On the one hand,
I was looking forward to the start of Aggie athletics for another school year,
especially volleyball. This Scrimmage is
a nice event for the fans to start the season with. On the other, I’d passed on going to see a Chihuahuas game tonight that
my workplace was paying for. There were
a variety of reasons, but ultimately I didn’t think I was entirely welcome and
I didn’t want to see some of the people there either. I assured a co-worker that I was going to be
partying with the lovely volleyball girls tonight, so he needn’t feel bad for
me.
It seemed like a
bad omen when I was reminded that both games were on the same day though. Ron was going to go with me, and we were
going to go early to visit the ticket office and buy Aggie Country Passes. Those
are full year passes to everything except Men’s Basketball and Football. Yes, I was finally making a commitment. Unfortunately, Ron canceled. I ended up scrambling to get ready and left
in a hurry.
The ticket office
was open, but it was nearly the worst-case scenario. The beautiful blonde ticket girl from last
semester (5-12-18) was there.
This was a bit awkward. She was
probably dreading seeing me again, and there I was right off the bat this
semester. Meanwhile, here I was buying a
pass, which meant I wouldn't be buying tickets from her this school year. She recognized me (little wonder, I was
wearing the same shirt I had on the last time I'd seen her) and we shared a
friendly wave as another woman took my order, but we didn't talk. Well, this got everything off to a bad start.
I was an hour
early for the match, but the doors were thankfully open, as it was hot and
humid outside. Inside, the courtesy
table had some definite goodies.
Sometimes I wonder if I just come here for the free posters and
cards. I'll post them later, but I'll
tease out that they're very, very nice.
The football poster is cool with Jason
Huntley. The soccer poster features Dmitri Fong looking hot. The schedule cards with Aileen Galicia and Megan
Hart are lovely. Oh, but that Briana Ainsworth poster may be my
all-time favorite. It's her smiling like
she always does on court and you could just fall in love with it. Like I said, I'll post them later.
Since it was a
free event (except for the $140 I just spent at the ticket office), I thought
I'd get something at the concessions, which conveniently opened right after I
bundled up my posters. I was also pretty
thirsty after I walked back in the heat to my truck after getting the
pass. They gave me a deal on a large
raspberry tea and a small popcorn for $6.
(Trust me, that's a deal.) The
tea was great. The popcorn might have
been leftover from last semester.
I must have
looked like the perfect Aggie fanboy, as I made way down the stairs to a seat in
my “Made History” t-shirt, juggling my drink, popcorn, and notebook. And I was the first fan there, an hour before
the game. There were plenty of arena
personnel there, along with a full camera crew.
Out on the court was the whole
cheerleading squad (except for the Sundancers
and the cute little Goth cheerleader wasn't with them anymore). A couple of coaches were instructing them and
telling them what the event schedule was.
I didn't know they had coaches.
I've literally never seen a coach with the cheerleaders before. PA Ed (whose last name I forgot to write
down) was working the mic. This wasn't
just a dress rehearsal for the volleyball team.
I’d hoped to run into Adam Young
to congratulate him on filling in for Chihuahuas’ baseball, but he wasn’t
there.
The volleyball
team came out to warm-up along with their coaches. The cheerleading coach came over and gave Coach Mike Jordan a hug. There was no sign of that pretty blonde
assistant that worked with the coach last year.
I think I may have mentioned her once or twice, but really she
distracted me for the whole season and I actually wanted to figure out some way
of meeting her. (At least we have a common
interest in the volleyball team.) I was
mentally noting who was playing, but it wasn't until some other fans came in
with programs that I went back up front and got one (they were laid out after
I’d gotten the posters) and then confirmed the personnel.
I knew that the
team would be missing some key players from last year due to graduation. Captain Jordan
Abalos went down early last season.
Multiple players had to step up to make up for her loss, as she was
almost irreplaceable (and above all, her brave heart). Sasha-Lee
Thomas never seemed right all season.
She could take over games by herself when healthy. KC
Tohm really came into her own last year and led the team in kills. Somebody's going to have to get those points
this year.
Libero Ari Sierra is a really bad loss because
she was getting all the digs and nobody else was close, except for Jordan. This means nobody was really being groomed to
fill in for her this year. Kaylee Neal, who was the other main defensive
specialist last year, is now working with the Pan-Am staff for her degree.
She was sitting with the volleyball assistant coaches, and at first I
thought she might have joined their staff.
There were a few
more subtractions. One of last years'
standout freshmen, Brielle Sterns
had gotten over her knee problems, only to succumb to a season-ending shoulder
injury. (I hope this wasn't another
practice injury, but it probably was.) Hannah Combs, who'd come off the bench
and played so well, wasn't on the team anymore.
