NM State Aggies Volleyball Postseason 2019

The Regular Season Review is here.

Regular Season Awards

Beautiful Megan Hart was the WAC Player of the Year.  She was hitting nearly .400 for the season.  Coach Jordan was the Coach of the Year for going undefeated in conference play.  Elected to the All-Conference First Team were Savannah Davison and Julianna Salanoa.  Every other team in conference would probably like Sav playing for them instead of against them.  Jules was ranked in the top 20 in the country for blocks.  

WAC Tournament

11-22-19 vs Utah Valley Wolverines Semi-final

I’d resigned myself to keeping track of this match via the team’s Twitter, since there wasn’t any radio call.  There weren’t even live stats for it.  I was heartened to see the Cat Kelly was starting.  As the coach would say later, Brigette Lowe was right there with the hitting and blocking, but Cat was better with the receiving.  The Twitter feed posted the Aggie highlights, but didn’t actually show the score until the end of Set 1.  The Aggies dominated 25-12.

There was sudden flurry of updates about halfway through Set 2.  The ESPN+ coverage had gone down.  The WAC Digital Network would now be showing the game.  Yay!  I immediately brought that up.  (No, I’m not doing a shot-by-shot recap.  I was working.)  The Aggies had dominated Set 2 early, but as soon as I started watching the Wolverines tied it up, as they blocked out beautiful Megan Hart.  However, Aggie blocking got them back ahead, and they won it 26-24 in extra points.

I was able to sit down and watch most of Set 3.  The Aggies got out in front as UVU had a pair of back-to-back double touch calls.  Megan had a tremendous off-speed kill that floated into the back corner.  Savannah Davison actually set Ashley Anselmo for a kill.  Lia Mosher had a kill that the UVU announcer described as, “Sounded like it came out of a cannon.” 

By mid-match, the Wolverines’ blocking came up big with four blocks in a row to give them the lead.  Once again, Aggie blocking got them back into it.  Sav came back with an angry kill to get the Aggies back in the lead.  They’d go on to finish it off 25-21 and 3-0.  The Wolverines were just as good at blocking (11 to 10 Aggies), but not in attacking.  The Aggies were up 50 to 25 in kills.  Savannah Davison led with 15 kills, Megan Hart had 12, and Julianna Salanoa had 9 blocks.  The Aggies were weak on serve, with 9 serve errors and only 3 aces.

The Utah Valley coach went over and congratulated the entire Aggie team afterward.  That was pretty classy.  While the Utah Valley fans had really shown up the teams’ previous meeting (over 1,600 on 9-26-19), it didn’t look like a great crowd there tonight for the home team.  They should have played the tournament here in Las Cruces.  In the postgame, Coach Jordan took a swipe at the WAC over the location, though it seemed like he thought that they should be playing at a neutral site.  (He was being kind of vague in saying it.)

11-23-19 vs GCU Lopes Final

I found out who won this Saturday evening match on Sunday evening.  I felt lucky that I finally picked the right El Paso TV station to get an update from.  The two I watched Saturday night only covered the Aggie/Miner Football game and Women’s Basketball matchup.   

Regrettably, I didn’t get much more information than that.  The Aggies beat GCU in straight sets for the third time.  (Even Chicago State won a set against the Aggies.)  I made excuses for the Lopes the first time, but after these three wins, I think the Aggies just had their number.  The Lopes did finish as the number two team in conference, so they weren’t bad.

According to the Las Cruces Sun-News recap, Cat Kelly personally overwhelmed the Lopes in the first set with 8 kills to win 25-17.  Set 2 was closer at 25-23.  For the third set, the Lopes showed some real grit by fighting off four match points to tie the score.  Cat put the team back in the lead with kill #15.  I did see the final point on the team Twitter.  It was truly epic as Savannah Davison finished it off with a kill, 26-24.

Beautiful Megan Hart is now a two-time WAC Tournament MVP.  In her interview, she referred to herself as a, “Big crybaby,” for getting emotional.  Savannah Davison made the All-Tournament team.  The coach had no comment on her performance, which is the nicest thing he’s ever said about her.  I’m just kidding.  I’m sure he grunted something that sounded vaguely affirming.  Then there’s Cat Kelly.  The coach did praise her tremendous performance, “On one leg,” as the interviewer put it.  It’s hard not to be impressed with the whole team for not dropping a set for the tournament.

