These Saturday noon games kind of suck for someone who gets up late, but I’m always happy to see the Aggie Volleyball girls. Ron worked all night, but he wanted to see them too, so off we went. The road to the football stadium was not completely blocked off, even though it was gameday for them. Either we were early, or they weren’t expecting a big crowd for the game. I’d asked Ron if he was interested in going to the football after volleyball, but he was going to be working this evening. I was irritated that these two events were essentially scheduled back-to-back, thinking it would reduce the volleyball attendance, like the double-scheduling with Women’s Basketball did last year (12-2-17). I don’t think it did today. (In fact, it might have been the opposite.)
The Women’s Basketball posters were no longer out on the courtesy table today. Maybe they all got taken by the school girls on Thursday. The lady that was signing people up for Medicare was still there and was talking to some people. Out on court, I saw Lia Mosher and Jordan George were now riding scooters because of their injuries. Adam Young had mentioned that Jordan G. had gotten injured between home dates. Poor thing. This is her second year out with an injury, but at least she was libero for a set in that epic game against Arizona (9-8-18). She’d also straightened out her hair. It looked very nice.
On the other side, the Roadrunners had really cool-looking warmup shirts on. It was a blue and white speckled pattern. They’ve rolled out good-looking uniforms in the years that I’ve seen them with their blue, yellow, and white school colors. The team did their pregame ritual out-of-sight, but the crowd could hear them shouting. They were a very spirited bunch for the whole match. They had a reason to be upbeat; they’d beaten the Aggies in five sets last month in Bakersfield.
It was a good crowd, a bit less than Thursday. I wouldn’t have thought it, but it appears to be easier to get kids here on a school night than Saturday at noon. Ron nudged me with the observation that he thought Utah Valley only used three girls to serve in the last game. I hadn’t noticed that, but I had noticed that their star player only served once. I have no idea how serving rotation works (never figured it out in P.E. either).
Set 1
Before the match, #6 Desiree Sukhov on CSUB chatted amicably with the up official about their libero (from the way she was pointing). On the Aggie side, Halle Razo was in at libero today. Right off the bat, she missed a couple of digs, probably giving Coach Jordan some second thoughts. She’d look better as the match went on. Halle also showed some good judgment on out balls.
The Roadrunners looked sharp early and had a lead. 5-3 CSUB, they got a good save by the media table and won the point on a tip. 7-5 CSUB, they got some good blocking and stopped Megan Hart on a kill. But, the Aggies came back. Savannah Davison got it to within one on a great tip. Captain Tatyana Battle tied it with a kill at 7. Megan got a kill at 8-8. The Aggies took the lead with Megan serving an ace that kissed the sideline, 9-8.
Taty came up on her serve. 10-8 Aggies, Briana Ainsworth got a great save on a tipped ball. At 14-10, CSUB took a timeout. 16-10 Sav and Julianna Salanoa combined on a block. The crowd loved it. 19-10 Juli was blocked on an overpass tap, but came back with a kill shot. 20-10 Aggies, CSUB took their second timeout. 21-11 the Roadrunners finally side out Tatyana on serve! That was at least 11-straight points! That may have been the most dominate run I’ve ever seen the Aggies go on against a decent opponent. I’m still in shock. Needless to say, the Aggies took the set, 25-13.
Set 2: Aggies 1, Roadrunners 0
Between sets, Aggie Ashley Anselmo smiled and said something to the up official as the teams changed sides. He must be a popular guy. We pick up the action at 3-1 Aggies. There were three jousts at the net between blocking players, until Savannah finished it with a kill. 4-2 Aggies, a second foot fault was called on the Roadrunner libero serving. The other one happened in the first set. I’d never seen such a call in a game. I conferred with Ron. He confirmed that it happened and that it was pretty obvious.
6-2 Aggies, Natalie Mikels borrowed Bri’s signature dump shot for a kill. 7-2 Aggies, Meg and Sav on a block. Timeout CSUB. Since I had a moment, I noted here that Taty kept jumping Halle’s digs in this set. They would have been pretty easy ones for Halle, so that wasn’t really necessary. Taty’s trying to do too much sometimes.
The Roadrunners came back on a run and closed it to one point. Timeout Aggies. 10-8 Aggies, Megan broke up the run with a kill. Jordan Pleasants came in to serve for Savannah. In the first set, Sav was using her jump serve. Her first one was good, but the second one went into the net. I almost think there’s some arrangement between her and the coach: she only gets to serve until she faults.
CSUB would tie it at 10, but the Aggies retook the lead 11-10 on an epic rally. That point may have been the whole match with neither team willing to concede it easily. Halle had a pancake dig to start the point. Briana dug out one shot from her knees. Taty finished the point with a kill. 13-10 Julianna and Ashley combined on a block. Timeout Roadrunners.