I don't know why, but I can guess her on-court injury last year (10-21-17) may have ended her career.
Megan McGuire
was also not on the roster. She'd been
on the team for a couple of years. She
was injured one of those years and had had very limited play time. I was looking forward to seeing her or Analyssa Acosta being the libero. Megan McGuire and Megan Hart also seemed to
be good friends off court, so Hart probably misses her. I also think she was going out with a baseball
player, but I don’t know who. Maybe he
graduated and took her with him. I
actually talked to Megan once at the ballpark after that game where Hannah was
injured. Megan was very composed and
polite. If she’d been a starter, she
would have been a good candidate to be a team spokesman to the media.
The team got
plenty of reinforcements though. Jordan George and Savannah Davison (she took a great picture for the promo image above
for this game) were red-shirted from injury last year and are ready to go
now. Seven new freshmen and a red-shirt
sophomore have joined the team. Okay,
between these players and the returning players who've had only very limited
playing time, that's most of the team. I'm honestly wondering why the coaches picked
the Aggies to win the conference. Well, Coach
Jordan does do a great job of recruiting and training, so the new players are
probably pretty good.
Then there's the
seasoned players coming back. Tatyana Battle is the captain and she
really picked up her game last year. I
don’t think this really means anything, but during this exhibition, just by the
sound of it, she had the hardest hit ball of the match. She reminded me a bit of Sasha there. Not to mention, Taty is now taking after Sasha’s
hairstyle and it looks great. Megan Hart is still very tall (and
beautiful). The leg brace she’s wearing now
looks more heavy duty than last year, but if her knee holds out, she’s
literally unstoppable.
Sweet Briana Anisworth and Natalie Mikels shared the setting
duties last year. The coach likes Nat’s
serving, so he had her in a lot. Briana
seems like a leader on court this year.
She really seemed to be enjoying being there today and being a
senior. Lia Mosher is still an impressive presence at the net. The prediction I made about KC last year was
pretty good, so I’ll make another. Lia’s
going to be the star of the team. Other
teams will be game-planning her specifically.
I’ve listed five sure regular players and that only covers three positions,
and none of them are liberos. The coach
is going to have some work to do on the roster.
Pistol Pete
came in right before the match to make this an official Aggie event. The girls came back out in their game
uniforms, unlike last year (8-19-17), the girls were divided up wearing
crimson and white. They did their usual
dance, joined together and going around in circles, but they forgot to put the
music on for them.
The girls were introduced, freshmen first, and they were
mostly in white. Two of those girls
stood out. Lindsay Blakey was easy to pick out at 6’3” and perhaps the longest
hair. Little (by comparison) Zoe Abeyta seemed the happiest to be
there. Both girls are from New
Mexico. Of the veterans, Julianna Salanoa flashed the best smile
at the crowd. Briana was working a
smartphone and videoing the girls during the intro. Associate
Coach Ben Wallis addressed the crowd and told everyone they’d be playing
four sets and asked that the fans pick a color to root for. Coach Jordan sat behind a desk at one end of
the court to watch.
Set 1
There weren’t any alumni players like there were last
year. I’d noticed an athletic young man in
shorts and an Aggie t-shirt hanging out with the team during practice. At one point, he made a great dig and the
girls cheered for him. I was surprised
when he joined the White team on court to play.
He was definitely a volleyball player, though I don’t know for whom, not
NM State. Perhaps he’s on a practice
squad for the team? The PA called his
name a few times. I think it was Jared Neal, maybe? He was an outside hitter, so he took some
hard swings that the Crimson team had to deal with.
The Crimson veterans took a 4-0 lead to start. Jared got the first White point on a kill,
4-1. Jordan George served an ace to close it to 4-3. Julianna got her first point at 7-4. (I apparently only kept track of who played
for which team intermittently in my notes.)
I noticed that freshman Brittany
Welch was taking most of the shots for White and got some kills. Savannah for the Crimson got several of their
kills and think she was the one who got a great save dig at 13-9. Both of those girls played well in the
set. 25-16 Crimson was the final.
Set 2: Crimson 1, White 0
A few of the players changed tops before the start of
the next set. This time, a couple of
players seemed to be designated liberos.
The first point of was one of those crowd-pleasing long ones. Brittany got a couple more kills in the set,
as she kept getting fed the ball. Another
freshman, Cat Kelly, got a kill and
then a block. The coach may have
mentioned her in an interview. She’s not
that tall, but can really jump.
Natalie Mikels went on a long run serving. She has an odd motion, standing sideways to
start, but it works for her. Last night,
Adam mentioned a ball player from Jenks, Oklahoma, and I was like, Where have I heard of that town before? That’s Nat’s hometown too. Savannah ended the run on a dump kill. I said last year watching her, I thought she
was a “heady” player. Without having to
wear a leg brace this year, she’s got the athleticism to go with it.
