We’ll pretty much get right to it without much preamble. It was a lighter crowd today at 459. I was sitting with the Reese family plus their future daughter-in-law, Sadie. (If Cooper doesn’t marry this girl that looks like Megan Fox, but seems a lot less crazy, the boy will need a talking to.) Like yesterday, Trey Reese was a bit uptight. He was pretty critical during this match. I felt like I should asked if there were some personal issues, but I didn’t want to pry.
The Aggies were again in their dark pink uniforms. On the bench, injured senior Ashley Herman was wearing a Bianca Perez t-shirt. (Let’s hear it for NIL.) The trainer and Coach Chelsea were looking casually elegant. Instead of the spiked heels yesterday, Chelsea was wearing more practical sneakers with 2-inch high soles today.
Set 1
Aggie Volleyball was again playing Middle Tennessee State. Zoe Ziegler started the Aggies off with a kill, but the Blue Raiders came back with a 6-point run, mostly because of a lot of Aggie errors. MT libero MacKenna Poole has funky serving delivery, but it was working well. The Aggies and the crowd started with some low energy. The Cheerleaders and Pistol Pete were working hard to get everyone going. Pete was also dancing for the camera girl. On the other side of the court, the MT reserves were boundless in their enthusiasm.
Jaelynn Kohli came back with a crosscourt kill. Her next swing was out, but Coach Jordan challenged that there was a touch. The call stood. Jae would get a kill on the next point, anyway. Maggie Lightheart stepped up with a block and then a clever tip at 5-8 MT.
Nellie Resse started at setter. The Coach didn’t keep her in the doghouse from yesterday. Claudia Rossi rotated in for her and made a diving crosscourt save at 5-10 MT, though the Blue Raiders would take the point. Kate Sinclair and Maggie would make kills, but at 9-13 MT, the Blue Raiders got an unblocked kill. Coach Jordan was rubbing his face and bald head on the bench, a sure sign of frustration.
The Aggies starting working a comeback. 12-14 MT, Makayla Martinez served up an ace. I noticed Bella Castro rotated in for Tess Fuqua. That’s a DS in for an outside hitter. The Coach might be trying to preserve Tess’ knees on defense. Jae made a major stuff at the net to tie it at 14. MT fired out and gave the Aggies at 15-14 lead going into the Media timeout.
Out of the break, Maggie got another kill. Makayla had a 6-point run serving, before MT finally sided out. The Aggies got a 2-point lead with a slap kill by Mia. MT came back. They tied it at 17 on an ace where Makayla and Bella nearly knocked heads trying to dig it. At 17-18 MT, the Aggies took a timeout. After the huddle, the girls talked to each other on court before play.
The Aggies retook the lead, 19-18, as Kate tooled a block. Tess did the same to take the Aggies to the Turn. At 21-19 Aggies, the Blue Raiders took a timeout and scored the next couple of points. Maggie saved a setter dump, but the Aggies fired out on the point. Jae made a no-look kill to bring the Aggies to set point. She’d close it out with a kill, her fifth, 25-22.
Set 2: Aggies 1, Blue Raiders 0
Tess’ mom and her little sister were on the video screen a couple of times. They’re photogenic, like Tess. The crowd was small enough that everyone got a close up, including myself. (How embarrassing.) A beautiful blonde girl with nerdy glasses came down to our section. Pistol Pete knew her and gave her a big, smiling hug. The girl sat down in front of us and a constant distraction for me.
Tess got an early kill. Nellie made a rolling dig on the next point, but the Aggies didn’t win it. She next missed a set to Zoe. The Aggies went down 1-5 and the Coach called a timeout. The team couldn’t have been distracted by the blonde girl. They were at the other end of the court now. Coach Hertel and Chelsea did all of the talking to the team, while Coach Jordan was checking his iPad. The team was animated in the discussion.
Tess got a kill out of the break. An MT player went sliding on her stomach off court trying to dig it. MT added to their lead, 2-7, as they blocked Maggie and then dunked on her. Jae tooled a block after, then MT was called for being out-of-rotation for the second day in a row. How does this happen at this level?
Maggie painted the corner to make it, 5-9 MT. Tess was blocked on the next point, but came right back with a kill. 8-10 MT was a long rally. MT sent over two free balls on the point and Kate finished it with a kill. 8-12 MT, Maggie made a diving dig. The ball popped over the net. A Blue Raider missed a dunk attempt on it and Maggie got a kill for it. Jae tooled a block and Zoe made a block to get it to 10-12 MT, and the Blue Raiders called a timeout.
Poole served up an ace for 3-point MT lead. The Aggies came back with a kill by Tess, Maggie getting a touch kill, and Jae hammering one, but the lead still stayed at 3 with an MT setter dump. 14-16 MT, after two crosscourt passes to set her, Maggie came up with a kill. Mia Fox powered a shot through the MT blockers. After an insane rally, Tess finished it with a kill. Still, the Aggies were 2-points behind. MT ran it up to 4 points with a dunk at 16-20. Timeout Aggies.
Tess was blocked out of the break to make it a 5-point lead. Kate had a kill and Nellie had an ace, but Tess was blocked again, 18-23 MT. Jae had a kill and MT hit the antenna on the next point, and MT took a timeout. Jae had a block and it was a 1-point lead, but the Blue Raiders finished it out with a couple of points, 22-25. That was hard fought. Trey was again getting uncharacteristically angry at the team for not playing up to their potential.
