Saturday, September 21, 2019

Springhill Suites Invitational NMSU vs Grambling Volleyball 9-14-19


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.

No comments:

Post a Comment