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.
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