Glamorous Lia Mosher
There was about a half-hour break after the previous game. As I’d only had a cup of yogurt
and some grapes in the morning, I decided to get popcorn and a drink at the
concessions. I went to the bathroom
first and was confronted with an amusing sight.
A dad was there with his little boy.
The kid had his pants and underwear down around his ankles, while dad
was trying to talk through how to use the urinal. I averted my eyes the whole time and tried
not to snicker while using the facilities myself. They don’t warn you about this kind of stuff
when you become a parent. $10 later at
the concessions, I had my raspberry tea and a large popcorn. I didn’t want a large popcorn, but that was
all they were selling.
The Aggies and the
Grambling State Tigers were out on
court. I noticed Kassi Stolz was in a boot. I
don’t think she was wearing that last night.
It’s too bad in any case, because she probably would have played
today. Halle Razo looked down during warm-ups, if not peaked. If she was sick last night, she still
wasn’t doing well. Halle was the only
player suited up to play that didn’t in this game. (I don’t think Lindsay Blakey and Brielle
Sterns are available.) As it turned
out, Coach Jordan was resting Halle
out for this match for the next.
The new PA crew forgot to play the Aggie fight song when
the team came out in uniform. There were
quick player intros and no Anthem (since they did that for the first
game). Jordan George was again in at libero. The crowd for the game was reduced from last
night (687 today), but still pretty good given the circumstances (poor
opponent, football this evening, Saturday afternoon). I was with Danny and Mike and a couple of
other regulars. Danny chatted with a
family of Grambling fans. They had a
cute daughter with them on crutches. She
was also a volleyball player. (It’s such
a rough sport.) One of the line judges
chatted with a ballboy on the sidelines before play. These crews, I think, are regional, so they
know the regular attendees at the venues.
Set 1
No offense, but I wasn’t taking a lot of notes for the
match because I wasn’t expecting much of one.
I got a bit sloppy honestly. This
was game six of seven for me. The Aggies
went up 2-0 on a block. It was
encouraging to see some good blocking.
5-0 Aggies, Julianna Salanoa
got an overpass slam. 6-1, Cat Kelly’s serving run ended on a net
ball. 7-1, Ashley Anselmo went crosscourt for a kill. 8-1, another Aggie block. 11-1, Cat made a back court off her back foot
kill that hit the Grambling back line.
12-3, Grambling made a kill through Aggie blocking. I didn’t get the player number. Both teams were wearing white tops with black
shorts. I could see Grambling’s numbers more
clearly this time, unlike yesterday, but I still wasn’t paying enough
attention.
14-3 Aggies, Savannah
Davision, who’d already had a couple of kills, got a point on serve. She came back to the line smiling, a rare
occurrence for her on court, but she did serve out on the next point. 19-6, Cat and Jules combined for a
block. Brigette Lowe and Autumn
Gentry came in. 20-6, Analyssa Acosta came in to serve to a
round of applause. Oh, it was good to
see her out on court. At 21-7, Grambling
took a timeout.
Brie Mortensen
22-8 Aggie, Brigette got a kill. Good for her.
Freshman Brie Mortensen came
into serve. She’s a setter and I think
she’ll be the starter someday. She’s got
that look in her eye of a really serious player, like Sav. 22-9, Brie made a good set here, but
beautiful Megan Hart netted this
one. 23-10, Jordan Pleasants came in to serve and freshman Katie Birtcil came in with her.
24-11, Zoe Abeyta came in to
serve. The reserves gave her a big
cheer. The Aggies took Set 1, 25-11.
Sav racked up several kills in the set and Megan got a couple. The stats on the scoreboard were again not
keeping up with player changes and weren’t reliable. I’m exasperated with this.
Set 2: Aggies 1, Tigers 0
The down official handed out some candy to the
ballkids. Danny thought the kids were
somehow scamming him. Katie started this
set and got a kill in the first set. She
might be playing regularly now if the team wasn’t so loaded with hitters. 1-1, Grambling took the point. Jordan G had a good dig, but Sav gave Katie a
bad set. 3-2 Tigers, Jordan made a good
save, but Grambling got an overpass kill.
