hart dive for a ball once on court and I think the whole crowd gasped. I didn’t see her do that again for the rest of the season and I’m sure that was coach’s orders. The shorter girls can make those diving plays with less chance of injury than the tall ones. Apparently, Ryleigh wasn’t told to let those kind of plays go, but I don’t blame coach. I’ve seen girls injured playing other sports, but volleyball injuries just seem to be worst in terms of damage and pain. We’ll hope for the best.
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