NM State Aggies vs Arizona Wildcats Volleyball 9-14-24

I got up too late to watch the first game of the day between Abilene Christian and Texas Southern.  (I’m being nice.  Somebody might need to pay me to watch that game actually.  AC won 3-0).  There was already a big crowd out front of the Pan-Am Center around the entrance.  The Aggies were bringing in the heavy duty support today for their match against Arizona.  They were bussing in the little girl players from the area high schools and junior highs. 

 

My usual spot was taken inside.  I was expecting that, so I sat off to the side.  That attractive female line judge was working the game.  I was already impressed with the officiating.  Grad Assistant Lia Mosher was introducing the ball girls to the head ref and then giving them their instructions.  I’d seen Assistant Coach Tatyana Battle doing that a couple of years ago. 

 

There was at least one high school team sitting right behind the Aggie reserves.  The girls from there were walking by me during the game and, distressingly, some of them were injured.  I was actually sitting by their moms above them.  Coach Jordan went over to the girls before the match.  He started off all gruff, but was soon smiling and laughing with them.  I really kind of wish I could have heard what he was saying.

 

Set 1

Starr Williams got it started with a kill on a touch.  Nicole Briggs followed that with a slap from the middle.  Starr went off court for a save on the next point.  An early AZ challenge overruled her kill to make 2-1 Aggies.  Starr had to come out to have her leg re-bandaged and there was some confusion on the rotation of the subs afterward.

 

There were alternating service errors, as usual.  (As I’ve said, they’re contagious.)  5-4 Aggies, Mari Sharp hit an overpass that just went over the net and dropped in untouched.  That was luck, but with skill, Ashley Herman muscled a kill through a block and Kacia Brown made a solo block.  Ash had a solo block to make it, 7-5 Aggies.  AZ had four touches on the next point, but the Aggies gave it back on a service error.

 

Starr tooled a block, Yasso Amin got a kill, and Starr got a kill off a touch.  AZ was called for four touches again and AZ took a timeout, down 12-8.  PA Ed Carnathan sounded a little subdued today early, but rallied later to be in full voice.  Back to the action, Makayla Martinez was in and made a flying dig.  (The girl is all hustle.)  Nicole finished it with a tip kill.  14-8 Aggies, AZ hit the hot line judge with an attack error.  Okay, now it’s personal.

 

AZ came back with a four-point run, which included Darian Markham taking one to the face.  Timeout Aggies, up 14-12.  You knew there was going to be cacophony from the little girls for any souvenir toss.  They predictably went wild for the t-shirts.  AZ continued their run and tied it.  Setter, Claudia Rossi, was pulled for Rilen Garcia.  The Coach started with six setters at the beginning of the season, but doesn’t seem happy with any of them.  The Aggies went behind and the Aggies took another timeout. 

 

Right out of the break, Nicole was blocked.  She got visibly mad.  I can see why the Coach is a little intimidated by her.  Yasso responded with a kill to break the seven-point run.  The Aggies looked completely confused on the next point, but AZ fired out.  Coach Jordan was incredulous watching from the bench.  I’m sure he was rolling his eyes. 

 

Kills by Ash and Kacia got the Aggies back into the lead briefly, but AZ took a 21-20 lead.  There was an actual collision on court between Aggie players.  It looked bad.  The Coach calmly told them from the sideline to settle down.  Starr made a kill to tie it and another later, but AZ finally pulled away and took the set, 25-22.

 

Set 2: Wildcats 1, Aggies 0

Once again, there was an early challenge.  Coach Jordan seemed to be listening to Nicole standing with the reserves, who called for it.  She was mad again.  It was overturned, 3-2 Aggies.  A couple of plays later, Starr was hurt.  She limped right off the court to the trainer.  (The trainer was busy.)  There was a delay, while the Coach was trying to figure out a sub for her.  Maggie Lightheart (our sweetheart) was jumping up and down behind the reserves, “Pick me!  Pick me!”  (Okay, she probably wasn’t saying that, but she was jumping up and down.)  The Coach did put her in. 

 

Yasso went to work with four kills (Rilen had a nice backset on one) and Mari put in two kills.  11-6 Aggies and timeout AZ.  There was pandemonium from the little girls for a hat toss into the stands.  That also included some members of the Aggie Soccer team.  Shila Rasoul got one and her teammate, Xitlaly Hernandez, was mad. 

 

Another challenged call gave the Aggies a 12-6 lead.  Starr came back in a couple of points later and received a round of applause.  AZ came back with a point off a challenge and an ace to make it, 15-14 Aggies.  Yasso tooled a block and fired an ace serve that grazed an AZ player trying to get out of the way. 

