Tuesday, November 19, 2019

NM State Aggies vs UMKC Roo’s Volleyball 11-16-19


I saw a great official promotional picture of all of the seniors that I couldn't find later.
This is from a fan picture from a player's twitter.

Spoilers.  It all ends in tears. 

Welcome to the third cross-up in Aggie Volleyball’s scheduling this season.  This was the second time Aggie Football would be playing next door during a volleyball match (9-14-19).  Not to mention, the game on Thursday was moved to accommodate Men’s Basketball.  I kind of understand the basketball one (there didn’t seem like another way of doing it), but the times for the other two could have moved to at least not having them going on at the same time.  I feel like the volleyball program was being a little disrespected.  Hopefully, Coach Jordan doesn’t feel the same way. 

Speaking of minor annoyances, Ron neglected to tell me that he wasn’t going to be picking me up, but would meet me there.  Good thing I called beforehand.  I left early since I was concerned that there would be an issue with parking because of the football game, since they share some of the same parking lot.  Thankfully, they kept the Pan-Am Center parking lot open for volleyball fans. 

I had plenty of time to watch practice as I sat with Aggie fan, Mike.  We were also joined early by another fan couple, who usually arrive just when the game starts.  They thought there was a hat giveaway today.  (It was on Sunday at Women’s Basketball.)  Danny wasn’t here.  He went to watch Western NM play in Silver City.  Spoilers.  He was going to miss a good one.

The Roos were on court warming up.  Down the south tunnel, we could hear this insane howling.  That was how the Aggies welcomed the Roos before they came on court.  They were enthusiastic today.  They’d need it.  While the Aggies had beaten the Roos in Kansas City (10-17-19), it had been a dogfight.  UMKC was #2 in the conference at 12-3.  When the Roos finished practicing, the girls made a circle around their shortest player and she ran around and bounced off them.         

Today being Senior Day, the girls were wearing commemorative black sweatshirts.  I was wearing black too, because I didn’t want to say, “Goodbye,” to Analyssa Acosta, Ashley Anselmo, Brigette Lowe, or beautiful Megan Hart.  (The other three are lovely too, of course.)  Brielle Sterns was out on court hitting the ball.  That’s definitely a good sign for next season.  Autumn Gentry was also taking swings.  I didn’t realize she’s also listed as a hitter.  The girls were having fun.  Ashley pegged their student assistant with a kill on his rear end when he had his back turned.  Cat Kelly was wearing sweats today, but she wasn’t wearing a cast or limping, so I counted that as a good thing.  A nearby fan asked about her injury.  She’s his favorite. 

The bass over the speakers was turned up to the max.  I was vibrating in my seat with the music.  A good-looking crowd showed up today (1,100 attendance).  I don’t think they lost anything to football.  (I don’t know if football lost anything to volleyball.)  Before the team introduction, I could see Annie peeking through the curtains in the east tunnel, waiting for their cue, like she always does.  Ah, I’m missing her already.  She got a big cheer from her family when she was introduced as a starter.  During the team intro video, both teams were watching it.  Megan was staring and starting wiping tears off on her shoulder.  Then I got choked up, darn it.  Let’s just start playing.


Set 1
Julianna Salanoa put down a big slap for the first point.  There were no problems with sentimentality after the match started.  The crowd was very vocal at the beginning.  Natalie Mikels unfortunately out-served on the next point.  2-2, Jules fired a fastball for another kill.  Kiley Tonge came in early to serve.  The Double Touch fan was back, yelling for the call.  At 3-2 Aggies, he got his wish with a DT call on the Roos.  5-3, the Roos had a net serve. 

6-3 Aggies, Savannah Davison got her first kill.  It’s good to get her going early.  7-3, Meg and Ash combined on a block.  The next point was waved off by the refs for some reason.  When they replayed the point, Julianna got an ace.  9-4, Megan got her first kill.  11-5, Brigette was starting in place of Cat today and got her first kill here.  Roo libero, Maddie Renn, made a great dig on the play, but gave it back on a touch, as Brig’s swing was going out.  12-5 Aggies, Sav put in an ace.  13-6, Meg went crosscourt and hit the sideline. 

