NMSU Aggie Megan Hart
So beautiful. Sigh.
Thank you, Aggie Sports Marketing for this poster
I’d really enjoyed the last match, but it did run
pretty long. As it was, there were only
45 minutes until the Aggies and UNM Lobos rivalry match. That was just enough time to skip across the
street to McDonalds. Yes, McDonalds. Dominos
was the only other place within easy walking distance (apart from the
concessions, forget that) and they’d take too long. So, I had a small McNugget meal with fries
and an ice cream cone. It was okay for
what it was, McDonalds, as opposed to a decent meal, but it was cheap and
quick.
Tonight’s match was on the radio. Adam
Young gave me some stats and a recap of last night’s game. The crowd was large. There was even a good contingent of Greeks in
the student section. They were standing
and cheering for much of the match. There
were some Lobo fans too. There was a guy
wearing UNM gear right in front of me, Danny, and Mike. He was clapping and cheering the Aggie fight
song. I thought he was being
sarcastic. Mike asked him who he was
rooting for, and he said he was fan of both teams. Probably not coincidentally, his wife was in
Aggie gear.
Both teams were basically in black for some reason. The Aggies were in solid black, while the
Lobos were in charcoal black. The Aggies
ran out the same starters as yesterday.
I got a better look at their new intro video. It was highlights with a remix of You Don’t Own Me playing over it. It’s sort of their theme song. The theatrical intros played well with the
huge crowd. Adam said NMSU usually has
some of the best volleyball attendance in the country. The reserves made a clap circle and with
that, we were underway.
Set 1
The match started on a long rally, which Savannah Davison finished with a kill
down the line. 1-0 Aggies. They went up 2-0 after a double touch call on
the Lobos. 3-0, PA Ed Carnathan became part of the play as the ball went
out-of-bounds. 4-2 Aggies, another long
rally. This would be setting the
standard for most of the match. Krysten Garrison and Lia Mosher subbed in. 5-3, Sav served into the net here. 6-4, Cat
Kelly killed one down the line. 7-4,
DT Lobos. 9-5, Lobo out-serve. 9-7, libero Halle Razo made an off court dig.
Sav went down making another dig on the point, but the Lobos took
it. 10-8, Cat made an out-serve. 11-8, Ashley
Anselmo got her first kill.
Pistol
Pete
came by and said, “Hi.” This was a
different Pete than yesterday. 13-8 Aggies, Julianna Salanoa served up an ace.
There’s a good serve finally.
Timeout Lobos. 14-8, beautiful
(as always) Megan Hart and Ashley
combined on a big block. (Ash is very
good-looking too. I don’t mean to slight
the rest of the team by singling out Meg.
These posts would go on forever if I went on about the entire team’s
general attractiveness.) 14-9, an
out-serve by Jules. 15-9, Ash went
cross-court for a kill. Afterward, a
Lobo player complained about something.
16-9, the Lobos made a sneaky set and tip, but Sav got the tap kill.
18-10 Aggies, Lia tip kill. Kiley
Tonge came in to serve. 18-12, a
Lobo ace. 19-12, Megan made a slap
kill. 20-12, Lia and Jules blocked it. The Coach liked it. 21-12, the Lobos committed a net violation,
which led to a timeout. The Cheerleaders did a t-shirt toss and the
crowd went wild as usual. 22-12, Cat
made two tips on a long rally to win it.
Coach Jordan was pleased
again. 23-12, the Lobos had an overpass
kill, but it was waved off on a net violation.
23-14 Aggies, an ugly moment on court as the Lobos picked
up a couple of points. Nat and Sav
collided with Sav getting socked in the mouth.
She was rubbing her jaw for the next couple of points. There was another collision in the backcourt
yesterday. There might have been some
confusion on an assignment, or I could see Savannah just trying to do too
much. 24-14, Cat got a kill, and Jules
finished off the set with an overpass kill.
The Aggie took Set 1, 25-15,
with the crowd clapping during the point.
Set 2: Aggies 1, Lobos 0
Flex-cam was active between sets. A lady bodybuilder with a massive set of guns
got a round of applause, along with a little boy posing. The Aggies came out firing, 3-0, with a block
by Cat and a kill, a Jules overpass kill that she pounded straight down, and an
ace by Natalie Mikels. Nat hit the net at 4-1 and the Lobos took the
next point on an ace. Cat picked up her
third kill of the set at 5-2.
I noticed across the court that a little bitty girl had
gotten one of the giveaway shirts and was wearing it. The shirt went all the way to ankles. It was too precious. I hope her folks took a picture. Oops, Cat took a shot off her head as the
Lobos closed up to 5-4 Aggies. Aggie
blocking took over as Ash and Jules and then Meg and Ash won points at the net. 7-5, another long, insane rally. A double touch on Nat ended it. Though the Lobos won the point, their coach
got a yellow card right after. Adam missed
it on the radio call. Danny said the
coach had been mouthing off for the whole match to that point.
