NM State Aggie Volleyball August 24 to September 1, 2018

I didn’t mean to do this as a separate post.  It was just supposed to be a quick recap before their first home game.  It just kind of went out of control.

8-24-18

The Aggies went 2-1 at the ASU invitational last week.  I was able to watch their game against the host Sun Devils.  The Aggies had played that morning, so they may have been tired.  When I found all this out later, it changed my opinion of the team’s performance.

The game was streamed over ASU’s website.  I watched about half of it, owing to being at work (and actually having to work).  I noticed Savannah Davison started, along with Jordan Pleasants in as libero.  Julianna Salanoa started, but came out early and I didn’t notice her come back in.  That’s disappointing.  Tatyana Battle has her hair back up in a topknot.  That’s also kind of disappointing. 

Just to cut to it, the Aggies lost in straight sets (3-0): 21-15, 25-17, and 25-18.  The Sun Devils won the first two sets pretty handily.  The final set was close until the end.  I thought the Aggies looked like they waiting around for one of their graduated seniors to come up with the big plays.  However, they might have just been flat from playing earlier in the day.  I need to see the team on fresh legs to get a better sense of their psyche.

The final stats showed Savannah on top with kills at 8.  Megan Hart had 6 blocks.  Newcomers Cat Kelly and Ashley Anselmo were in the game quite a bit and contributing.  I noticed Jordan had a good run on serve in the first set.  There was a great point at 21-13 in that set where the Aggies made two great saves and Savannah finished the point with a kill.  ASU didn’t seem like a very tall team.  In fact, not to be judgmental, but one of their players was a short, fat chick.  That is such a mean thing to say, but regrettably accurate.  She did, however, serve out all three sets, so she could play.

8-31-18 Game 1

Next week on Friday morning, the girls played at an invitational in Albuquerque at the Pit.  The Lobos don’t usually play their volleyball there.  The Aggies would be playing twice today, three times in 27 hours.  Their first opponent was the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles.  They brought some fans with them, but I did hear some Aggie cheering.  Adam Young mentioned that FGC just beat Miami and should be one of the Aggies’ toughest challenges all year.  At least the Aggies would be facing them on fresh legs.

Except for Lia Mosher, who was out with ankle injury suffered IN WARM-UPS!  Again, another practice injury.  Adam said it was a freak accident, not from playing hard.  The Aggies would be facing Amanda Carroll on FGC.  She was recruited by Aggies and played in Albuquerque with and against Briana Ainsworth and Tatyana Battle, but decided to hit the beach in Florida instead.  She played very well in the match.  I'm sure Coach Mike Jordan wishes she'd signed with him. 

Set 1 played fairly close.  Taty and Savannah Davison got most of the kills for the Aggies.  At one point, the Aggies were down six, but three attack errors late by Eagles got the score close.  25-20 FGC was the final.  Ashley Anselmo started Set 2 and got three early kills.  However, FGC doubled up the Aggies halfway through behind some good blocking.  As the score got out of hand, freshmen Krysten Garrison and Cat Kelly came in to get some experience.  25-12 FGC, up 2-0 in sets.

Set 3.  A bit desperate for some blocking, 6’3” freshman Lindsey Blakey came in for her first action in college.  She got a block kill with Savannah and a big cheer went up for her.  During a long rally, Adam nearly got in on the action with a Taty and Natalie Mikels nearly crashing into him going for a save.  Taty got her 1000-th kill on a point that got the Aggies within 3.  One point down, Kiley Tonge came into serve and aced it for the tie.  But, that was as close as it got.  25-21 FGC and 3-0 was the final.

Coach Jordan sounded depressed afterward.  Lia would be out for the weekend.   Julianna Salanoa was in in spots.  The coach likes her defense, but she doesn’t produce on offense, which allows the other team to ignore her.  The coach was really disappointed in Megan Hart, who had no kills in the match.  However, she hadn’t been able to practice this week because of classwork and an injection for pain.  Megan’s probably not playing at 100%.  The stat of the match was 11 to 5 FGC in blocks.  Tatyana was the high scorer with 10 kills and 10 digs (that’s the captain).  Savannah had 7 kills and Ashley had 6.