14-11 White was another long point with several players
diving for the ball. White took that
point and the point at 18-12 with two good saves just off the floor. 22-14 Brittany chalked up an impressive kill. I need a scorecard for kills, blocks, and
digs. 24-17 Cat made a solo block. The final was 25-17 White. I think coach
liked Jordan G’s serve. At one point, he
had her serving for both teams.
Set 3: Crimson 1, White 1
Some of the girls again changed tops. The coach was testing out some more combinations. Julianna got another point and a block early
in the set. Sophomore Kiely Tonge came in to serve. Freshman Kassi
Stolz made her first appearance to serve.
PA Ed made an announcement that Raising
Canes was an official sponsor for the volleyball team and that promotions
would be forthcoming. I am more than
intrigued, if not enthusiastic, about this.
16-4, I noticed the coach put his head down on his desk
as the White team left their middle wide open for an easy kill. I hope he wasn’t doing that for the whole
match. 17-6, Julianna got a tip
kill. That’s really encouraging to
see. She’s got such a powerful (yet very
feminine) frame, but she needs to make the smart plays, not just pounding the
ball. Lia Mosher got a pair of kills late. 24-8, Briana ended a long point on a dump
kill. 25-8 Crimson final, Set 3.
Pete came by and got a picture with a couple of kids.
Set 4: Crimson 2, White 1
The Cheerleaders did the Macarena between sets. Pete danced with some kids in the crowd on
camera. Julianna started off the set
with a strong kill for the Crimson. I
keep mentioning her in my notes. I admit
I’m playing favorites. She’s so built, Julianna
could totally pull off cosplaying in a chain mail bikini with a sword at a
comic book convention. (Hey, the Las
Cruces one may be coming up here soon.
Just a thought.) I still think
she’ll be a great player. Ari said it
took her two years to finally start listening to the coach. Keep listening, Juli.
Megan Hart came in hammering an overpass kill to make it
4-3. Like I said earlier,
“unstoppable.” (And stunning in the
preseason pic.) Zoe Abeyta made it into
the game. I was hoping she’d get in,
though I don’t think she was announced.
10-9 White, Bridgette Lowe
got a kill. I didn’t see much of her in
the match. In fact, the regulars kind of
took a backseat in this game to the reserves.
12-12, Julianna and Cat combined for a block. 15-13 Crimson, Lindsay Blakey, the tall
freshman, combined with Savannah on a block.
15-13 Crimson, I have someone making a solo block on Jared, but the number
isn’t right. It might have been
Lindsay. Alternately, it may have been a
great dig by Analyssa Acosta on his shot.
I hate myself and my note taking.
It was an impressive play at the time whatever it was. Jared (hope I’m getting your name right)
actually started taking most of the shots late and kept the game close. Lindsay and Ashley Anselmo also made a good blocking combo. Set 4 final was 25-19 Crimson, who won the match
3-1.
I’m no coach, but I’ll throw out a couple of
observations. Last season, by my count,
there were 13 regulars in the lineup, but three of those were because of
injuries. So, Coach Jordan may like
using 10 regulars. Megan and Lia have
the middle covered. Bri and Nat will
split setting again with Nat cycling in to serve. Taty is definitely one of the hitters,
probably with Bridgette. Based on what I
saw, Savannah and Brittany should be getting regular time. Sav is smart and Britt, even as a freshman,
seems ready to take shots. Julianna,
Cat, and Lindsay should also get some play time for more evaluation. Libero?
I don’t know. Jordan G’s good at
serving, but may be questionable on digs.
Nobody else stood out. Blame Ari
for making everyone else look bad by comparison.
It was fun, but afterward, the terrible foreboding I’d
had all day was fulfilled. I went to Schlotzsky’s for dinner and . . . and .
. .
They took out the ice cream machine. (Deep breath.) Noooooooooooooo!
If I’d known this, I might not have bought the Aggie County
Pass. I might have blown off Aggie
Sports for the year. Now I’m stuck with
going without Carvel ice cream to
celebrate victories and drown sorrow in defeats! This really sucks! Further, I had to wait five minutes before
being served, they tried to mis-charge me on the meal twice, and they got the
order wrong anyway. The place also
seemed to be in semi-darkness, like they hadn’t turned on all the lights. If there’s some new management there, I don’t
like the direction they’re going. In
fact, just tear down the building and rebuild the Dairy Queen that was there.
They had great hamburgers and Blizzards.
I still miss them.
This day started off inauspiciously and ended
disastrously. At least the middle was
good. I guess I’m committed to more
Aggie Sports this year and finding somewhere else to eat before and after the
games. I am still eager to see more of
this Aggie volleyball team.
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