 

AZ stayed in it.  At 21-20 Aggies, they took a timeout.  Starr tooled a block, but AZ tied it up after a service error.  The Aggies took another timeout.  AZ took the lead, 23-22, after blocking Yasso.  Nelle tied it up on a dump shot.  From there, two AZ errors gave the Aggies the set, 25-23.

 

Set 3: Aggies 1, Wildcats 1

During the five-minute half, the Borderland Cheer group of little bitty kids came out and performed.  They were on the Aggie side of the court and the players all knelt down to watch.  The Aggies looked bad to start play in the set.  3-1 AZ, a ball dropped untouched while the Aggies ran around in confusion.  The Coach face-palmed. 

 

The players were making some plays, but were not working well together.  At 6-3 AZ, the Coach took a timeout and sat the starters on the bench for a talk.  Back to play, Nicole came up with a big block that got the Aggies within one.  Makayla gave the Aggies a 10-9 lead with an ace serve painting the backline.  Unfortunately, two Aggie out shots gave AZ back the lead and the Coach took another timeout. 

Starr and Nelle collided on a point after.  It was like this was the Aggies’ first match of the season.  Yasso tied it at 13 on a kill.  At 19-15 AZ, the Coach challenged a touch call.  It seemed questionable, but he was out of timeouts.  It was overruled, 18-16 AZ.  Ashley came out and was accidentally poked in the throat by one of the reserves.  It was that kind of set.  Yasso and Starr each had a couple of more kills, but AZ took it, 25-20.

 

Set 4: Wildcats 2, Aggies 1

Coach Jordan gave the team a long talk in the break.  AZ took the first two points, but two of their players hit each other going for a dig.  There were some nerves there, too.  The set stayed close.  There was a challenge on an out-of-bounds call by the Aggies that was made by the hot line judge.  It was upheld.  A couple of points later, Starr hit her on a kill.  I’m sure that was an accident.

 

On the next point, Darian ran into a little ball boy going for a ball out-of-bounds.  He was accidentally interfering.  Yasso ran over and asked if he was okay and fist-bumped him.  AZ would have won the point, but even their reserves asked for a replay, which happened.  The Aggies won the do-over with a kill by Nicole.  At 10-5 Aggies, AZ took a timeout.

 

Yasso came up with a couple of kills, along with one by Mari.  Mia Fox, who had come in for this set, had her first kill, but looked a bit panicked on the next point.  Still, AZ had come back and took a 15-14 lead and the Aggies took a timeout.  Mari tied it with a kill.  Nicole got the Aggies back in the lead with a block and she charged around the court. 

 

There were four more service errors, two for each side.  The pressure was mounting.  At 21-20 AZ, the Aggies took another timeout.  The high school girls below me danced to Jump in the Line.  Even the cameraman was smiling while watching them have fun.  Ash put in one final kill.  Mia again looked lost on court.  I’m not sure why the freshman was out there at this point.  Arizona took the set, 25-22, and the match, 3-1.  The Coach did challenge the last play, but even the Soccer girls left before the decision. 

 

There was no reaction from the crowd.  Even Arizona was muted in victory.  This match was like trench warfare.  The Aggies came over to the high school team in a grim procession.  However, the younger girls’ enthusiasm soon cheered up the Aggies, as they signed autographs for the girls.               

    

Arizona was led by Jaelyn Hodge with 20 kills and Kiari Robey with 15.  The Aggies were led by Yasso Amin and Mari Sharp, both with 15, and Starr Williams with 12.  I’m not going to say that the Aggies would have won for sure if Ryleigh Whitekettle had been playing, but I’m pretty sure Arizona was a lot less intimidated by the Aggies without her.  (I’ll attempt to stop whining over Ryleigh’s injury for the rest of the season.)  Your stat of the match was blocking.  AZ dominated 11 to 4.

 

I was going to go to Burger King for an early dinner, but made a quick detour to Chik-fil-a when I noticed that they didn’t look too busy.  They weren’t and I was quickly served inside.  Right after I started eating, a bus pulled up.  An Arizona Assistant Coach came in and I think the team had ordered online and were just stopping to pick up the meal.  I was wearing an Aggie shirt and hat, so I went over and congratulated her on a good game.  She thanked me.

 

Surprisingly, this wasn’t my only encounter at the restaurant.  I saw a large man walk by the window and easily recognized him.  Shiyazh Pete from the Football team walked in.  I hailed him and Shiyazh came over.  He recognized me from Ron and I sitting with him at a Softball game (2-24-23).  He said that felt like a million years ago.

