Borderland Invitational NMSU vs UTEP Volleyball 9-8-19

NMSU Aggie Savannah Davison

Captain?

I started off this match out-of-breath.  Me and both teams were in the same condition by the end, but for a different reason.  I had just arrived at the Pan-Am Center after a forced march from the soccer field.  Somewhere I’d lost my backup pen in transit.  Embarrassingly, I retraced my steps back to the soccer field after the match looking for it.  (Leave no pen behind!)  I may have dropped it back at the soccer stadium, which was locked up.  In any case, I was a little nervous only having one pen that I’d already used a bunch this season (though it was new with a nice grip on it).  I’d hated to have run out of ink documenting this match.

My first stop in the building was to the bathroom.  I had to try and wash off the sweat and sunblock.  I’m sure I had a musky aroma, but there wasn’t much I could do about it.  I was sitting with Danny and Mike anyway.  I’m sure they could care less.  I found my seat just as the Aggie girls were coming out in uniform for their game against the UTEP Miners. 

Adam Young and Kelsi Meredith were below doing the TV coverage.  Tatyana Battle, Aggie great and current UTEP graduate assistant, walked by on court flashing a smile at everyone.  I smiled and waved back, but I don’t think she saw me.  Andrea Beaty, another UTEP assistant that I’d noticed yesterday, had her snow white blonde hair tied back and was wearing a red paisley dress.  In spite of the friendly look, she was still ferocious while giving her players instructions.        

The crowd was maybe a bit less than last night (attendance was 1,400 to 1,200 tonight in the stats).  The NMSU students weren’t here today, but there was a large section of green-shirted high schoolers.  Danny identified them as the Cloudcroft Volleyball team.  There were a lot of young girls present, so there were probably a lot more volleyball players from other local teams.  I noticed Women’s Basketball Coach Atkinson sitting on the floor level with her young son.  There was a sizeable presence of UTEP fans, who made the short trip up the road to Las Cruces.  It turned out that the parking lot was actually more full than last night, which made leaving a mess (not for me, I was out looking for a pen while the lots cleared). 

PA Ed Carnathan read a nice statement before the Anthem expressing solidarity with El Paso after the shooting there last month.  He had an unexpectedly hard time with the Miner player introductions, especially since he’d done them yesterday.  Ed specially introduced UTEP Coach Ben Wallis and Taty to the applause of everyone in the crowd.  They waved and smiled.  After the Aggie introductions, Coach Jordan and Wallis embraced.  Ben rubbed Jordan’s bald head.  Coach Jordan then went over and gave Taty a big hug.  That’s the last of the friendliness for this match.

Set 1

Get ready.  The action came fast and furious for the whole match.  UTEP started off with a block on Savannah Davison 1-0 UTEP.  The Aggies tied it up as Natalie Mikels set Ashley Anselmo from her knees for a kill.  UTEP retook the lead on a double touch call on the Aggies.  Get ready to hear that call a lot.  UTEP blocking and hitting past Aggie blocks gave them a 4-1 lead.  They increased it with an ace to 6-2. 

Sav got a kill at 6-3 UTEP on some shaky passing.  I wonder if the Aggies were playing tighter than the Miners up to this stage, but were into it now.  6-4, beautiful (as always) Megan Hart got her first kill on an overpass.  6-5, Sav served up an ace.  7-6, Lia Mosher got a solo block and Meg came up with a kill.  Libero Halle Razo made a great save off a block and Julianna Salanoa killed it to tie it at 7.  She came back with a power kill at 9-8 UTEP.

UTEP was subbing a lot here.  Coach Wallis was taking a page out of Coach Jordan’s playbook and it was working.  10-9 UTEP, Cat Kelly got her first kill down the line.  Sav tied it again at 10 on a tip.  However, after several attack errors, UTEP was back in the lead, 14-10.  Timeout Aggies.  Up on the video board, they showed Taty’s smiling self, though she didn’t know it.

Savannah came back with a kill at 14-11 and a tip at 14-12.  But, another DT call put the Miners up 17-13.  Sav had a mishit to make it 18-13.  Timeout Aggies.  18-14, Meg got a kill on a touch going out.  Kiley Tonge made her first appearance serving.  20-16, Lia got a push tip kill.  Timeout UTEP.  Pistol Pete was out on court with the Cheerleaders.  He fist-bumped one of the refs. 

21-16, Halle made the first of many net serves for both teams of the game.  21-17, Cat got another kill.  22-17, the Aggies were called for four touches.  22-18, Jules got a cross-court kill.  24-19, Cat saved set point #1 with a kill.  24-20, Sav held off #2 with a kill, but UTEP prevailed 25-20.  It was NMSU’s first dropped set of the season.  We were in for fight now.

