NM State Aggies vs Chicago St Cougars Volleyball 11-14-19

Oooh, I actually have juicy gossip about one of the players.  A couple of days ago, I was accosted by a co-worker, who knows I’m a fan of the team.  “Hey, I’m dating a volleyball player,” he said, rubbing it in my face.  Apparently, they weren’t too close, as I had to correct him on her name.  He’d met her while working at his other job at a food truck, which was parked outside of a bar.  The player was a bit obfuscated, told the co-worker that she thought he was handsome, and they struck up a conversation.

The co-worker was pretty excited about the prospect of going out with her, because she’s very attractive.  He was bragging to a couple of other co-workers about it when I came in.  I told him what I knew about her, which was basically what I knew about her playing ability.  “She’s great, except for her bad taste in men,” he said.  He was waiting to hear back from her. 

After today’s noon game, I got to work and told him, “Hey, I saw your girl playing this afternoon.  She was looking good.”  “Don’t say that.  It’s creepy.”  Then he suddenly realized I had some potential for contact with her, “Don’t say anything to her about me.  Don’t mention me.”  Oh, darn.  I was hoping to help.  (Actually, if I’d had the opportunity to, I would have.  He should have warned me earlier.)     

By the way, the player in question isn’t Cat Kelly pictured above.  (Or beautiful Megan Hart.  That would have really upset me.)  Unfortunately, the news about Cat isn’t so amusing.  Her hamstring is torn.  Cat wouldn’t be playing today or on Saturday, since these games don’t really matter.  The Aggies have already clinched the #1 seed at the WAC Tournament.  (I sold that clinching win over GCU last week a bit short.  They only have three losses in conference, two of which are to the Aggies.)  In the pregame show, Coach Jordan didn’t sound hopeful she’d be back for the tournament.

The coach was more upbeat talking about Chicago State.  They were 1-13 in conference, but their win was in their last game over Utah Valley.  They’d also played some other teams pretty tough.  As mentioned, this was a very odd Thursday noon game, which the girls wouldn’t be used to.  (Aggie Men’s Basketball would be playing this evening.  They would beat Southern handily, though they were really cold in shooting to start the game.)  When the girls came out on court in uniform to do their circle cheering, they seemed a bit low-energy.  You might notice that I’m foreshadowing a bit here.  

Ron and I didn’t come together to the game.  He said he’d try to make it later and made it just before the game started.  I was sitting with Danny, but he had to leave after a couple of sets.  I hope the girls at least noticed that there was a good crowd for them.  Given the time and day, having nearly 700 was pretty good.  Ron noticed that they were really only missing the kids today in attendance.  (The ballgirls on the sidelines were the only young people there.  Ron wondered why they weren’t in school.)  There were a few college students in the south grandstand.   

The tape marking out the court was blue, which I hadn’t seen before.  The previous tape was taken up for Women’s Basketball.  I’ve seen the blue tape on another dual purpose court.  Perhaps it doesn’t interfere with basketball play as much as the white tape.  I noticed Brielle Sterns was back with the team in the practice, though she wasn’t playing.  There’s hope she’ll be able to play next year.  Brenda Hernandez’s hair keeps getting pinker.  The Cheerleaders were there working this game.  We did have radio call.  Lastly, the Cougars all watched the Aggies’ intro video with rapt attention. 

Set 1

Brigette Lowe was starting in place of Cat today.  Natalie Mikels began the match with an ace.  However, she out-served on the next serve.  Chicago State went on a short run, but Julianna Salanoa broke it up with a kill, 3-2 CS.  Halle Razo came in early to serve.  The coach had warned he’d doing a lot of subs today.

And then the wheels kind of came off.  The Cougars went on a big run to 8-2.  Timeout Aggies.  They were having trouble digging and were hitting it out.  CS was getting some good kills.  Their team and reserves were way up in excitement.  As the coach had warned, they didn’t look like a 1-13 team.  Jules pounded a nail out of the timeout to sideout, 8-3 CS. 