 

Unfortunately, he was injured and not with the team on the road this weekend.  Shiyazh was hoping to get back playing in October.  We talked a bit about Volleyball.  He didn’t know about the game going on.  Eventually, I thought to ask him about the Football team.  He said they weren’t discouraged about the loss to Liberty last week.  We both expressed admiration for the Soccer team this season.   

 

At home, suffering from some slight lemonade poisoning (don’t get the large lemonade at Chik-fil-a, it’s too much), I started writing and listened to the late Aggie Football game against Fresno State.  The Aggies weren’t just shutout, they were massacred on top of it.  The Bulldogs stared their backup quarterback in the second half and still blew through the Aggie defense.  I tapped out.  (I was also listening to a baseball game and watching the Canelo fight.  I won’t be covering that in separate post.) 

 

The pregame had talked about Fresno State going to reconstitute the PAC-12 and wondered if the Aggies might get an offer to move to the Mountain West, which was being raided for teams.  AD Moccia wasn’t looking to move, but was listening.  This was before the game, though.  The Aggies will have to work hard to get any sort of offer after this game. 

 

A bit of a disappointing day, but it was cool to reconnect with Shiyazh.  Well, more Volleyball next week.  Shiyazh said he’d try to come out for the girls’ game against the Lobos and told me to find him.  There should be a good crowd, but he’ll be easy to pick out.     

NM State Aggies vs Abilene Christian Wildcats Volleyball 9-13-24

The first match I went to today didn’t take 90 minutes.  I’m not sure if the second one even took that long.  I was going to be waiting for a while for the 7:00pm match between the Aggies and the Abilene Christian Wildcats.

 

I wasn’t hungry after lunch, but I was thirsty.  I made the mistake of going over to McDonald’s.  I think it took about 20 minutes to get a smoothie.  I should have gone to the concessions.  Thankfully, I didn’t have my heart set on ice cream.  They’ve taken the McFlurry off the menu and the machine has a permanent-looking out-of-order sign on it.  They’ve given up on ever getting it fixed.  Civilization has fallen.  I also went over to the Toucan Market and bought some fruit.  (They looked like they needed the business.)

 

I still had plenty of time.  I called dad.  He questioned me staying over at the Pan-Am Center all day.  I should have listened to him.  The crowd for the match still seemed a bit light.  Arizona players were up in the stands.  They were probably waiting for dinner.  Aggie Grad Assistant, Lia Mosher, had changed clothes and her hairstyle from this afternoon.  She had a talk with the team’s middle blockers and Aleka Darko.

 

Local player and new freshman, Tess Fuqua, was on the bench, injured.  Unfortunately, we haven’t gotten to see her play.  She still attracts attention on the sidelines with her long, silky, shiny, golden brown hair.  Tess turned around and smiled and waved to her family seated behind the bench.  Assistant Coach Whitis said something to her that made her laugh.  He seems to be tough, but keeps things loose. 

 

During serving practice, Coach Whitis stood in the middle of the court and made Lia join him there as the balls were flying around.  I don’t know if the goal was to hit them or not hit them.  During hitting practice, our other local player, Maggie Lightheart (our sweetheart), slapped the net hard on a swing.  She put her hand to her mouth in mortified embarrassment.      

 

The ballgirls, working their fourth game of the day, were still energetic.  They held hands and skipped over to their stations.  PA Ed Carnathan was working this game.  I think a student was working the other games.  A different Pistol Pete than this morning was here, along with the Cheerleaders.  The Aggie girls tossed autographed souvenir balls to the crowd during introductions.  Kacia Brown tossed one to a little girl in a dress, who jumped up and down in joy.  Yasso Amin tossed hers to one of the ballgirls.

 

Set 1

Both teams seemed a little tight and started off with some errors.  The Aggies did build up a 6-2 lead with kills by Starr Williams and Kacia.  Mari Sharp put in an ace.  On another play, she bloodied her elbow and there was a stoppage to bandage it up.  Coach Jordan was more animated in this match.  He called for a challenge after a long, insane rally.  It might have been mostly to give the girls a blow, but the call was overturned and the Aggies led, 8-3.

 

Nelle Reese was the starting setter.  Claudia Rossi, who was not in the previous game, rotated in for her.  (I’m still confusing the two at times because of their similar looks.)  Rilen Garcia might have been in the Coach’s doghouse for a misplay in the last game.  Nelle sat by the Coach for additional instruction after she came out.

 

Nicole Briggs and Ashley Herman combined on a block to make it, 12-6 Aggies.  Nicole was all fired up.  AC took a timeout.  There was a near drop of a Cheerleader in the break by the guy trying to hold her up left her up on his hands.  Scary.  As always, the Cheerleader got up, smiled, and finished the routine. 

