Borderland Invitational NMSU vs Pacific Volleyball 9-6-19

Passionate NMSU Aggie Savannah Davison

Ron had made plans to go to this evening’s game with me and the wife of a friend of his.  Unfortunately, after I got back from this morning’s game, he called in the afternoon to tell me that the remodeling project he was working on was taking longer than he anticipated.  So, I was solo again in the evening. 

I don’t know what I was thinking, but I got a hot dog meal at the concessions when I got there.  I think mentally I’d decided to buy something there again today if I got a giveaway shirt, which I did.  At least the meal was okay this time and I didn’t spill my drink.  (I actually refilled it with water so I could drink the ice too.)  This is a cool shirt, by the way.  The local iconography is excellent.   

However, disappointments still abounded.  I sat next to Aggie fans Danny and Mike.  Mike told me that Danny’s shirt had been stolen when he got up and left it on his seat.  Neither me nor Mike offered up our shirts in consolation.  (I wanted a black Aggie shirt and I very seldom see Danny actually wearing Aggie giveaway shirts.)  Danny also mentioned that tickets prices were up for this game, but maybe it was because it was a tournament (with rival schools).  

Nicole the marketing lady came by and said, “Hi,” to everyone and hugged Mike.  Gasp!  Emerson was with her.  I’d wondered if I had only imagined seeing her hot self this morning.  I finally spotted her later in the game.  She’s working with PA Ed Carnathan at the scorer’s table, that lucky bastard.  It was a terrible distraction, but I somehow carried on with the game coverage. 

The easy first thing to notice on court was one of the Pacific Tigers’ assistant coaches, Katie Hoekman.  She’s a glamorous tall blonde in tall heels.  Also glamorous was Aggievision’s color commentator sitting below us, Kelsi Meredith, whose golden brown hair now reached her waist.  Broadcaster Adam Young sat beside her.  At one point, he turned around and we exchanged jaunty waves. 

As for the players, one of the Tigers called up to her parents in the stands and chatted with them.  For the Aggies, Cat Kelly and Savannah Davison were catching huge air practicing their swings.  Afterward, the team worked on their dance moves on the sidelines.  Both teams seemed pretty loose.  The Cheerleaders and Pistol Pete were there.  It was a new Pete with a large fake mustache.  (We won’t hold that against him.)  The Lobo volleyball team was in attendance.  I guess they didn’t have anything better to do while waiting for tomorrow’s game. 

There was a good crowd there for the game.  We can probably expect really good crowds for the next two rivalry games.  Before the player intros, there was a dramatic ceremony as the new WAC Champion and NCAA appearance banners were displayed, and Coach Jordan was introduced as the eight-time Coach of the Year.  Ed was in spectacular voice announcing (no doubt he wanted to impress Emerson). 

The Aggies had had of a pretty spectacular debut on the road before tonight’s game.  They went to Auburn and beat them, Butler, and Tennessee State all in straight sets.  On the Aggie Coaches Show this week, Coach Jordan kind of dismissed winning against Auburn on their home court.  He said that they weren’t ranked and it was early in the season, when everybody is a bit disorganized.  However, it made AD Mario Moccia happy.  I’d heard Mario on the football pregame show.  He couldn’t resist mentioning that Auburn has $147M athletics department budget, while NMSU has a $20M budget.  (Even more ridiculously, the coach of Aggie Football’s next opponent, Alabama, Nick Saban, has a larger salary than NMSU’s entire sports budget.)    

Set 1

Our Aggie starters were Cat Kelly, Savannah Davision, Julianna Salanoa, Natalie Mikels, Ashley Anselmo, and beautiful Megan Hart, who was immediately subbed for libero Halle Razo.  Pacific got an ace to go up 2-1.  4-2 Tigers, Jules got a save on a Pacific overpass kill.  A second overpass swing went out for an Aggie point.  Jules got in on a couple of blocks to tie it at 4.  But, Pacific surged out to an 8-4 lead as the Aggies seemed disorganized. 

9-6 Tigers, Megan came in and got a kill.  10-7 Tigers, Meg and Lia Mosher combined for a block.  It’s good to see Lia back.  These two are really impressive-looking at the net.  13-9 Tigers, Meg slapped one down for a kill.  14-10 Tigers, Sav made one of her trademark flying kills.  She’s majestic in flight.  Still, Pacific held the lead at 15-10.  Timeout Aggies.  The Aggies had cycled in a bunch of players to this point.  Was the coach trying to find the right combinations?  Not wanting to wear anyone out for a non-conference game?  Trying to wear down the opponent? 

The Aggies started a comeback.  Behind a Sav kill, a Lia block, and a Meg and Lia block, the Aggies tied it at 19.  Timeout Pacific.  The Aggies finally took the lead at 20-19 on a Jules kill to end a long point.  At 21-19 Aggies, the Tigers took their other timeout.  Halle had had a good run serving to get the Aggies the lead.  She net-served out of the timeout to make it 21-20.  22-20 Aggies, Sav painted the sideline for a kill.  23-21 Cat came up with a kill.  24-22 Aggies, after a swing that was called out that looked like it had been touched, Sav came right back with an overpass tap kill.  25-22, Aggies took the set on a touched Sav swing.