8-5 Aggies, Megan came back with a kill. Coach Jordan wasn’t happy about something and
chewed out Savannah. Angry, she came
back with a kill off the tape, 9-6. Lia
picked up an overpass kill. Sav then hit
an out-serve. 11-7, Megan hit a
cross-court kill. 12-7, four touches
foul on the Lobos. 13-9, Jules slammed a
kill. I heard a fan behind me shout,
“Beautiful!” Definitely. 15-9, media timeout.
15-10 Aggies, Nat served one out coming out of the break. 15-11, four touches on the Aggies. After another Lobo point, Coach Jordan took a
timeout. This match had been kind of
intense. I could see the girls getting
tired and playing too unfocused. I was
exhausted and I was just watching. The
students were singing out during Sweet
Caroline during the break. 16-14,
the Lobos were broke on a net violation.
16-14, another long rally. It
ended on a mishit by Jules. The girls
still hadn’t gotten their second wind.
Coach Jordan got a yellow card for arguing. He might have wanted to give his players a
moment to catch their breaths.
17-14 Aggies, Ashley slammed a cross-court kill. 18-14, Megan was back in and got a
block. 19-15, Ash got another kill, and
Meg followed that with a kill, 20-15.
Timeout Lobos. At 22-16, the
Lobos had a net violation and called their other timeout. On the video board, a large, fat bald guy did
a superfast floss to the delight of the crowd.
Really though, I think Coach Jordan should have taken that time to talk
to the team. (I’m just kidding.) A Lia and Cat rejection got the Aggies to set
point at 24-16. Freshman Katie Birtcil came in. She made a one-hand slam into the sideline to
end the set, 25-17 Aggies. I’m impressed.
Set 3: Aggies 2, Lobos 0
There was a five-minute halftime break. A guy behind me tapped me to ask a
question. I forgot what it was, but it
wasn’t someone asking why I was taking notes for a change. I complimented him on his very sharp-looking Dodgers polo shirt. I told him I didn’t like the team, but did
like that shirt. We had a little
baseball chat. I would wear that shirt
if I had it, just like that Yankees
polo shirt I saw on a scout here at an Aggie
Baseball game once, and I hate them more.
Back to the action, Savannah pounded one at 1-1. The Lobos and Aggies traded fouls before Sav
got a tip kill that hit two blockers.
The score tied at 4 after a four touches call on the Aggies. The Lobos took a 5-4 lead after Megan hit one
out, but she tied it on the next point with a kill. 8-6 Aggies, this was the point of the match
and the weekend. It ended up on the NCAA Volleyball weekly highlight
reel. It was a rally that went for over
a minute, which is an eternity in play. Cat
had three tip attempts. There were
multiple saves by both teams. Finally,
Ashley ended it with a cross-court kill.
The Lobos stayed close after a Sav out-serve and a DT on
Nat. They tied it at 10 on a block. The Aggies retook the lead, 11-10, as Sav
powered a kill past two blockers. After
a DT and losing another point, the Lobos took a timeout at 13-10. I’ll bet all of the girls were winded. 14-10, Ash and Meg shoved a tip attempt back
and slapped down the next Lobo swing.
After another Lobo DT and a block by Megan, the Lobos took another
timeout at 18-10. Some students were
mimicking Megan’s two-hand dunk move in the break.
19-12 Aggies, the Lobos got two points, but then
net-served. 20-12, the Aggies blocked
out and then Meg got the overpass kill.
21-13, Lia got a kill. Kiley came
back in to serve. 22-13, the shot of the
day, Cat poked a kill into the Lobo back corner. The crowd went nuts. Coach Jordan even high-fived her. Lia and Meg both got kills to bring it to
match point. Katie came in again. The students had a cheer going. Once again, Katie finished it. This time with a tip. The Aggies win the set 25-15 and match 3-0. Katie is now “The Finisher.” Seriously though, the freshman’s got some ice
water in her veins to come in and take those winning shots.
Coach Jordan saluted the crowd. In the postgame interview over the radio, he
was happy with the blocking (12 blocks) and holding both the Lobos and the
Tigers to a negative hitting percentage.
The team had 8 errors on serve, but he was strangely okay with that as
long as the in-serves were good ones. Savannah Davison and Megan Hart both had 10 kills, and Cat Kelly had 9. For a straight sets win, this was a tough
one. The Aggies were really having to
fight for those points.
Oops. My happy mood
became damp outside of the Pan-Am Center. It was raining. I’d noticed possible rainclouds while driving
here, but hadn’t prepared for the possibility of rain. Thankfully, it wasn’t raining hard, but I’d
parked in the far parking lot and got wet.
Thankfully again, it didn’t actually start storming until well after I’d
gotten home. After the storm had passed,
it kept lightning and thundering for over an hour afterward. I’d done a good job of keeping up with
writing recaps after the first three matches, but I was reluctant to turn on my
computer with lightning in the area.
Finally, it was too late to start and I wanted to get to bed early. So, this put me severely behind writing.
Tomorrow, it would be another rivalry match and a
battle of coaching wits between master and apprentice.
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