 

13-9 Aggies was another long rally.  The Wildcats took that point.  Mari had a pancake save and AC made a save out-of-bounds.  Nicole had a stuff at 15-9, but AC came back with an overpass dunk.  Darian Markham aced at 17-10.  Both teams exchanged service errors a couple of points later.  Yasso had a kill at 20-12 Aggies.  She came up to serve and, with her high-toss, Brazilian jump serve, literally knocked down the receiver.  The girl did manage to return it.  It happened again on the next point, too.

 

AC was happy to side out Yasso and went on a four-point run.  Coach Jordan called a timeout and was pissed, though he didn’t actually talk to the team in the huddle.  Rilen did come in to set.  Claudia sat down beside the Coach for a talk.  Nelle finished the set with an ace, 25-17 Aggies.

 

Set 2: Aggies 1, Wildcats 0

Arizona left by this point.  The AC Coach challenged the first point of the set, after mixed calls by the officials, but it was upheld.  Nelle put in an ace to make it, 2-0 Aggies.  Yasso put a shot into the open court for a 5-3 lead, but then had a service error.  The Coach threw up his hands.  Yasso came back with a kill by tooling a block to make it 8-5. 

 

Makayla Martinez came in for the first time to serve.  She took a fearless dive into a sideline table going after a ball.  Makayla is a very plucky defender.  AC challenged a block successfully and adjusted the score to 8-8.  After they took the lead on the next point, the Aggies took a timeout.

 

The score remained knotted until Mari put the Aggies up 12-11.  The score remained close.  AC even got in a setter dump.  19-16 Aggies, Ashley made a kill that AC nearly saved way off the court.  AC timeout.  The Aggies made it to 20 on a busted confused play that Mari finished with an overpass.  After Kacia pounded another overpass, AC took another timeout. 

 

I think the Women’s Basketball team was in attendance.  I think I saw Ryleigh Whitekettle get a cup of water for Molly Kaiser, who’s coming back for another season.  The Aggies finished the set with a seven-point run.  Makayla was on serve for it and had an ace.  25-16 Aggies.

 

Set 3: Aggies 2, Wildcats 0

Nicole ran up the stairs with the trainer between sets.  Her teammates looked concerned, but Nicole came back fine.  (Can women not go to the bathroom alone?)  PA Ed shouted out, “Show us your boobs!”  Wait.  I misheard that.  He said, “Show us your moves!”  I was getting ready to flash the crowd.  Even better than that show would have been, it was Dance Cam, featuring Pedro the baby raccoon.  Cute beyond words.  A smiling Pistol Pete came by to rally the crowd.

 

The Aggies started off with the lead, but after a couple of attack errors and a block, it was tied at 6.  Mari fired a facial into Izabelle Larson to tie it at 7.  Izzy just smiled after that shot.  The score remained close.  Aleka Darko came in and missed a block.  The Coach started rubbing his eyes.  13-12 Aggies was a replayed point.  The up official accidently interfered. 

 

Izzy hit a kill to tie it at 13.  “Boom!” said PA Ed, as Yasso tied it at 14.  15-14 Aggies was the Media timeout.  The video board ran an ad for Aggie Soccer and then showed some of the players in the crowd.  They were embarrassed.  (No, they weren’t.  They love attention.) 

 

Ashley got a kill out of the break, but it was overturned on a challenge.  Two service errors in a row tied the score.  AC took the lead on an out call, but the Coach challenged and Mari got the touch on the kill to put the Aggies up, 18-17.  “Boom!  Starr Williams!” shouted PA Ed, after a big kill.  AC took a timeout.  Darian ran to the huddle, “Yes!  Let’s go!” 

 

Starr had another kill.  Yasso served up another facial.  The Coach got a call overturned for another point.  Still, AC hung tough.  The Aggies called a timeout at 22-20 Aggies.  23-21 Aggies, Aleka and Yasso teamed up for a big block after a long rally.  The Coach nearly jumped out on the court to help.  However, the play was overturned on a challenge, 22-22. 

 

Alright.  Yasso came back with a kill.  Ash had a kill that was upheld on another challenge.  (This is why we watch sports: to see the officiating.)  But after an Aggie service error and a shot wide, we were tied at 24.  The Coach took a timeout and gave the team an angry motivational speech.  (I have no idea what he said.  I was on the other side of the court.)  Whatever the Coach said, Mari was listening.  She finished off the match with a pair of kills to win it, 26-24 and 3-0.