Set 2: Miners 1, Aggies 0

The Aggies got off to a quick 3-0 start on a Savannah tap, a Sav and Lia block, and a Miner DT.  Sav had an out-serve at 4-2.  The Miners closed to 4-3, as they were blocking and digging Megan’s swings well in the match.  Cat increased the Aggie lead to 5-3 on a tap.  6-5, Natalie had an out-serve.  7-5, Cat got another kill on a bad set even.  8-5, Halle and Cat had a great digs, and Sav had an off-court dig and finished the point with a kill.  11-7, Krysten Garrison hit the UTEP libero, who was trying to dodge the ball, for an ace.  12-8, Lia and Sav combined on a block.  13-8, UTEP had a DT and took a timeout.

15-8 Aggies, Halle went into the courtside seats for a dig.  The Miners had an attack error to end the point.  15-10, UTEP dunked on Krysten behind her back at the net, but out-served on the next point.  18-13, Sav was stuffed on a point, but came back on the next point by painting the back corner.  20-14, this was the first long rally of the match.  Sav powered through a block for the kill.  Timeout UTEP at 21-14, after a Megan kill.  The Cheerleaders danced to a Mexican song on court and did a good job.  23-16, UTEP whiffed on swing.  24-16, Sav served a moonshot ace.  25-16, the Aggies took Set 2.

Set 3: Miners 1, Aggies 1

This set started badly as Halle made a set that dropped untouched on the Aggie side of the net, 1-0 UTEP.  Coach Jordan buried his head in his hands.  The Miners got a tip between two blockers at 2-2.  3-2 Aggies, Ashley rolled a cross-court kill down the tape.  Tied at 4, Natalie had the play of the match.  A bump pass went towards the net.  Nat made like she was about to set it and then ducked, as it dropped over the net for a kill.  She was grinning as she was subbed off the court. 

UTEP tied it again at 5 on a dump shot.  Tricky for tricky.  The Miners tied it again at 7.  The Aggies made several saves, including one by Sav way off the court.  The Miners and Aggies traded service errors.  The Aggies tied it at 10 on a UTEP net serve, but the Miners took a 12-10 lead on a serve that dropped in after hitting the tape.  The Aggies tied it again at 12 as Ash buried one into a defender, and Sav had a solo block.  UTEP retook the lead, but another service error kept the Aggies in it.  15-13, after an Aggie DT, there was a media timeout.

Looking around the stands, I suddenly noticed that gorgeous assistant that had been with the team a couple of years ago.  Oh, was she a distraction on the sidelines.  I never found out her name.  I never found her listed anywhere.  I would have asked Adam about her if the opportunity had come up.  I don’t know how he concentrated doing the radio pregame with her shapely rear end right in front of him watching the team warmup.  In any case, she had a baby with her, so no point in asking about her now. 

18-13 UTEP, the Miners increased their lead as a serve hit the backline.  Timeout Aggies.  Back on court, Sav was yelling at her teammates, presumably telling them to pay attention.  With that, she hit a kill hard enough to bounce into the stands.  Meg got a kill at 19-15, but Halle net-served and UTEP aced to make it 21-15.  Timeout Aggies.  At 24-15, Autumn Gentry subbed in.  UTEP seemed to win it on the next point and PA music started playing.  And then it stopped.  The refs waved off the point for a UTEP foul.  Ash and Jules combined on a block, but the Miners closed it out 25-17 and took a 2-1 lead in sets.

Set 4: Miners 2, Aggies 1

The Aggie coaches did not talk to the players during the break.  They went over to a table and poured over a piece of paper, which they then turned over to the down official.  I’d never noticed this before, but I’m sure happens all the time.  I’m guessing they were going over the player rotation and who to sub in.  There was some serious deliberation going on.  I think Coach Wallis was doing the same, as he wasn’t talking to his players much either. 

The teams were standing around in a huddle to talking to each other.  I couldn’t see the starters from where I was to say if it was a serious strategy talk.  The UTEP reserves danced around a bit to stay loose.  Savannah shouted at the team when they got back on court.  Somehow, it’s not an Aggie timeout without somebody yelling at the team.

It was a good talk.  The Aggies rolled off five points to start the set.  This included four blocks, with Megan in on all of them, and a kill by Cat.  Natalie’s serving run ended with a net-serve, but it was a good run.  6-1 Aggies, Meg gave a Miner player a facial.  7-1, UTEP got a block and celebrated, but the Aggies managed to save it and win the point.  UTEP came back with an ace at 7-3, but there was Megan again with a kill into the center of the court on the next point. 

Syenna Masaki, UTEP’s ace server came in, and closed the score to 8-7Aggies.  Jules broke the run on a kill at 9-7, but Krysten had a service error on the next point.  10-8, Jules had a kill hard enough that it deflected up into the stands near me.  12-9, Cat put one into Syenna’s face with a kill.  Syenna had no reaction, so no harm done.  12-10, there was a way out UTEP shot that was ruled a touch.  The crowd got angry.  The score was tied at 12 on another touch.  13-12 Aggies, off a bad set, Meg put in a little pat for a kill.  14-12, Ash with a solo block.  15-13, Meg slap kill.  Media timeout.     