Ron’s unofficial niece came in with her family earlier. Good to see she’s still able to support the Aggies, though I get the impression she’s probably on several teams of her own. During the break, she was singing along with Sweet Caroline.
Back on court, Juli and Ash combined for another block, 14-13. We were then tied at 15. The CSUB shot was initially ruled out, but after a conference, the official called Taty for a touch. 16-15 Aggies, on the next close shot, Taty let a close shot go out cleanly. 19-15 Megan triggered an overpass kill. 23-18 Megan and Ashley combined on a block. The Aggies would finish it off 25-20.
Set 3: Aggies 2, Roadrunners 0
Here’s where I actually noticed that Lia and Jordan G. were on scooters as the teams changed sides. I’m 100% sure they’ve raced each other at some point against the coach’s orders. Behind the Aggie bench, I spotted a woman with spectacular long red hair. Now I was sorry I wasn’t sitting where I usually like to at the Pan-Am. On court, Taty went over and smiled and chatted with the up official before play. Who is this guy? I’m getting jealous of a freaking referee. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the players be this friendly with the refs.
6-2 Briana got the Aggies up in the lead with one of her good serving runs. 7-3 Aggies, Megan got a definitive kill on a low set. You wouldn’t think it for such a tall girl, but she seems to like those low sets. Meg and Taty combined for a block at 8-4. With Megan serving the Aggies went up 10-4. She’s everywhere. Timeout CSUB. 10-5 Megan slid across the court for a dig. I cringed as she came up slow. Whoa, beautiful. Don’t do that. Your knees are more important than the point.
11-5 Aggies, Julianna and Ashley combined on block. 15-8 timeout CSUB. 16-10 Juli got the kill after the officials overruled an out call with a touch. On the previous point, she’d whiffed on a swing, which had the coach screaming. There’d also been a couple of near collisions on digs this set that probably upset him.
18-11 the Roadrunner libero netted a serve. This after two foot faults and an out serve. She’s officially the hard luck player of the match. Maybe it’s better that I didn’t note her number to name her. 19-11 Meg and Ash on a block, and 20-11 Meg and Sav on a block. Have Trump talk to these girls about building a wall.
21-16 the Roadrunners went on a run, which prompted an Aggie timeout. The cheerleaders packed up and left early. They’ve got a long day ahead of them with the football game next. 22-18 Megan laid out to dive for another ball. I charged the court at this point and got in her face and told her to stop doing that. Hopefully, she heard me loud and clear. I would have normally been ejected at this point, but the security guard agreed with me and escorted me back to my seat.
23-19 Ashley got in a kill. 24-20 the Aggies got the point on an apparent out ball by them, but it was called as a touch by CSUB. As spirited and upbeat as the Roadrunners were during the match, #2 Brooke Boiseau finally let off some negative emotion as she got visibly angry about the call. The coach joined her, though, as per the rules, he couldn’t go complain directly to the up official.
Ron didn’t think there was a touch, but did note that two officials called it. The officials had shown that they were willing to overrule, but seemed sure on this one. I think the match was more-or-less decided by this point anyway. The Aggies finished it out 25-20 and 3-0, but it was a little downbeat way to end it.
Once again, there were stats on the scoreboard. For CSU-Bakersfield, Brooke Boiseau and #7 Rafa Bonifacio from Brazil both had 7 kills, and #19 Milica Vukobrat from Serbia had 6. For the Aggies, Tatyana Battle led with 10 kills, Megan Hart with 7, Savannah Davison with 6, and Julianna Salanoa with 5.
Checking out the blocking totals. The Aggies were up 13 to 3 in blocks. The Aggies’ defense at the net was the real star here today. It featured several of the girls contributing. The Aggies did a good job today against a .500 team and cleaned up some mistakes from the last game. Taty’s serving run in the Set 1 was absolutely inspired and set up a great team effort for the win.
The arena emptied almost instantly after the match. I wrote down the stats and we stopped by the restroom. With the straight-sets win, the Raising Canes promotion paid off. I just caught the marketing person for a coupon before he left. (He’d just given one to the spectacular redhead right before I got there.) Outside, the cheerleaders and the band had lined up in front of the Pan-Am Center with the football team to march to the stadium.
We took off to the Canes. Along with some Aggie fans, a bunch of people from a convention or something were also there, so it was a madhouse. A bus full of kids rolled up after we were served, saw the crowd, and drove on. I was going out for an early “business” dinner, but I couldn’t resist getting a full meal here anyway. While at Top Golf, I ended up getting a kids’ meal burger. I thought about getting the Canes’ kids’ meal, but didn’t want to drink out of a sippy cup. Sorry the volleyball girls didn’t come by, so I could have thanked them again for the meal.
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