 

Mari was all smiles afterward.  She’d earned it.  Her and Yasso Amin led the scoring with 12 kills and Starr Williams had 10.  Three Aggies were in double digits in digs.    Bryley Steinhiber led the Wildcats with 11.  The Aggies led in all the stats, except blocks (6 to 2).  That seems like a problem.

 

I was all smiles, too.  My very long day with Volleyball was over.  We still had another match ***tomorrow,*** but let’s get in some sleep first.

NM State Aggies vs Texas Southern Tigers Volleyball 9-13-24

Aggie Volleyball started off their season on the road with five matches. They won two and lost three.  They lost to Georgia Tech (#14 in the nation) and took a set off them. They also lost to Sacramento State, after being up 2-0 in sets, and lost to San Francisco, 3-2.  In other words, they were competitive.  Sigh.  We can only wonder how good this team would have been with Ryleigh Whitekettle playing. 

 

For that matter, the team seems to have had a few more subtractions.  Setter Bianca Perez wasn’t suited up to play this weekend.  Setter Aspen Aldous was listed on the roster, but nowhere to be seen.  I wonder if she got tired of not playing.  Setter Peyton Castillo was also still inactive.  Good thing the team still has three other setters.  It’s like the coach saw this coming.  Also, legacy player, Mia Abalos, was off the roster.  I was looking forward to chatting with her about her big sister on Autograph Day.

 

There were six games scheduled for this Borderland Invite.  I took this Friday off intending to see three of the games today.  Abilene Christian would be playing Arizona at 10:00am.  I didn’t think I’d be able to get up in time for it.  (Arizona won 3-0.)

 

Also, my dad attempted to volunteer me to help one of his neighbors move in and said, “It’d only take an hour.”  (It took all day, of course.)  He’d forgotten about my back issues.  I declined.  The next day, he called to tell me that I needed to go through my old record albums, because he was going to sell them and mom’s collection on Saturday to a collector that was coming over to look at them (which didn’t actually happen).  I had to show up for that.  When I got there, I had to make some quick, painful decisions.  Given that I don’t have a record player (and dad doesn’t have a working one), I should have let all of them go, but I had to keep a few discs for the covers or included booklets.

 

For a 1:00pm Friday afternoon, it was light crowd.  Some Abilene Christian coaches were here to scout the game.  Pistol Pete was in attendance, but not the Cheerleaders.  Our coaching staff, Tatyana Battle and Lia Mosher, was seated on the bench chatting and laughing, probably about the good old days when they playing.  Coach Jordan had lamented in an interview that he kept wishing he could have put them into some of the games.

 

I did not know who Texas Southern was.  Apparently, it’s an HBCU.  Their team was all black (except for maybe the setter).  They all stood right up for the Anthem, thus making USC’s display last month look even worse.  Their coach all smiles and seemed very friendly with Coach Jordan.  Somewhat confusingly, the team was wearing white, crimson, and black for the match just like the Aggies.

 

Set 1

Given that I have four matches to recap for this weekend, I’m going to cut out a lot of the fat on my play-by-play for this match (and the next).  The first set started off 11-1 for the Aggies and finished 25-10 Aggies.  It was evident from early-on that this match wasn’t going to be competitive.  At one point, a cushion fell off one of the side tables.  Pete rushed over to take care of it.

 

Set 2: Aggies 1, Tigers 0

It seemed like some of the starters were rested in this set and it was more competitive.  Maggie Lightheart (our sweetheart) and Mia Fox were in.  Bella Castro was in at libero.  Mia scored a couple of kills early.  At the Media timeout, it was 15-13 Aggies, so it was close.  A bunch of Aggie fans in a group left at this point.  (Lunch hour was over for them?)  Pete was working his way around the Pan-Am Center individually greeting fans.  (It was that sparse.) 

 

A few points later, Mia was hurt and had to come out.  The Aggies did start to pull away.  19-15 Aggies, the Aggies won the point on a long rally.  Makayla Martinez had come in after a timeout and played all-out.  She had a great save on this point and there were great plays on both sides before the Tigers got into the net.  Yasso Amin hammered a kill to finish the set, 25-19.

 

Set 3: Aggies 2, Tigers 0

The ball girls were dancing up a storm trying to get on Dance Cam during the break.  Mia was up and walking, but didn’t come back in.  Morgan Stewart was in at libero.  From a group of girls across the court, some girl screamed, “I love you, Rilen!” at setter, Rilen Garcia.  We love you, too.  She’d need that love later.