Set 2: Aggies 1, Tigers 0

Assistant AD Herb Taylor made an appearance on the court.  The refs wanted some tape on the floor repaired, and I guess that just became part of his job description.  Back in play, the Aggies took a 2-0 lead.  Megan and Ashley made such an impressive wall at the net that a Pacific player fired a swing right into the net.  The Aggies kept going to make it 4-1 on a Sav and Lia block and 5-1 on a Lia block.  Krysten Garrison had a good run on serve, but had a double touch on a set to sideout. 

No problem.  6-2 Aggies, Sav split the defenders for a kill.  At 9-3 Aggies, timeout Tigers.  Pete came by and shook mine everyone else’s hand in our section.  He went around the arena introducing himself to everyone.  I finally noticed Halle had been on serve during this run as she put in an ace at 12-3.  13-3, Jules had an overpass kill. 

14-3 Aggies, now this was new, the Tigers committed some kind of foul before the serve and lost a point.  15-3, Jules got a tip kill off a good set by Krysten.  Timeout Tigers again.  16-3 Aggies, Cat got a kill on long rally, and then another kill, and another.  Finally at 18-4, Halle net-served.  Wow, that was like a 10-point run.  Even two timeouts didn’t break it up.  All this happened with MVP Megan Hart on the bench. 

From here, the Aggies completed the rout.  20-5 Aggies, Ash got a kill.  21-5, Cat got another kill.  Brigette Lowe subbed in.  Hi Brig!  22-5, Nat served up an awesome ace right on the sideline.  Afterward, she was smiling.  Freshman Katie Birtcil subbed in.  She got a kill after a great save by Halle, 23-7.  Analyssa Acosta cycled in to serve.  Yay!  It was good to see her.  She served out the set.  25-7, Aggies took Set 2 on a no-set Sav kill.

Set 3: Aggies 2, Tigers 0

Boom.  1-0 Aggies as Nat hummed in an ace.  2-0, Nat was in on a block.  4-2 Aggies, Jules got a great dig after a Tiger block.  Sav finished the point with a kill.  7-2, Jules and Lia on a block.  8-2, oops, Cat and Sav collided with each other going for a swing.  The Aggies got the point anyway on a block, but Sav and the coach weren’t happy.  9-2 Aggies, the Tigers weren’t happy either and took a timeout.  Jump in the Line played over the PA.  There was a row of people seat-dancing.  A guy got on camera also working it.  (It wasn’t me.)

Megan came at 10-3.  11-3, Ash got a block.  12-3, Meg got a block.  14-4, Cat made a great dig on a Pacific serve.  Megan finished the point off with a kill.  14-6, Sav had an out-swing that bounced high into the stands.  Stay alert at these games.  16-7, Lia and Meg on a block.  It’s officially a block party.  18-8, Jules muscled one through.  19-8, Ash on a block.

In spite of the score, Coach Jordan was getting more vocal and unhappy on the sidelines.  Sav also seemed really serious.  21-11 Aggies, Cat hit the back line on a kill.  Jordan George came in defensively.  22-12, Ash made a kill down the line.  Jordan Pleasants came in to serve.  23-14, freshman Autumn Gentry came in to serve.  23-17, the Tigers made a comeback with some Aggie reserves in.  Sav banged out two more wild shots.  Maybe she was angry or trying too hard.  Timeout Aggies.  NMSU did finish the set and match out 25-18 and 3-0.  It ended on a Pacific out-serve with the whole arena clapping for match point #2.  I could see where that might be intimidating.

The scoreboard kill stats didn’t quite keep up with personnel changes and I’m not sure if they kept up with the kills either.  I got some stats later from the radio the next day and the Internet.  Savannah Davison led with 10 kills.  Cat Kelly had 7, Julianna Salanoa had 5, and Megan Hart with 4 in limited playing time.  (I think the coach may have been holding her back to preserve her knee for the next two rivalry games.)  Krysten Garrison led in assists.  The team block totals were impressive at 16.  I counted 16 players used in the game.  Some of those were garbage time, but even apart from those, Coach Jordan used his whole arsenal of good weapons to keep them sharp. 

I’m sorry to Pacific.  Even with my inherent bias, nothing really stood out for me about them tonight, so I don’t know what say about them.  I have no stats for them.  They caught the Aggies a bit rusty in Set 1, but were overpowered by the end of that set and for the rest of the match.  The team began stretching out on court immediately after the match.  

I went straight home and made a couple of calls to my parents and my co-worker, Mike, who was filling in for me.  (I worried I might interrupt Ron doing his remodeling.)  While I was talking to Mike, I realized that watching and writing about volleyball had taken up my whole day.  With three matches on tap tomorrow and another on Sunday, it’s going to be a lot more of the same.  Good thing I like volleyball.