8-31-18 Game 2

A few hours later, I went to an Aggie Soccer match.  About halfway through, Aggie Volleyball's next game started, which I listened to on the radio I'd brought with me to the game.  I was taking notes on both games at the same time, solidifying my status as a total fanboy. 

Volleyball’s opponent was the Eastern Kentucky Colonels.  (At least I got their name, unlike Aggie Soccer's opponent.)  The Colonels were so far winless and 0-9 in sets this season, and they had just played a couple of hours ago.  The Aggies looked good in the first set, winning 25-18.  I have Savannah Davison, Julianna Salanoa, Ashley Anselmo, and Cat Kelly making some big plays.  However, the Colonels did actually make a good comeback in the set from being down big early.

By Set 2, the Soccer match had ended (Yay, Aggie Soccer girls!) and I was in transit, going to work.  I started listening again when I got there.  The Aggies dropped the set in extra points, 29-27.  There were a couple of interesting plays.  Megan Hart actually made a set for someone else's kill.  She was playing much better in the evening.  Perhaps the earlier game got her warmed up.  Julianna made a great kill that Adam Young called “The best swing of her career so far.”  Let's hope that kill flips the switch on her being awesome.   

EKU also took Set 3 in extra points, 27-25.  The Aggies won the fourth 25-18.  The team now had four players with double digit kills.  They then took the fifth set decisively 15-9 and the match 3-2.  Tatyana had 17 kills and 22 digs.  Savannah totally busted out with 22 kills.  Megan and Ashley had 12.  Julianna came up with 6 blocks.  That was one unexpectedly tough win.

9-1-18

Saturday was the big match of the Lobo Classic, the Rio Grande Rivalry between the Aggies and Lobos.  The Lobos came in having won last night over Florida Gulf Coast.  Their game was delayed significantly by the Aggies and Colonels' five-setter and the Lobos played well into the night.  I'd noticed that they'd won last night, because I'd left up the scoring website from the Aggie game and it automatically tracked the next game.  No offense to the Lobos, but I'd wondered how they did it.  Adam Young offhandedly mentioned that FGC star Amanda Carroll had gone down with an injury early in the first set.

There were 1,500 there in the Pit for the match.  Adam figured it to be about 70/30 Lobo to Aggie fans, but there was a significant level of cheering on every point.  Set 1 started off a bit sloppy for both teams, probably both really tense.  Briana Ainsworth, playing in her hometown, had a particularly rough time with a couple of double hit calls.  She even got angry about the calls, something that's hard to imagine the lovely ever-smiling Bri doing. 

It was a set of momentum shifts.  The Aggies went up early, only to have the Lobos come back and take the lead.  Natalie Mikels got a good run on serve and the Aggies tied it.  The game went into extra points and the Aggies took it 26-24.  The Aggies got four aces on serve.  The Lobos' coach wasn't happy with the officiating.  The mic picked him up ranting, “We were robbed!”

Early in Set 2 was the play of the game.  A Lobo player hit a very hard kill over the net.  Savannah Davison had no chance to dig it as it bounced off her chest, and then popped over the net for a kill.  Adam had to stifle a laugh.  Sav herself laughed.  Bridgette Lowe, also from Albuquerque, cycled in and came up with some big kills.  Adam mentioned she even has a bad arm.  The Aggies went on a big run with Bri serving to make it 18-10. 

But the Lobos closed it back up.  Coach Jordan lost two challenges.  Adam mentioned halftime for college volleyball games had been cut to five minutes.  He speculated it was because of the length of time challenges were taking.  Taty had three tries at ending it on match point, before converting it on a kill, 25-23.       

The Aggies came out with a lead again in Set 3.  On one point, Julianna Salanoa hit a kill that was dugout and sent back.  She hit it again and got it on the second try.  Then she got a tip kill to make it 15-8.  And she got a couple of blocks with Ashley Anselmo.  Adam was really impressed with Juli's play this weekend.  I'm looking forward to seeing her this week.  Megan Hart also came up big with blocks and kills.  Sav ended it on the third match point, 25-18 and 3-0 Aggies.  She finished with 15 kills.  Taty got 11 and 11 digs, just like a good team captain.  I hope Lia Mosher heals up next week, because this team has got potential.