 

The Tigers were playing tough to start.  They went up 2-6 early after a couple of double touch calls on the Aggies.  Maggie made a huge block and got a big cheer from the crowd to make it, 6-8 Tigers.  A couple of Aggie service errors gave the Tigers back a four-point lead.  Kills by Maggie and Yasso brought it to 11-13 Tigers, and they took a timeout.

 

After the break, Yasso tied it at 13 on a set by Morgan.  Yasso tied it again at 15 on an overpass.  The Aggies were up 18-17, but lost this point to the Tigers.  Coach Jordan had been fairly passive during this match, but finally exploded when Rilen had touched a ball going out and yelled at her from across the court.  He didn’t take her out, but she was in his doghouse. 

 

This did seem to fire up the team.  Kills by Yasso and Maggie and a block by Maggie and Aleka Darko put the Aggies up, 21-18.  Rilen put in a setter dump to make it, 22-18, but the Tigers returned the favor with a dump to make it 23-21.  Kills by Kacia Brown and Starr Williams ended the set, 25-22, and the match, 3-0 Aggies.  

 

The scoreboard was sort of useless for stats, which had to get later.  Yasso Amin led with 10 kills, Ashley Herman and Starr Williams each had 8.  Maggie Lightheart actually led in digs (7).  The stat of the match was hitting percentage.  The Aggies were hitting .396.  The Tigers were hitting .113.

 

At this point, I left to go across the street for lunch at Dominos.  I glanced at the promotional video board outside of the Pan-Am Center and saw that the game hadn’t even taken 90 minutes.  Today’s schedule had allotted three hours for each match, so I had plenty of time until the next match. 

 

I got a Chicken Bacon Ranch sandwich and it was delicious.  I thanked the cook.  I still had plenty of time.  Oh, boy.  I was starting to regret not skipping the next match and going home and then coming back for the Aggie match in the evening.  I called three people.  One of them answered and I chatted with my co-worker for 20 minutes until I went back in.

 

Arizona Wildcats vs Texas Southern Tigers

The Tigers drew the short straw having to play back-to-back matches.  The arena was nearly deserted for this one.  Imagine my surprise that another co-worker came in with her family and sat down below me.  She might have been there to root for Arizona.  Some of the Aggie players were up in one of the suites and were eating their lunches.  AZ has three fairly handsome young men on their staff.  I’m not implying anything, but I haven’t seen this on most volleyball teams (probably for a good reason, given the good-looking girls on the teams).      

 

Set 1

I made a bunch of notes for the previous match and didn’t use them.  Here, I barely bothered with any play-by-play.  This match started with three service errors and a lengthy delay because the scoreboard was wrong.  (I was now really regretting not going home.)  The Tigers kept it close in the beginning.  At 8-6 AZ, the Wildcats took a timeout.  13-10 AZ, a Wildcat player made a one-handed save that became a set for a kill.  Arizona eventually pulled away and took the set, 25-16. 

 

Set 2: Wildcats 1, Tigers 0

Arizona’s reserves were very spirited throughout the match, choreographed at times even.  At one point after a block, they shouted, “She said, ‘No!’”  At another point, the referee did warn them to stay off the court in their celebrations.  Abilene Christian’s staff was present.  It didn’t seem like they were scouting.  Taty and Lia came in late to watch.  They didn’t seem to be scouting much, either.  AZ’s setter, Ana Heath, scored two kills, including the set-winner, 25-16.

      

Set 3: Wildcats 2, Tigers 0

Lia and Taty chatted with the ball girls before leaving.  These were the hardest-working girls at the Pan-Am Center today and were here all day.  AZ wasn’t screwing around at this point and the Tigers were probably gassed by this point.  AZ went up 8-1 and the reserves were all smiles and getting louder.  I think a few reserves got in a bit later.  Heath put in a power dump at 23-5 AZ.  (Wait.  That didn’t sound right.  Meh.  Leave it.)  Arizona took the set, 25-7, and the match, 3-0. 

 

The reserves rushed the court in celebration?  Was this a grudge match?  Did the coach promise everyone ice cream if they won in the three sets?  Not to leak any spoilers here, but Arizona didn’t act like this after playing NMSU on Saturday.  Should I feel insulted? 

 

Wildcat, Jordan Wilson, led with 13 kills.  The hitting percentage was even more dominating than the Aggies’ game: Wildcats .402, Tigers .015.  (God bless Texas Southern.  They’re 0-9 to start the season.)

  

We’ve got ***one more match** to go today. 

NM State Aggies vs UC Davis Aggies Soccer 9-8-24

This is confusing: two Aggie teams playing each other.  I thought I heard their fans ringing a cowbell at one point.  I’ve heard of UC Davis before, but I didn’t know they were the “Aggies.”  Well, I know who they are now.