Things were looking good to this point, but the Roos started coming back.  13-8, Roo Alicia Harrington dunked on an overpass.  13-10, there was a DT call on the Aggies.  The DT guy was mad, as it looked like the Roos had done it first on the point.  Timeout Aggies.  13-11, there was a carry call on the Aggies.  13-12, Melanie Brecka had an overpass kill for the Roos.  15-13, Ty Lukes blew an easy overpass kill attempt for the Roos.  The Aggie got lucky there.

16-13 Aggies, Sav put down a kill.  16-15, the Roos took this point, but it looked like they’d touched it.  The coach was mad and argued even after the next point.  18-15, Nat and Sav passed the ball back-and-forth and Sav put in a kill.  19-15, the Roos took a timeout.  During the break, the refs had a serious discussion, while Coach Jordan continued working on the down official.

20-16 Aggies, Ash got the kill after a long rally.  The Roos had a couple of good saves on the point.  21-18, Renn put in an ace.  23-19, timeout Roos.  Brigette and the coach spoke before play started.  She seemed to be looking for some more instruction or advice.  24-20, Jules rolled a kill down the net.  25-21, Jules won the set for the Aggies with a kill.  She’d had a massive swing earlier that bounced way off court.  Harrington (I think) made a great save to keep the point going.


Set 2: Aggies 1, Roos 0
A wasp started flying around the up official.  He swatted at it with a towel.  They don’t warn you about these kind of situations in the rule book.  Brigette was still chatting with the coach for more advice.  Lia Mosher and Megan chest bumped before play.  I guess that sort of took the place of Sav and Cat doing their booty bump at the start of a set.

Jules again started the set with a kill.  The wasp started bothering the girls briefly.  The coach yelled at it and it left.  3-1, the Roos jumped out to an early lead.  They had a block on this point.  3-2 Roos, Meg put in a tip.  4-3 Roos, Megan and Lia combined on a block.  4-4, Brig got a kill on a touch.  5-4 Roos, Sav had a net serve.  5-5, Meg hammered one to tie it.  6-5 Aggies, Jules and Brig combined on a block.  7-7, Lia tied it again with a kill.

You can tell this set was highly contested.  9-7 Aggies, Nat put in an ace on the sideline.  It looked out, but we’ll take it.  10-7, Brigette got an overpass kill.  11-8, another DT call on the Roos.  12-9, Jules smacked a kill.  12-10, the Aggies got a block, but lost the point.  The Coach started yelling at them.  Unlike Thursday, Coach Jordan did not have a detached attitude towards losing this match.  13-10, Sav got a kill.  Annie had a great dig on the point.  13-12, the Roos took the point.  The Aggies nearly saved it playing it off the net and with a shoulder dig. 

13-13, timeout Aggies after a Megan attack error.  The crowd got really quiet.  I should finally mention that the Cheerleaders weren’t present for the game.  They were all at football.  There also weren’t any of the usual hijinks, promos, and giveaways (except for one later) in the breaks.  You know what; Cheerleaders aren’t optional at games in the Pan-Am Center.  Somebody needs to lead the cheering!  The crowd needs some help.

15-13 Aggies, Brigette came up with a big kill to get the crowd and the reserves going.  17-14, Brig again.  Timeout Roos.  18-15, Brig again with a kill!  She was on fire.  19-17, after shooting wide on the last point, Jules came up with a kill here.  Put away the party hats though, the Roos came back.  After a three-point run, UMKC was up 20-17.  The Aggies took a timeout after losing a long rally.  An odd obscure Queen song played in the break.  Weird.