4-3 Tigers, they got a kill through two Aggie
blockers. (I was still missing player
numbers for the Tigers.) Lia Mosher tied it on a kill. She got a block kill at 6-4. 10-5 Aggies, Savannah may have mishit the
ball on serve and got an ace. She lit
off an explicative right after she hit it.
Sav covered her mouth and looked embarrassed. It was so cute. (She’ll probably have to run laps or
something later.) 10-7, after that, she
netted her next serve and then netted a swing.
12-8 Aggies, Megan nearly dove for a ball. She stopped herself and nearly twisted her
bad knee. She came off a couple of
points later. The coach was yelling at
her after she came off court. I don’t if
it was for not going for the ball or because she tried to. I’ll say that this was not the match to go
all out.
16-8 Aggies, the Aggies showed some real hustle digging on
this point. They won it on a block. 17-8, Katie had a great kill. 18-8, Natalie
Mikels got an ace on serve. 4’9” Brenda Hernandez came in for Sav to the
approval of the crowd. 20-8, Brenda got
a bump set dig that Jules killed and the reserves went nuts. Timeout Grambling. Brie came back in to serve and set Jules for
a kill. Analyssa came in to serve and
Brigette was back in. 23-9, Brigette got
a kill on a tip.
Julianna was the only starter in at this point, and then
she was then replaced by Lia. 24-14
Aggies, Grambling won the point before their serve. What is this rule? I’ve seen it happen three times now. The Aggies took Set 2, 25-14, on a kill by Lia. Grambling
saved three set points.
Set 3: Aggies 2, Tigers 0
Jordan Pleasants was now in at libero. All of these libero candidates since last
season are suffering because Coach Jordan still remembers how good Ari Sierra was in the position. Jordan P had a couple of good digs
early. 3-2 Aggies, Lia got the kill, but
Chasity Nicks on Grambling (I think)
got the applause for her brave dive into the scorer’s table for the ball. Grambling took the lead briefly. Brigette got a kill that deflected high into
the stands that tied the score at 6. 7-6
Aggies, Brig and Jules combined on a block.
Grambling tied it at 7 on a dump shot by Kalee Cadwell (I think). The Aggies then pulled out ahead. Brig got another kill at 14-10 Aggies. There was long rally at 15-10, which
Grambling gave up on an attack error.
16-12, Kiley Tonge finally
came in for Sav after she’d hit an out-serve.
17-12, Lia got the kill. Before
that winner, she’d whiffed on a swing, but still hit it over with her other
hand. 18-12, timeout Grambling.
20-17 Aggies, Cat got a kill while falling away. It’s almost her signature shot. It’s amazing she can get power and accuracy
on a shot while leaning backward. 21-13,
a couple of Grambling players dove for an out-ball and turned it into an Aggie
point. Unfortunately, this was right in
front of their Coach Demetria
Keys-Johnson. For the first time, I
saw her finally get mad and explode on her players.
23-17, Jules got a solo block and made it look easy. Analyssa came into serve. She was followed by Brenda. Tall freshman Tessa Fisk was the last Aggie to come in for the game. She took a few swings before getting her
first kill on match point. The Aggies
took the set 25-18 and the match 3-0.
The PA again forgot to play the fight song. (Maybe he took it off his play list to put in
more Taylor Swift songs in
Spanish.) It was an odd end to an Aggie
victory. (Actually, that song even gets
played in defeat.)
I’d didn’t get any stats for the match while there and had
to get them online. Savannah Davison led with 11 kills in limited time. The Aggies also led 47 to 19 in kills. Julianna
Salanoa had 8 blocks. Given the
opponent, it’s hard to say if the Aggies have righted the ship after last night. They at least seemed upbeat.
The parking lot was filling up outside for the Aggie Football game that would be
starting at the same time as this evening’s volleyball game. I didn’t have too much trouble leaving. Since I wouldn’t be having dinner after that
game, I went out to Jack-in-the-box
to use a $5 Ultimate Cheeseburger meal coupon and got a cup of froyo at Orange Leaf. I probably overindulged. I need stop doing that, but it was good. So, I typed up this recap (my only completed
one so far) and waited to go to tonight’s finale game.
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