Mike had offered to pick up Danny’s coffee at the concessions earlier.  I didn’t even conceive that you could remote order concessions here.  Mike came back a long time later and said the line to register went way down the concourse.  The coffee was delivered cold.  During this break, one of the ladies from the concessions came over and personally delivered a fresh cup of coffee to Danny.  Wow, that’s service.  (I like the concessions people, but the food is still very questionable.  They need better quality and selection.) 

17-13 Aggies, Cat added to the lead while serving.  On this point, UTEP was called for a pre-serve foul.  What is this foul?  I’ve never seen this happen before this weekend.  Timeout UTEP.  I think there were some football players up in the grandstand on the north end.  They were getting into it with the cheering on every point.  19-13, Sav bruised a defender with a kill.  22-14, UTEP made a couple of attack errors and took their other timeout.  Pete shared a laugh with a line official during the break.  23-14, Jules powered a shot through the Miner blockers.  Sav got a kill to get it to set point.  She finished it with a dunk that the Miners didn’t even move on.  The Aggies took Set 4, 25-15, and tied it at two sets each.

Set 5: Miners 2, Aggies 2

Once again, the Aggie girls talked to each other while their coaches conferred.  In spite of the tension, quite a bit of the crowd had thinned.  The game had run long and perhaps these people wanted to see the start of the Cowboys game.  I was kind of glad a UTEP fan and his three girls in front of me had left.  He was a bit annoying, not that bad, but an empty seat was preferable.

Jordan Pleasants was out to serve for the Aggies.  Savannah got the first point with a kill into the center of the court.  UTEP saved one of their own shots off the net, but Sav got a kill on that point too.  3-0 Aggies, Cat made an incredible one-hand dig and Meg killed it for the point.  At 4-0, the Miners took a timeout.  Jordan P net-served it out of the break.  The Aggies got back on serve, but Krysten out-served at 5-3.  UTEP did the same at 6-3.  Kiley came in to serve.  7-4, the Miners hit out and hit Aggie Assistant Coach Hertel on the sidelines.  After an attack error by Cat, it was 7-6, and the Aggies took a timeout.

8-6 Aggies, Jules and Lia blocked it out, but UTEP got a kill at 9-7.  11-8, Jordan P came back in to serve, but the Miners got a kill at 11-9.  Sav had an attack error to get UTEP back within one, but they out-served to put the Aggie lead back to two.  13-10, a kill by Savannah.  Timeout UTEP.  14-10, Megan slapped in a kill.  Finally, a UTEP attack error ended the match.  The Aggies took Set 5, 15-10, and the match 3-2.  Whew!

I think this rivalry just got real.  Coach Wallis definitely learned well from his time with Coach Jordan.  UTEP went 1-2 in five-set matches this weekend.  That has to be exhausting and disappointing, but they took the Aggies to the mat.  When they got ahead in this match, they were able to keep the Aggies from coming back.  Wallis had them game-planned really well. 

For his part, Coach Jordan was infuriated with his players afterward.  They weren’t blocking like they were capable of, but the serving really angered him.  Last match, he was okay with service errors, because the in-serves were good.  This time, they were getting more serves in, but they were too easy to receive, allowing UTEP to set their offense “in system,” as they say.  Assistant Coach Rubio, on the Aggie Coaches Show, said that the girls were a bit emotional playing against their former coach.    

I don’t know if Savannah Davison is the team captain, but she sure acts like it.  She led with 19 kills.  At times, I felt like she was just willing them to win.  Megan Hart (12 kills) might have been a bit quiet in the first three sets, but really came on and turned the tide in the fourth.  Cat Kelly (12 kills) has been a steady force.  Ashley Anselmo, Julianna Salanoa, and Lia Mosher (Rubio said they didn’t work her into the offense enough today) are always offensive and blocking threats.  Krysten Garrison is still learning, but coming along well.  I hope Natalie Mikels or somebody can come along and be the ace/long run server.  This team was shown to be mortal today, but can still overwhelm opponents with their talent.   

I dithered about what to do afterward, but finally decided I needed to go for groceries, which allowed me to go to the Arby’s next to Wal-Mart.  It was a pricey solo meal with an Arby Melt, curly fries, and a big chocolate and salted caramel cookie.  (I’m developing an addiction to salted caramel.)  It was totally excellent.  I even thanked them for the meal.  (They were pleased with the compliment.)  I called my parents and Ron walking over and while eating, since I had a flip phone from work with me.  I felt really bad for Ron, as some remodeling for his caretaking job had kept him from coming to any of the games.  He’d really missed a great one today.