21-19 Roos, a foul on the Aggies.  21-20 Roos, Sav made a kill out of a busted play.  21-21, Sav tied it.  22-21, the Roos took the lead on a kill that went off Jules.  The coach yelled at her vigorously as she came off.  He must want this one badly to be yelling at sweet Julianna.  23-22 Roos, Meg got a kill.  This got the crowd back into it.  23-23, a Roo swing barely went out.  Kiley had a great save on the point.  Sav then made a serve, but the play was whistled dead late for a Roo timeout.  Gamesmanship?  (Or were the refs not paying attention?)  24-23, Megan with a huge kill.  25-23, Lia with a big block won Set 2 for the Aggies.  The crowd virtually willed it with their roaring and clapping. 


Set 3: Aggies 2, Roos 0
As I got up to go to the bathroom at halftime, I found Ron.  Since he’d come late, he was up high in the lower bowl.  I changed seats, but really didn’t appreciate the change in view.  I gotta be closer to see the girls better.  Also from this perch, I suddenly noticed a co-worker and his two little girls in the south grandstand.  Actually, they were all alone in the section.  Maybe they just came in or the action on the court kept me from noticing them.  I’d told him about the game and that he should come.  I felt bad though.  His girls wanted to see Cheerleaders and I told him they’d be here. 

[Edit: On Monday, I found out that wasn’t him at all.  He’d apologized because he’d wanted to go, but wasn’t able to.  I told him that he has a twin in town, who also has two little girls.  It was just a weird coincidence and my poor eyesight deceiving me.]    

The Roos jumped out to a 2-0 lead.  They got another overpass kill.  3-2 Roos, UMKC was called for being out-of-rotation.  5-2 Roos, Lukes got another overpass kill.  The Aggies weren’t receiving and passing well, maybe because Cat wasn’t there.  Ron was grumpy about it and turning into the coach, but with a beard.  5-3, Sav got a kill with a huge rebound that went off court.  6-3, the Roos won this point.  Megan dove on a great save into the sideline table (but don’t do that, dear).  6-4, she came back with a kill on the line.

6-5 Roos, Lia made a massive kill that bounced into the stands.  7-5, Sav had a net serve.  8-7, Brig got another kill on a touch.  8-8, the Roos had an out-swing to tie it.  9-8 Aggies, timeout Roos as they were called for being in the net.  The only giveaway today was for Raising Canes coupons.  Marketing Director Nicole made a trek through the stands in the booster section to hand them out.  10-8, Brigette went crosscourt with another kill.  12-10, the Roos served long. 

14-11 Aggies, Jules muscled one in for a kill.  14-12, Kiley had a long serve, but it looked in.  The crowd booed.  15-12, Jules again with a kill.  The crowd was cheering.  15-14, Brecka got yet another overpass kill.  16-14, Meg was blocked, but came back with the kill.  16-16, Roo Alex Ratzlaff tied it with an ace.  17-16 Roos, the Aggies initially saved the point off the net, but then lost it.  Timeout Aggies.  I could hear the coach from the other side of the court from the top of the lower bowl.  Thankfully, it was a short talk.

18-16 Roos, Megan was denied on an overpass.  That was a bad sign.  19-16, the crowd started yelling on a confused play that ended with a foul on the Aggies.  20-16, DT call on the Aggies.  Ron started saying, “We’re going to lose this set.”  Why did I move up here with him?  21-16, Ratzlaff (that’s an alien drink on the show Farscape, by the way) served another ace.  Jordan George came in after Kiley missed a dig. 

21-17 Roos, Sav got a kill.  21-18, Megan with a kill.  22-18, the Roos made their third attempt at a dump play in the match and it finally worked.  22-19, Lia with a kill.  22-20, DT on the Roos.  23-20, Annie with an out-serve.  23-21, the Roos out-served.  There was a lot of pressure here.  23-22, Nat aced, regardless of the pressure.  Timeout Roos.  24-23, the Roos out-served on set point.  Halle Razo came in to serve.  25-23, the Roos finally took it.  The crowd went quiet again.     


Set 4: Aggies 2, Roos 1
A couple of little boys were playing on the band stage in the grandstand.  One of them started doing The Worm.  There wasn’t even a fan-cam today to capture it.  The Aggie coaches took a long time going over their rotation.  Coach Jordan was only able to get a quick word in with the team before the ref interrupted to start play.