Set 3: Aggies 1, Blue Raiders 1
The Coach wasn’t happy either. After some consultation, he put Rilen Garcia in as the starting setter. At least this set started off close. Maggie got a couple of kills and Kate added a kill. 3-4 MT, Gabrielle Clinkscale hit a kill that rebounded high into the stands. This got an “Oooh!” out of the crowd. It might have hit an Aggie on the head, though you’d think that person would have had to have come out.
Tess had a kill at 4-6 MT. Nellie was the alternate setter, who rotated in. Unfortunately, she hit the floor hard diving for a ball a couple of points later. The Coach immediately pulled her for Claudia. Zoe then came up big with a block, another block with Jae, and a kill that tied it at 8. MT immediately took the lead back. Tess made a pancake save on one point, but MT won it and aced on the next point, 8-10.
Maggie brought it back by tooling a block and getting a kill to tie it at 11. Rilen made back-to-back great sets and Mia and Tess got the Aggies to a 14-13 lead with kills. However, MT was back in the lead, 14-15, at the Media timeout. I needed a breather and I was just watching. The Aggies tied it after a long rally with several hard swings. Kate was the finisher. Claudia served up an ace for the lead, but served out on the next point. Zoe got the lead back with a kill.
The Aggies poured it on with kills by Jae and Maggie and a block from Kate. 21-18 Aggies, MT took a timeout. Maggie got another kill out of the break. Rilen was on serve during this run. The Reserves and the Cheerleaders were doing a golf swing on her serve. Trey didn’t know the significance of it. Maybe Rilen is a golfer. Maggie got another kill and was all smiles. The crowd was into it. Mia got it to set point with a kill. MT challenged it, but was denied. Jacqueline Corcoran came in to serve and put in an ace to finish it, 25-20 Aggies.
Set 4: Aggies 2, Blue Raiders 1
Trey and I were somehow having a discussion about Jean Shepherd and A Christmas Story to start this set. On court, the score was again tight with lots of errors. Mia made a kill early. The next Aggie kill was by Maggie at 7-6 Aggies. Jae fired one out at 7-8 MT and the Coach surprisingly called a timeout. He wanted to nip any run in the bud.
Mia tied it at 8 with a kill. Kate gave the Aggies the lead with a block. Maggie next hammered one in anger and hit another hard one at 11-9 Aggies. She wanted this one over. MT was called for a lift and Kate had a block to make it, 13-9 Aggies. MT took a long rally at 14-11 Aggies. Rilen saved a block on the point and Makayla made a dive save, as well.
MT closed in to 14-12 Aggies and the Aggies took a timeout. MT took the next point, though there was confusion on the call by the refs. The Coach went ahead and challenged, but it was confirmed. The Aggies turned it up after this. Mia tooled a block and, after another long rally with hard hits, Jae came away with a kill. Nellie had come back in to serve and had a 3-point run. MT took a timeout at 18-14 Aggies.
Jae had a kill and Maggie added a tip kill to get the Aggies to the Turn. 21-17 Aggies was an insane rally. MT made a save way off the court to keep it going, but lost the point. MT challenged, but it was again upheld. Unlike yesterday, the refs had a good day today. Mia and Jae combined for a double stuff and Mia slammed the door with a kill to get the Aggies to set point. Maggie finished it with a kill. Aggies take the set, 25-20, and the match, 3-1.
If yesterday’s match was tense, today’s was exhausting. The Aggies were playing from behind for nearly the whole match. The Aggies were only hitting .189, but that beat out the Blue Raiders’ .104. Kills were 56 to 44 for the Aggies. Serving was an Aggie asset yesterday, but not today. MT was up 6 to 5 in aces and the Aggies had 9 service errors to the Blue Raiders’ 5. The difference was in blocking with the Aggies up 11 to 6.
Blue Raider Gabrielle Clinkscale led all scorers with 20 kills. Maggie Lightheart was next with 19 kills and 11 digs. Jaelynn Kohli had a great game with 12 kills and 6 blocks. Tess Fuqua wasn’t on today, but had 8 kills. Mia Fox also had 8 kills and hit .467. The three setters, Nellie Reese, Claudia Rossi, and Rilen Garcia were all about equal in assists. Somehow using three setters today worked.
While at McAlister’s yesterday, I noticed a new restaurant, Roni’s, had opened next door. I was kind of shocked, since they’d barely put up a “Coming Soon” sign last month. A macaroni and cheese restaurant seems like a hard sell given that I fix that myself regularly, but it was really good. They can put a bunch of stuff on it. I had it with bacon and broccoli with a garlic parmesan drizzle. The garlic cheesy bread side was awesome. This was a bit pricey, but I need to try at least one more combination there.
In other college sports news, Aggie Soccer played their final game of the season against UTEP tonight. They had a longshot chance to get into the conference tournament with a win, but only managed a scoreless draw. The UTEP recap credited Aggie goalie Valerie Guha with keeping the Miners off the board. The Miners were also eliminated from contention.
In more momentous news, I saw on the UTEP site that their Volleyball team had beaten Western Kentucky. This snapped their 100-game winning streak in the conference regular season! And it was a sweep! Don’t start building the trophy case yet. WKU swept right back in the next match. These two are likely headed to a rematch in the conference tournament and will likely both get into the NCAA tournament.
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