9-4 CS, Megan got a kill off a block.  The team then got called for a couple of fouls.  Meg came back with a tip at 11-6.  The Aggies started making a comeback.  11-8, Lia Mosher and Jules combined on a block and CS took a timeout.  There was a t-shirt toss by the Cheerleaders.  One of the shirts didn’t make to some fans over the east tunnel.  A staff member took a few tries to get it up to them. 

11-10 CS, Savannah Davison made a flying kill to get within one.  A net violation ended Analyssa Acosta’s great serving run on the next point.  Chicago State went up 14-10 after a couple of Aggie attack errors.  15-10, Brigette was blocked.  She was playing as the opposite hitter for the first time and learning how on the job.  15-11, Jules got a crosscourt kill.  17-13 CS, this point might have been the low point of the match for the Aggies.  There was total confusion as the team just let a passed ball drop on court. 

At 18-13 CS, Coach Jordan took a timeout.  The coach didn’t seem mad yet, but then we found out later what he said.  I’ll get back to that at the end.  18-14, Jules pounded another one out of the break, but the Cougars then went on a run.  20-14, they aced.  Jules nearly went into the press table trying to dig it.  21-14, they blocked her on a shot.  22-14, another Cougar ace. 

23-15 CS, Ashley Anselmo broke up the run with a kill.  Jordan George came in to serve.  24-17, Sav had a kill, but that was it for the Aggies.  Chicago State took Set 1, 25-17.  Oh boy, were the Aggies missing Cat.  This team had seemed so deep this season, but as the coach had said earlier, they don’t have that depth at outside hitter.  Not having Sav at full strength for the first two sets against CBU (10-28-19) almost caused a loss.  Cat is another key piece that there isn’t an easy replacement for.  Since she wasn’t going to be playing, the rest of the team was going to have to figure it out without her.

Set 2: Cougars 1, Aggies 0

Kiley Tonge started for this set.  She got a dig immediately, as Jules started this set off with a kill.  2-2, Kiley ducked under a CS serve that went out.  4-2 CS, freshman Katie Birtcil came in.  The Cougars hit the tape on a swing that dropped over.  6-2 CS, a bad set totally missed Sav.  It looked bad.  6-3 CS, another Cougar out-serve.  7-3 CS, Sav served into the net.  Service errors are absolutely contagious.  7-4 CS, Meg and Katie combined on a block.  8-4 CS, usually dependable Annie had a net serve.

Adam Young on radio reported that the crowd was, “Stunned,” by events on court.  True, but I wasn’t entirely surprised.  I listed the reasons why this was a “trap” game earlier.  Last year, Chicago State lost here in straight sets (11-17-18), but still managed to give the Aggies one their hardest sets of the season. 

9-5 CS, Jules pounded a kill.  She is turning into a big time player.  10-6 CS, Natalie physically moved Brigette into another position before the Cougar serve.  Chicago State ended up being called for out-of-rotation on the point.  The CS coach and their captain complained to the up official to no avail.  Too bad they didn’t have Nat positioning their players.  12-8 CS, Ashley got a kill and another on the next point.  12-9 CS, timeout Cougars. 

The Aggies continued their comeback.  14-10 CS, Meg with a tip.  14-11, Megan with a block.  14-12, Megan with a kill.  14-13, Sav said, “Don’t hog the ball.  Let me do something!” and had a kill.  She then tied it at 14 with a kill.  The Aggies took the lead with an ace by Krysten Garrison.  16-15 Aggies, a Cougar swing hit the backline to finally side out on a long serving run by Krysten.  After all her serving troubles earlier this season, she’d gotten it together. 

The Aggies built on their lead.  17-16 Aggies, Meg got another kill.  19-17, Jules put down the hammer.  The crowd was not quiet now.  20-17, this point was an insane, long rally.  One of Sav’s digs brushed the video board, but was still in play.  The point ended with a CS swing into the net.  Timeout Cougars, probably just so everyone could catch their breath.  Ron’s highlight of the match came here.  The Cheerleaders were giving out Aggie hats.  He signaled for one and a girl hand-delivered it.  He was beaming afterward.