1-1, Sav got a kill for the first Aggie point of the set.  2-1 Roos, Jules served into the net, but I thought I saw it drop over.  3-2 Roos, Sav with another kill.  The Roos took the next point.  Ron said, “Without Cat they can’t return it.”  4-4, the Aggies got this point on an overrule.  5-4 Roos, Sav had a net serve.  She wasn’t having a good day at the service line.  5-5, Lia smashed a kill with authority. 

The Aggies got ahead.  7-5 Aggies, Jules and Brig combined on a block.  8-5, Brigette with a kill.  Timeout Roos.  9-5, Annie had an ace off the tape.  10-8, the Roos made a great save off the net to take this point.  11-8, Brigette with a kill.  12-18, Brigette with another kill.  I am so proud of her.  13-10, the Roos had an out-serve to break up their run.  Halle came in.  13-11, the Aggies were called for being in the net.  Boo!  14-11, Ashley’s swing was out, but the Roos were called for a foul.

15-12 Aggies, Lia with another kill.  16-13, Sav got the kill.  Megan was blocked on the point, but Annie was there behind her to dig it out.  16-15, the Roos made a comeback.  You could see Savannah was exhausted on this point.  She barely moved to try to dig a kill.  16-16, Sav had a mishit that tied it for the Roos.  17-16 Aggies, the Roos out-served.  17-17, the Aggies made a campfire around a Roo kill with someone out of position.  Coach Jordan was screaming at the girls afterward.  Sav did make a dig off court to keep the point going.             

18-17 Aggies, Megan with a kill.  18-18, Nat out-served.  The Roos retook the lead.  20-18 Roos, another UMKC overpass kill.  The Aggies looked like they were moving in mud.  Timeout Aggies.  20-20, the Aggies got one more second wind.  Ashley dunked one.  Timeout Roos.  21-20 Aggies, Halle was in to serve and aced.  23-20, Jules authored a kill with punctuation. 

(I was really reaching on that last one.  I apologize.)

23-21 Aggies, Sav had an attack error.  Halle made a tremendous pancake save on the point to keep it going.  23-22, timeout Aggies.  24-23, Julianna with another kill.  Kiley was about to come in, but the coach waved her off and let Jules serve for the match.  (I hope Kiley isn’t in the coach’s doghouse and he just wanted to go with the hot hand.)  The crowd was standing and cheering awash in nervous anticipation.  It was another long, high-tension rally.  There were two fist saves to keep the point going.  Finally, Ashley and Lia combined on a block to end it.  The crowd erupted as the reserves stormed the court.  The Aggies took Set 4, 25-23, and the match, 3-1.

I’m drained.  I was mentally reliving it, while writing about that last point.  What a moment!  Okay, now that it’s happened, I can finally say that the Aggies finished the WAC regular season undefeated.  (I was afraid of jinxing it.)  The team went 16-0 in conference as part of a 17-0 winning streak.  It’s not like they were playing a bunch of cream puffs either.  GCU still has a great record, and Utah Valley and UMKC had the answer to the Aggies, but weren’t able to overcome them.  We’re not perfect yet in conference with the tournament upcoming, but we can see it from here. 

Let’s look at some of the numbers.  For the Roos, Alicia Harrington’s 18 and Melanie Brecka’s 16 led everyone in kills.  The teams were even in kills at 57.  I’ve seen the Aggies out-kill opponents in losses, so this was a rarity.  All those overpasses gave the Roos a lot of free points.  The difference was that the Roos had more attack errors.  Blocks were 7 to 5 for the Aggies, not a huge difference.  The Aggies also had 6 aces to 8 errors, which was very good.  This match still could have gone either way.            