 

Last night, Aggie Football played conference-favorite, Liberty.  The Aggies had led for most of the game, but gave it up late and lost, 30-24.  It was terribly disappointing.  However, Liberty was a 22-point favorite, so the loss was kind of encouraging.  I was concerned that this loss was going to carry over to today’s soccer somehow, if for no other reason than the game went really late into the night and some of the girls might have been there for the end.

 

[Pre-Post edit: On the Coaches Radio, Coach Baarts confirmed that they were there for the end and he wasn’t pleased.  Him and whole team were there and were honored on field, but probably in the first half.  The game lasted until after midnight.  He did appreciate that the girls were supporting the Football team.]             

 

(In spite of the heavy points spread, Liberty was only a 60-something% favorite to win.  The odds-makers suspected something.  Against an FCS school last week, the Aggies had only been like a two-point favorite over SE Missouri, which they did beat.  Meanwhile that same week, former Aggie quarterback, Diego Pavia, led Vanderbilt to victory over two-touchdown favorite, Virginia Tech.  Vandy owes us a Christmas card.)

 

Aggie Soccer was coming off a long road trip.  They’d beaten Pacific, 3-1, but then lost to Washington (2-0) and Arizona (1-0).  Loma McNeese won the C-USA Offensive Player of the Week award for scoring two goals in the Pacific game.

 

It was a brilliant day regardless.  It was cloudless and warm out with a stiff, cool breeze.  I’d hoped road construction in front of the football stadium by the soccer field had been finished by now, but no chance.  There are now huge piles of dirt there where they’re digging something up. 

 

The crowd to start the game was bad, even with a knot of UCD fans there.  There had been a free ticket offer for fans who had attended last night’s football game.  However, it was the opening weekend for the NFL.  Eventually, some late-arriving fans came in to make the crowd decent.  I didn’t see any other Aggie teams in attendance, but those teams might not have been available in the afternoon.      

 

I was a bit subdued.  Yesterday, I’d had a pizza with dad to watch the Arkansas/Oklahoma State game.  (I’d never seen dad so nervous about a football game.  I didn’t know he was such an Arkansas fan.  He’d leave the room during pivotal plays and even left early when the game went into a second overtime.)  We went to the Farm & Ranch Museum with one of his neighbors, but then I was Shanghaied into a trip to the mountains and then to a Mexican food restaurant, where I had half-pound hamburger.  I didn’t get a stomachache, but I was still feeling the effects of overeating. 

 

The Aggies had a couple of players starting, Janae Shaklee and Ariana Ellison, that I wasn’t expecting.  I wondered if there had been injuries on the road, but more familiar players did cycle in.  Oddly, it seemed that the officials were late to the game.  The usual coin toss for who gets the ball first and the inspection of the goals happened very quickly after player introductions, instead of well before as usual.  

  

First Half

This game didn’t go well for the Aggies . . . err . . . New Mexico State.  UCD dominated on offense early.  They made several attacks and Valerie Guha, the Aggie goalie, was kept busy.  Before the late-arriving fans came in, you could clearly hear all of the chatter out on the field.  36’ left in the half, Milana Eyrich made the first Aggie attack.  It was a solo charge that was stopped and immediately went the other way for a UCD attack that went over the Aggie net.

 

There was a near miss on the Aggie net a couple of minutes later with only Marlee Cavitt back defending the net from an attacker.  33’ Other Aggie Jayde Holley found Sam Tristan with a crossing pass and an easy tap in.  1-0 UCD.  It looked too easy.  Val was waving her arms at her teammates afterward.  The team held a quick huddle.  The onslaught continued though, as Val stopped a point-blank shot from Sarah Canavan a couple of minutes later. 

 

The momentum finally swung.  28’ a long Aggie shot was punched out by UCD goalie, Caeley Goldstein.  Then Milana made a curving ground shot that was caught.  A gust of wind knocked my floppy hat off my head.  Another fan handed it back to me.  This wasn’t the best choice of hats on a windy day. 

 

23’ after some good dribbling and a pass, Canavan was open at the top of the Aggie box and buried it.  2-0 UCD.  Right after a turnover on the Aggies’ midfield kick, the Other Aggies nearly put in another one.  This was turning into a possible rout. 

 

Xitlaly Hernandez and some mass Aggie subs came in with 19 minutes left.  15’ X took a long shot that went wide.  She tossed her magnificent mane of curly hair back in disgust.  More Aggie subs came in with 12 minutes left.  These players seemed to be coming from deep on the bench.  The Aggies made a couple more attacks, before X bizarrely slipped on a ball she had just stopped.  She went down and the trainers had to help her off.  During the stoppage, Mya Hammack and Val were both out haranguing the ref.  I don’t know why, but I know Mya just loves chatting with the refs.  (I’m jealous.)

