“I . . . I can’t resist you! I’m yours!”
She flung herself into the arms of her teammate. Almost instantly, the two volleyball girls’
sexy bodies were intertwined with one another.
They knew that at any moment the coach could walk in on them and dismiss
them both from the team, but their unbearable mutual lust must slaked.
I warned you! I said that any more Aggie losses would result in more badly written
erotic fanfiction on this blog. If
there’s a next time, I’ll be naming the girls using poorly disguised
pseudonyms!
Or not. After two
days, four games, a hard Aggie Soccer lost, and tonight’s Aggie Volleyball loss (oh, spoilers), I
have to do something to make writing this tragedy fun. So far, all I have after attending four games
is four uncompleted game recaps and hurt feelings. I’m hoping finishing these recaps will
cathartic . . . someday. Like the
earlier matches, at least it was over quick (further spoilers). Let’s do the autopsy and CSI the cause of
death (as written by an incredibly inept medical investigator).
The sky was prematurely crying as I went down the street
to the Pan-Am Center for the third
time today (the third time). At least this time, Ron was driving me,
instead of me driving myself. It was
only sprinkling though. Ron had bad news
at the start. He didn’t have the night
off and would have to leave right after the match. This meant there’d be no greasy fast food
afterward to assuage my broken heart.
(Cold cereal at home was no substitute.)
I was pretty tired from waking up early and shuttling back-and-forth and
trying to write, but perked up when I got to the arena.
We’d gotten there early.
It was pretty empty, but would fill in to 847 total attendance. The Cheerleaders
and Pistol Pete were here. It was a different group than last time. Emerson was working this game. Though she has a prominent position working
with PA Ed, she seems profoundly unhappy
with it. The pretty former Aggie
assistant was still here. She was holding
her baby and rocking him. Finally, some
teen girls had been brought in to work as ballgirls. I can’t believe how much they left this
necessary part of the game up to chance in previous games (and for soccer for
that matter). What would they do if
nobody was available to press into service?
At the scorer’s table, beautiful (even in impending
defeat) Megan Hart was with a player
from the Portland Pilots. I think it was the captains meeting to flip
for who served first. So, Megan as a
senior and the best player on the team, is the captain, sort of. We’ll get to that later. I’d found out earlier from Danny that Megan
was the MVP of the Borderland Invitational. So, that’s three
pieces of MVP tourney hardware since the end of last season. I’m not the only person who thinks she’s
awesome.
Coach
Jordan came in and chatted with the Cheerleaders’ coach. They’re friends. He’s a friendly guy, just not with his girls
while they’re playing for him. There was
radio for this game with Adam Young. He mentioned before the start of the game
that the Aggies were third in the nation in blocking. It was good he was on, since there were no
player stats on the scoreboard for the game.
There was a live Anthem singer by a local music teacher. She was really good.
Set 1
The match started on a bad foot for the Pilots (don’t shoot
me for that pun). One of their players
badly twisted her ankle during the warmups. She spent the match laid up on the bench, but
seemed in good spirits (probably due to events on the court). I didn’t see the injury, maybe it happened
when I went to the bathroom. I missed
the player’s name over the radio for the crowd noise.
The first point was a long rally that ended on an Aggie
double touch. Portland went up 2-0 on
four-touches by the Aggies. There was a
great pancake dig by the Pilots on the point and ended on a four-touches call
on the Aggies. 3-0 Portland, another
four-touches on the Aggies. The Aggies
got a point back as Julianna Salanoa
hammered a shot straight down into the floor.
3-2 Portland, Cat Kelly
served up an ace. 5-3, Jules made a way
long out-serve. 7-4, Krysten Garrison made a net serve.
8-6 Portland, the Aggies got back into it with a kill by
Cat and a four-touch call on the Pilots at 8-7.
9-7, after another pancake dig by the Pilots, the Aggies made an attack
error. 10-7, the original call was out
on Portland, but was overruled a touch.
Coach Jordan was angry and sent Savannah
Davison over to argue with the up official.
See that’s the thing that the team captain usually does. Sav is on-court a lot more than Megan, so I’d
assumed she was the captain. I’m still
not sure, not that it matters.
10-9 Portland, Cat had a solo block. 11-10, a double touch on the Pilots. 13-11, here was a long rally. There were lots of fire drills at the net,
but Sav ended it with a kill. 13-12,
Megan got her first kill. 15-14, Lia Mosher was in on a block. 16-15, Megan had a kill. 16-16, the Aggies finally tied it on an
overpass kill by Lia. Unfortunately,
this was as close as it got. The Aggies
could not string together three-straight points to take the lead.
17-16 Portland, attractive Shayla Hoeft, who I’d noticed in the Pilot’s previous match, had a tip kill to retake the lead.
19-16, the Pilots had an ace here, but out-served on the next
point. 20-17 Portland, timeout Aggies. Katie
Birtcil came in. 22-17, Jules had a
whiff on a bad set, timeout Aggies. 23-17, another Portland ace. The Pilots took Set 1, 25-19. Cat had 2 kills on
set points, but a pancake dig by Kellie
Hughes set up the set-winner for Portland.
Those great digs earlier in the set really hurt the Aggies.
Set 2: Pilots 1, Aggies 0
The Portland reserves danced to Outkast’s Hey, Ya!, while
me and Ron sat stunned by the set loss.
Kellie came up to serve first for the Pilots and hit an ace on the
line. 2-2, Ashley Anselmo evened it with a block. 3-2 Portland, it was another questionable out
call. Sav was sent to argue again. 4-2, Grace
Zilbert served up an ace for the Pilots.