How did the Aggies win this one?  It was Senior Day.  They weren’t going to lose.  (I hope that’s not too technical for you.)  From watching the coach, I don’t think he was going to let them lose.  Megan Hart and Savannah Davison had 13 kills each.  Julianna Salanoa and Brigette Lowe had 11.  I don’t know her career stats, but that had to have been Brigette’s best game.  She was going to make the most of her last game on her home court.  (I said all she needed was more playing time.)


Senior Day Ceremonies
Prepare your hankies.  It’s about to get wet people. 

A good number of the crowd stayed.  Ron and I moved down to watch the ceremony, but should have switched sides to the booster section, as that was where they were facing.  The UMKC seniors were all acknowledged and received a round of applause.  They had a lot of seniors and will need to completely reload, but they’ll be in another conference next year.  

The girls, Analyssa, Ashley, Brigette, and Megan, were all smiles and tears as they were introduced on court with their accomplishments.  The team watched from the floor.  I could see Savannah was wiping away tears continuously.  Brigette’s list included getting the championship-winning kill last year.  Megan lost it while they read off her long list of awards.  She already has a degree and is working on her masters. 


Coach Jordan then talked about each of them.  He described Annie as, “The story of the year,” with her four-year perseverance to become a starter.  He told the reserves watching that she’s proof of what hard work gets you. 


Ashley was a risky reclamation projection.  The coach doesn’t seem want transfers from what I’ve seen, but he saw a great prospect in her.  He called Ashley, “Easy to coach.”  (Certainly, dealing with his coaching isn’t easy.)  He said he only wished he could have been the first to recruit her so he could have had two more years with her.  (Awww.)  


The coach listed Brigette’s injuries with a broken pinky finger and then shoulder surgery.  She’d lost some of her raw power, but had been able to play effectively.  He’d whispered in her ear earlier in the week in practice that Cat wouldn’t be able to go and that she’d be starting.  Brig reportedly replied, “Huh?” 


Coach Jordan said Megan had come to the program about as wide as a sideline and had had to battle back from a serious leg injury suffered in only her second practice session.  He thought the world of her and her unlimited future and didn’t know why she’d choose to come back next year as a graduate assistant. 

(Jdh417 goes, “Yay!”  I can see assistant Meg now.  She’s got her hair up, wearing high heels, a skirt, and a blouse with little glasses perched on her nose.  Sigh.  So beautiful.  If she’s able to teach the team how they can all be 6’5”, this is going to be great.)

The coach starting getting choked up and immediately handed the mic off to the players.  He’s still their coach, they’ve still got games to play, but this is where it hits him that his seniors are about to leave the nest.  Annie was so upbeat, until she thanked her teammates and then lost it.  Ashley choked up in gratitude to the coach for letting her have this second chance.

“Hello, everyone?” Brigette started out to a round of laughter.  What a sweetheart.  She’d written hers out, “To keep it short and to not get too emotional.”  Megan came on and sounded so mature and professional.  She thanked her coaches, including Coach Wallis, now at UTEP.  This received a round of boos.  Both her and Ashley specially thanked the team trainer, Marcella.  She must be doing a very good job.  And then, Megan lost it thanking the team.  She quickly handed off the mic.  They’re great girls.  Go Aggies!  Get that championship!         

I’m getting emotional again just writing this.  Ron and I went across the street to Dominos for their excellent Chicken Bacon Ranch sandwich.  (Not their pizza, there’s plenty of better places for pizza.)  Aggie Football did beat their FCS opponent, Incarnate Word, 41-28, eventually.  The game took forever and the Aggies lost out on three or four sure touchdowns for silly reasons. 

At the restaurant, one of their TV’s was on another college football game.  There was a big game between Baylor and Oklahoma coming up next.  We impulsively went over to his dad and brother’s house to watch it.  That was an excellent game with OK coming back from a big deficit at halftime to win it (even though we were rooting for Baylor).  Ron’s dad had predicted that.  Of note, a Taylor Swift commercial was playing during the game at Dominos.  I said I was finished with Tay, but Ron insisted I wasn’t.  “If Taylor walked in right now, you’d be all over her.”  Strangely, that happened on Sunday.  More details next time.

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