Back to the action, 20-19 Aggies, Chicago State got an ace.  CS tied it at 20 after another long rally.  The Aggies had two free balls, Brig almost went into the sideline table for a dig, and Savannah made a great fist dig falling backward.  21-20, the Cougars retook the lead on an overpass kill.  That was off a bad pass by Sav.  The coach pulled her for Jordan G.  21-21, the score was tied again with Brigette getting her first kill.  22-21 Aggies, Brig got another kill.  Jordan had a dig on the point.  22-22, we weren’t done yet, as Nat had a net serve.  23-22 CS, timeout Aggies.  23-23, Cougar net serve.  24-23, Sav was back in and got the Aggies to set point with a kill.  25-23, the Aggies took Set 2 on another kill by Savannah.  Kiley was serving at the end.

Set 3: Cougars 1, Aggies 1

Nat had another ace to start.  The ball was returned out.  Analyssa grabbed Brigette to keep her from trying to dig it.  1-1, Brig was called for being into the net on the next point.  A misplay seemed to be destined either way.  2-1 Aggies, Jules killed it with a tip.  Kiley was back into serve.  3-1, Ash had a kill.  4-1, Sav had a kill.  Nat had to physically move Ashley out of the way to get a dig on the point.  6-1 Aggies, timeout Cougars.

The run continued.  7-1 Aggies, Ash and Jules got the block.  There was a short delay as a wasp or bee invaded the court.  The players all backed away from it.  8-1, Ashley and Jules got another block.  9-1, Sav with a kill.  9-2, the Cougars finally sided out.  That was a great serving run by Kiley.          

12-2 Aggies, four touches was called on CS to end a long rally.  The players argued.  They had had a great pancake dig on the point.  13-5, four touches was called on the Aggies.  Coach Jordan was yelling at the refs.  14-6, Megan broke up the CS run with a kill.  15-6, Lia had a massive overpass kill.  15-7, Brig was called for being in the net again.  16-7, a double touch was called on the Cougars.  The Aggies got bailed out on that call, because they were otherwise going to give up a kill.

16-8 Aggies, Annie out-served.  17-18, Chicago State did the same.  Still contagious.  19-8, timeout CS.  Coming out of the break, a couple of players had to wave for a ball to serve, as the ballgirl wasn’t paying attention.  20-11, CS took this point.  Ashley seemed to be hit on the nose.  She was okay and her lovely face wasn’t damaged.  21-11, strangely both teams protested the ref’s call, but the Aggies got it.  22-11, Ash and Meg combined on a block.  23-11, Jordan G was back serving.  Sav got a kill.  23-12, Sav had a net violation.  Was this the call du jour of the down official or were the girls just clumsy?  24-13, Ash with the kill to get it to set point.  25-15, the Cougars had an out-serve to give Set 3 to the Aggies. 

Set 4: Aggies 2, Cougars 1

Savannah high-fived one of the ballgirls as the teams exchanged sides.  Honestly, the ballgirls mostly seem to be oblivious to the score or who’s winning.  Anybody at the press table not calling the game doesn’t seem to be into it either.  They’re all busy with their jobs. 

Sav started the set with a kill.  At 4-0 Aggies, the CS coach took a quick timeout.  The Aggies were on a roll going back to the last set.  Julianna’s serving run was broke at 5-1.  A Cougar swing rolled along the tape and fell in.  5-2, the Cougars had a panicked exchange on their side, but managed to get the ball over and hit Natalie for the point.  6-2, Sav had a kill.  7-2, Krysten had another ace.  8-2, Lia crushed a kill.

9-4, the Aggies took this point, but nearly lost Megan as she fell to the floor.  Thankfully, she was okay.  9-5 Aggies, Sav had an out-serve.  She then had an out-swing that got the coach yelling.  10-7, CS had an out-serve.  11-7, Lia had a kill.  There was a delay right after as the balls were inspected and one was tossed out.  Was there a bad ball causing the bad serves? 