NCAA Tournament

12-6-19 vs BYU Cougars

The team would have to wait until after Thanksgiving to find out who their opponent would be in the NCAA Tournament.  They had a viewing party at the Barbara Hubbard Room on that Sunday after.  I meant to go, but I’m going to have to finally mention something personal.  My mom was in the hospital for the last two weeks.  She’d gotten pneumonia and had existing serious health problems.  She passed away in the morning before this game.  Regardless of the outcome, I was happy to see the volleyball girls and to have a distraction for a couple of hours.

Unlike Oregon last year, host BYU did not charge for their TV coverage of this match.  Also unlike last year, there wasn’t any Aggie radio call.  Jack Nixon came home sick after the Aggie Men’s Basketball team lost in the Cayman Islands Tournament (who could blame him?  I didn’t feel so good), but his backup, Adam Young, didn’t call the Men’s next game.  I’m sure I heard initially that there was going to be radio coverage.  I don’t know what happened.  Was this another slight against the volleyball team this year after all the scheduling issues?

Regardless, BYU-TV put up a very professional broadcast.  I was impressed.  I ended up bookmarking their site, because they were advertising some interesting-looking Christmas programming during the breaks.  I got into their coverage as they were showing a prerecorded interview with their star player, McKenna Miller.  She is awfully good-looking and charming.  McKenna was also married.  At least one of her teammates was also mentioned as being married.  I think they were both hitched to guys on BYU Men’s teams.  The interview was extremely relaxed.  They must be chatting with the players on camera all the time. 

BYU was the #14 seed in the tournament and haven’t lost a home tournament game since the 90’s.  They didn’t win their conference, the WCC.  The Aggies played and lost to Portland from that conference earlier this season (9-13-19).  Portland came in last in the WCC.  That was not a good sign for tonight’s game. 

The commentators couldn’t quite help themselves in the looking forward to BYU’s potential next opponent in their draw.  They respected the Aggies’ accomplishments this year, but were expecting a win.  The pregame highlighted Megan Hart’s resume.  They also showed her on camera sitting on the bench, and she looked more beautiful than ever.  Gotta make sure to look good for the big game.  The rest of the team was referred to as, “Undersized, but athletic.”  The broadcasters were tickled at the prospect of beating Michael Jordan, referring to Coach Mike Jordan.   

The game was played at the Smith Fieldhouse.  It was an intimate venue with small grandstands on either side of the court and seating at the ends of the court with second deck balconies.  The fans were right on top of the action.  McKenna didn’t want them to move volleyball tournament games to the university’s larger basketball arena.  With their usual large crowds, they had a real home court advantage in the smaller building.

  

The seats were mostly filled (2,400 attendance), which made the crowd loud.  There was a rowdy student section right behind one of the service lines that might cause some opponent intimidation.  Before the match, they were swaying and singing to a Kayne West song on the PA.  BYU’s Men’s Volleyball team was there, along with the Utah girls, who won the game preceding this one.  The non-playing Aggie reserves were also in the stands.  The camera found Kassi Stotlz grooving in her seat during one break.  She’s always working it.  (Nice call by the broadcast director on that shot.) 

Set 1

Set 1 started promisingly with Natalie Mikels serving up an ace.  Unfortunately, this set went downhill for the Aggies shortly thereafter.  Lefty Cougar, Whitney Bower, went on a 16-point serving run.  She very nearly served-out the set, but hit it out on set point.  This was way too reminiscent of lefty, Willow Johnson (Randy Johnson’s daughter) going on an 11-point run for Oregon last year.  These lefties remind me of Crash Parker on the Aggies a couple of years ago, though she’s right-handed.  She has that kind of curveball action on her serve.  Perhaps the team needs to recruit or bring in somebody prep them for good left-handed serving.

The Set 1 final went 25-7 Cougars.  Ouch.  You knew it wasn’t going to go the Aggies’ way when Megan was getting blocked on her signature spike move.  The announcers were still very impressed by Savannah Davison’s high-flying acrobatics.  Analyssa Acosta made a tremendous dig on a swing by McKenna.  Brigette Lowe and Autumn Gentry came in went the set was out-of-hand.  It was a surprise to see the freshman, Autumn.  She must have impressed the coach at some point.   