 

More Aggie subs came in.  Mya even came out.  4’ Tati Jerman made a good long shot.  Goldstein made a nice diving save on it.  3’ the disaster becomes official.  A UCD shot was blocked, but Val couldn’t hold on to it.  Other Aggie Teresa Garcia tapped in the loose ball to make it, 3-0 UCD. 

 

It almost got even worse.  Another UCD shot seemed to go in right after.  The goal was announced and was even up on the scoreboard.  However, there was no mid-field kick, so play continued before it was announced that the goal was waved off.  It was probably an offsides call.  Goldstein dove to stop a final Aggie shot before the half ended.  3-0 UCD.

 

Halftime

UCD was up 4 to 2 in shots on goal and 4 to 1 in corners.  I was sort of surprised Valerie stayed in goal after the third goal.  If that fourth goal had counted, surely, Coach Baarts would have taken her out to protect her stats.  No backup goalie went out on field to warm up during the break.

 

The Aggies retreated to the locker room.  Xitlaly brought up the rear, but she was back walking unassisted.  The coaches followed a bit later.  The Other Aggies were sitting on one corner of the field like they were having a picnic, which they pretty much were. 

 

I sat back and enjoyed the sun and the breeze.  I didn’t have much choice.  I was regretting not bringing a radio so that I could listen to the Ranger game that was on, not to mention the Chihuahuas and the Cowboys were also playing. 

 

Second Half

It was still mostly bench players who started the half for the Aggies.  I wonder what Coach Baarts said to the team in the half to justify this apparent throw.  Still, the Aggies dominated possession for most of the half.  They made several attacks that Goldstein had to field. 

 

37’ left in the game, a ball popped up into the stands.  A fan shouted, “I got it!”  He didn’t get it.  31’ right after Kennedy Herrera tripped an attacking UCD player, Loma was clobbered on the other end.  Even from across the field, you could hear it.  She was okay and now really motivated.  Apart from these two incidents, it was a fairly clean game.  (That is to say, bruising, but not putting people into the ground.)  29’ Loma made a great move and took a shot that went just wide.

 

Ariana was on the grandstand side of the field for much of both halves.  I could see the small, slight girl get absolutely exhausted.  She was finally subbed out with 16’ left in the game.  15’ Loma took a hook shot in front of the net.  It seemed to go in slow motion but hit the end the far end of the net.  3-1 UCD.  There was nearly no reaction from anybody after the goal.  It even seemed to take the PA by surprise and there was a delayed announcement.

 

Loma took a couple of more shots.  During a stoppage, she was by the stands and yelled at her team, “There’s still 11 minutes left!”  Loma was in on an assist attempt.  A minute later, Goldstein had to punch away another shot by Loma.  5’ Jaiden McCellan took a long shot that was caught.  4’ Loma passed to Carolina Rodriguez on a breakaway.  Goldstein had to stop another shot.

 

2’ a loose ball rolled down the sideline to one of the smaller stands.  A rushing Jaiden called out to the fans there to stop the ball and toss it to her.  Nobody moved.  Val ran over to the grandstand to take a final free kick.  The game ended.  3-1 UCD.

 

The other scoreboard stats were 4 to 3 UCD in shots on goal.  The Aggies were up 6 to 5 in corners.  UCD seemed content in the second half to stay on defense.  They only made a couple of probing attacks.  I suspect they could have run up the score more had they wished.   This broke the Aggies’ unbeaten streak at home at eight.

 

Our Player of the Game is Loma McNeese, who scored the Aggies’ only goal today.  She was also the main attacker for the second half.  I’ll also single out UCD goalie, Caeley Goldstein.  She didn’t have to do much in the first half, but was very busy in the second and kept the Other Aggies in the lead. 

 

I was a bit stunned coming into this game from yesterday.  I was more stunned afterward.  I’m not sure what happened to the Aggies here other than they just ran into a good team (UCD 4-2-0).  USC and Oregon may have still been coming together at the beginning of the season.  Hopefully, they’ll regroup for conference play coming up. 

 

I’d noticed there was a game going on at the baseball stadium when I came in.  It was still going on when I left.  I wasn’t in the mood to stay unfortunately.  I got back home in time to only hear the Ranger postgame show, but did get to hear half of the Chihuahuas’ game and the Cowboys’ game.  I sort of glossed over a bunch of my notes here but wasn’t in the mood to give a detailed account of this game either.  I’ll be back for Volleyball later this week.