5-2, she aced again. Halle was
really struggling to dig Grace’s serves.
Kiley Tonge came in
defensively for her. 6-2, another
ace. Grace was serving curveballs over
the net. They’d come over the net and
dive into the midcourt. 7-2, the Aggies
made two saves on the point, but the Pilots got a touch kill.
7-3 Portland, Meg got a kill to finally end the nightmare serving
run. 8-5, Lia got an overpass kill. 8-6, Ash and Meg combined on a block. 8-7, Lia got a block kill. 9-8, a Pilot out-serve. 11-8, Shayla got another cross-court kill for
Portland. 11-10, Jules got a kill. On the next point, there was a joust at the
net. The Aggies won the point initially,
but refs couldn’t agree on a call. The
fans started clapping during the deliberation.
They decided to replay the point.
The Aggies took it anyway (“Ball don’t lie”), 11-11, on a kill by
Ashley. Cat made a great off-court save
on the point.
12-11, Aggies took the lead. 13-11, Cat and Jules blocked out Shayla. 14-12, Cat buried a kill. Portland came back at 14-14, but served out
on the next point, 15-14. This went into
a media timeout. Grace came out to serve
and had two aces, one of which hit Cat and tied it at 17. Timeout Aggies.
18-17 Portland, Meg had an attack error. 19-17, Sav hit one out. 19-18, Meg and Sav came back with a
block. 19-19, Portland called for a net
violation. 20-19 Portland, Krysten
served into the net. 20-20, Sav with the
kill. 22-20 Portland, Emma Scanlan had two aces for the
Pilots. Ouch. 23-21, Cat had a kill. Brigette
Lowe came in. 24-21, Halle had an
out-serve. Portland took Set 2, 25-22.
Set 3: Pilots 2, Aggies 0
Halle didn’t appear to have it tonight. Coach Jordan replaced her at libero with Jordan George. Portland scored the first two points of the
set, one off another ace. 2-1 Portland,
Cat had a block. Savannah evened it at 2
with a kill into the corner. Jules
evened it at 3 with a kill. Sav tied it
again at 4 with a kill. Brigette came
back in.
The Aggies took the lead, 5-4, on another kill by
Savannah. Megan kept the lead with a
kill at 6-5. Portland went up 8-6 with
another ace. The Aggies tied it, 8-8,
with Jordan G serving. The Pilots went
back up 10-9, until Brigette and Jules came up with a block. 10-10, Jules with a kill to tie it. 12-12, Sav tied it with a kill. 14-13, Portland up again, but
out-served. There was a media timeout at
15-13 Portland.
Brigette had a solo block with Portland up 17-15. Meg had a kill at 18-16 Portland. 18-17, Brigette had a kill. 19-17, Jordan had an out-serve. 20-18, Cat made a kill down the line. 20-19, Ash and Jules had a block. 20-20, Cat got a kill to tie it. However, the Pilots came back, 22-20. Katie came in. 23-20, Jordan had an off-court save. Sav had two more digs, but Katie hit a shot
out. 23-21, Jules got an ugly-looking
kill here and another kill at 24-22.
However, Portland took the set, 25-22,
and the match, 3-0.
Brigette Lowe
I noticed afterward that Coach Jordan didn’t take a
timeout during that third set. There
might have been some psychology going on there.
In the postgame interview, he blamed bad passing. I’d have blamed bad service receiving. In any case, the team wasn’t sharp. The only bright spot in the evening for me
was running into Brigette on the way out.
She’d come right up into the stands to see her parents (?). Since I’d already talked to her once and she’s so friendly-looking, I gave her a quick congrats for playing
tonight. Brig was all smiles.
Portland had 12 aces.
They didn’t even do that against Grambling. The Pilots were led by Liz Reich with 13 kills and Shayla
Hoeft with 12. Even with those one-shot
points, Portland really had to work for it in every set. The Aggies were up 11 to 4 in blocks, but the
rest of the stats were about even. Savannah Davison paced the Aggies with
11 kills, with Cat Kelly (9) and Megan Hart (6) following. It was hard for Aggie firepower to show up
with all those aces. I’ll single out Cat
for her swings, blocks, and defensive work tonight. Brigette
Lowe played well off the bench.
After I’d cried myself to sleep that night, I suddenly
remembered something Coach Jordan had said in the pregame show. He’d mentioned that the flu had gone through
the team. Perhaps some of the girls had
been sick out there or had just gotten over it.
In any case, some players probably didn’t practice during the week. This might all account for their lack of
energy and unfocused play.
I remember (and can’t forget) that loss against
Bakersfield (10-29-16), where the three main stars of the Aggies were sick,
but still playing. They were okay for a
set, but could only go through the motions for the rest of the match. No amount of yelling by the coaches could get
them going. Portland is a good team, but
not a-beat the Aggies on their home court in straight sets like UCLA-team, not
without some extenuating circumstances.
I’d almost like to see them comeback for a rematch next year, but Shayla’s
a senior, so never mind.
This revelation made me feel a little better. UTEP
had also lost a couple of matches this weekend to unimpressive opponents. I wonder if this happened to them to. Figure out which visiting team brought the
bug in and don’t invite back next year.
There also had to be a letdown for the Miners and the Aggies after their
fierce match last week. The Miners
had played three five-set matches and lost two.
The Aggies had their consecutive winning-set-streak snapped and were basically
punched in the nose by their former assistant coach, who knew their weaknesses very
well.
Whatever the problem was tonight, the Aggies have two more
matches left this weekend to figure it out.
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