Set 2: Cougars 1, Aggies 0

“What did we learn?”  This was what Coach Jordan asked his team in the huddle between sets, as reported by the sideline reporter.  The coach was able to point out some adjustments and calm down the girls’ nerves a bit.  This set went to BYU, but the Aggies fought it a 25-23 result.  Nervous serving was an issue.  For this set, the team was next to the student section.  Krysten Garrison regressed back to her early season form, but others contributed to the eight total service errors for the match. 

Julianna Salanoa got blocked on her signature low-swing over the net move, but Megan did get her first kill.  Ashley Anselmo was the one finding the seam with five kills.  Sav was coming up big with kills and assisting on blocks.  The announcers were not surprised at all by the Aggies coming back and making a strong showing.

Set 3: Cougars 2, Aggies 0

Natalie started off another set with an ace.  Early in, Ashley hit a kill into the announcers.  I think only a tin of mints was disturbed.  The Aggies got their blocking working and went out to a 3-point lead about halfway through the set.  But, there was that Whitney girl again serving to put BYU back in the lead.  McKenna put the Cougars up definitively with back-to-back aces, of which the team had eight total for the match.  The Aggies would fight off a few match points, including a swing that seemed to bounce and hit one of the balconies, but was still in play.  BYU won 25-19 in Set 3, and the match, 3-0.  The coach did make sure to put Brigette in before the end, as a nice nod to the senior. 

McKenna Miller led all scorers with 13 kills.  The Cougars did what few other teams managed to do this season in out-killing the Aggies, 41-32.  Savannah Davison was next with 12.  She may be “undersized,” but she’s also unstoppable.  Cat Kelly, who’s also probably in the undersized category, had 6 kills.  Senior Ashley Anselmo finished her college career strong with 6 kills.  Megan Hart only had 3 kills, but did have 3 blocks.  I think BYU had Megan game-planned and didn’t care what anybody else scored.          

Next Season  

I covered the current team in the Regular Season Recap.  I’d like to look ahead to next year here. 

With Megan Hart joining the staff as a graduate next year, the Aggies will at last have corrected their main deficiency in not having an attractive assistant coach.  No offense to Coaches Rubio and Hertel, but most of the other teams the Aggies were playing were cleaning our clock in this area.  Unfortunately, losing Megan on court is a bit more serious.  Beyond her kills and blocks, Meg’s 6’5” frame was an actual weapon of psychological warfare that demoralized opponents.  That element will be difficult to replace.   

I’m curious to see more of Autumn Gentry.  Not just because she’s good-looking (that certainly doesn’t hurt), but she’s listed as a setter and a hitter.  I’d like to see Brie Mortensen play some more.  Again the “looks” thing, but I have a feeling she’ll be good, but needs some play time.  However, the current setting corps, Natalie Mikels and Krysten Garrison, is returning, which would likely limit either of them getting in. 

I hope Cat Kelly can heal properly in the offseason, even though being injured didn’t seem to slow her down much in the postseason.  Savannah Davison is simply great.  She just needs to work on her serving.  Unfortunately, neither of them will get any taller, which was what BYU picked on.  

The team also suffered when Cat was hurt and when Sav had trouble playing.  I’d look for the coach to start grooming some more hitters, like Katie Birtcil.  Could Krysten be moved back to hitter?  The coach will probably not want to mess with a good thing between her and Nat setting, but Krysten’s got to get better with her serving too.  She either needs to cut down on the errors or start acing a lot more. 

Megan is going to be hard to replace on the front line, but Lia Mosher paired with Julianna Salanoa should still be very good.  I think Lia busts out next year like Jules did this year.  There’s plenty of other blockers potentially: Brielle Sterns (I assume she’ll be back and ready to play), Tessa Fisk, Lindsay Blakey, and Kaleigh Thomas.   

I hope Halle Razo wins back the libero job next season.  I felt bad for her, since she’d done a good job last year.  However, I think Kiley Tonge and maybe some others will be pushing for the spot.  I’m sure Analyssa Acosta’s story this season has inspired some of her bench teammates.     

Of course, Coach Jordan is out recruiting new Aggies as well.  After the successful Ashley Anselmo experiment, maybe he’ll consider another transfer.  Could he luck out and find a freshman, who’s ready to contribute immediately?  Well, cheers to this year of Aggie Volleyball, and I am looking forward to next year.