12-7 Aggies, Brigette and Jules combined on a block.  13-8, Brigette slammed one in.  You could see her getting more comfortable and confident on court this set.  14-8, Sav with the overpass kill.  15-8, Sav and Jules combined on a block.  Sav also had a great dig on the point.  15-10, Jules had an out-serve.  Okay, it wasn’t the balls.  16-10, Megan kapow!  (I’m running out of ways to describe kills.)  17-10, CS was called for being into the net.  Maybe it was just the ref wanting to call it.         

18-12 Aggies, Jordan G was back in to serve.  19-13, Meg slapped one down.  Chicago State then went on a run.  19-15, timeout Aggies.  Brig got an unintentional dig off her shoulder on the point.  She came back with a kill on a touch at 21-16.  She followed that up with a crosscourt shot.  Timeout Cougars.  The ballgirls danced and goofed around during the break.  Hey, we’re not in school and we’re hanging out at a volleyball game!  Out of the break, Nat again moved Brigette around in the rotation.  She has a good head for the rules.  23-17 Aggies, Ashley had an overpass kill.  24-17, Ash with another kill.  24-18, the Cougars made a good block on Sav.  25-18, Ashley ended Set 4, and the match, 3-1, with a kill.

That was a workout.  In the postgame interview, Coach Jordan heaped praise on Chicago State’s effort today.  For his own team, he was less effusive.  Here we found out what he’d said in that one timeout in Set 1.  He was threatening to put in the reserves and call it a day, unless they the girls on the court started playing harder.  What a motivator!  (Meanwhile, the reserves were like quietly, Yay! I might get to play today!)

The Cougars did play very hard today.  As soon as the Aggies finally got used to playing without Cat, Chicago State was in trouble after that.  Josi Borum had 14 kills to lead CS, with Kirah Williams-Shephard next at 12.  I’m not sure why this team doesn’t have more success.  They look like should play well and they do.  No offense to their coach, but I wonder how they’d do with Coach Jordan handling them for a season.  Don’t make me go rooting for a conference opponent here with a plucky attitude.

Savannah Davison was her usual great self with a double-double of 16 kills and 11 digs.  Ashley Anselmo stepped up with 10 kills.  Megan Hart had 9 kills and Julianna Salanoa had 8.  Brigette Lowe had 5 kills starting and really got into the swing of it late in the match.  All she needs is more playing time.  Team stats were close for the match.  Both teams had 10 blocks.  The Aggie serving was decent with 7 aces, while staying out of double-digit serving errors.

After the match, Ron told me that his hat-delivering Cheerleader fell while being lifted during the postgame celebration.  I totally missed that happening.  She was hurt pretty bad, but she did what any good Cheerleader would do.  She got up, smiled, and finished the routine.

Cat Kelly came over to the stands afterward.  She was probably talking to her dad.  I couldn’t resist going over to wish her good luck in healing and telling her that she’d done a great job this year.  She thanked me and gave me a slightly embarrassed smile.  It’s almost like nobody ever tells these players how good they are (certainly not the coach).  I hope Cat will be okay to play.  She missed out on the end of last season because of illness.  With the great job she does on court, Cat certainly deserves to play in the postseason. 

Just to sing Cat’s praises for a moment, she seems undersized for the outside hitter position.  She also doesn’t have the showy flash that the other girls have in getting kills.  But, there she is getting double digit kills all the time and being a solid defender in digs and at the net.  You notice her, but don’t realize how important she is until she’s not there.  Lack of injuries has made this team great this year.  With two games before the tournament, the Aggies have time to work out how to play without her, but they’re better with her.

Ron and I had an early dinner at Day’s Hamburgers.  This was mostly because it was near my work, which I went to early.  I admit, this matinee game worked out well for my schedule.  I got to see a game without taking time off.  After a great burger, we walked over to Zia Comics nearby.  I got a couple more comics to review and we picked up ice cream there.  Actually, I found out ice cream and comics aren’t a good combination, as I accidently smeared the cover on one of them with my cone.  That’s okay.  It was a good day.