NM State Aggies vs Utah Valley Wolverines Volleyball 11-6-21 Part 2

 

Continued from Part 1

 

Set 2: Wolverines 1, Aggies 0

There were no player stats on the board to this point.  The Utah Valley family I’d seen coming in were swaying along to Sweet Caroline between sets.  Back to the action.  1-0 Lia Mosher and Cat Kelly combined on a block.  I should mention that Cat and Darian Markham both still have heavily bandaged hips.  3-3 the UV coach, Sam Atoa, challenged a touch call.  The crowd groaned.  Some got up to go get concessions or went to the bathroom.  I think we’ve all had enough of the challenge system.  The call was upheld for an Aggie point.

 

4-5 UV served in an ace, but followed it up with an out serve.  6-6 Shaney Lipscomb faked a slam, but got a tip for a kill.  I think the team came prepared for tough blocking.  7-6 the Aggies took the point after a long rally.  UV thought they’d had the winning shot and began to celebrate, but it was saved and the point continued.  Coach Atoa gave them an earful from the sidelines.

 

9-7 Mari Sharp powered one through the blocking.  9-9 Shaney was blocked.  The indefatigable UV reserves let off a roar.  That’s when you know the opposition has keyed on you.  10-9 Mari had a tip kill off a bad set.  11-9 Katie Birtcil took flight again for a kill.  A Wolverine was apparently hurt on the play, perhaps from colliding with another player.  She left the court to a round of applause.  12-9 the Aggies went up by 3.  Mari had a great dig on the point.  Timeout UV.  The Aggie assistant coaches talked to most of the team, while Coach Jordan just talked to Carly Aigner-Swesey and Shaney. 

 

12-12 the Wolverines came back after a couple of Aggie fouls and an out shot by Shaney.  Timeout Aggies.  UV came back with a net serve to side out.  14-13 Katie with a flying kill.  15-14 the Aggies challenged a shot by Lia that might have been touched.  Call reversed, 16-14.  17-15 Katie painted the line for kill.  Meanwhile, the entire building thundered.  No, it wasn’t that hard a hit.  The Aggie Football game was about to start and included a jet flyover.  Credit to the concentration of the girls on both teams.  They played right through it. 

 

19-17 Katie buried one into the middle of the court.  20-17 Shaney seemed to get a kill on a touch.  The refs were conflicted on the call.  (Shouldn’t that have necessitated a replay of the point?)  When they settled it, Coach Atoa, who looked quite natty in his white team track suit by the way, challenged it.  The crowd and the UV reserves spontaneously started a cheering contest.  It was about even.  Yes, there were hundreds more in the crowd, but we were muffled with masks.  They weren’t.  The call stood.  We won that one.

 

21-19 Cat made a kill for a three-point lead.  Timeout UV.  The refs had a chat amongst themselves, probably about the contested point.  23-19 Shaney and Cat combined on a block.  24-19 Cat got a kill on a touch.  25-19 Katie shut the door for Set 2.  Cat had a great save on the point and Mari had a tremendous four-serve run to close it out.

 

Set 3: Aggies 1, Wolverines 1

The ball girl by the up official was joined by what seemed to her best friend.  They happily danced to Jump in the Line between sets.  A woman behind me, who I think was doing some technical volleyball talk with the people she was with, asked me to confirm the set score.  She figured I’d written it down.  I must look like a nut taking notes during a game.

 

0-1 this point wasn’t a good start for the refs.  They had some confusion before calling a ball out.  1-3 Kendra Nock for UV had a thunderous kill that bounced into the stands.  4-4 Mari made an impossible shot that went crosscourt and hit the far corner.  Everyone stood and watched it, assuming it had to go out at that angle.  5-4 Mari made a conventional kill.  6-4 Shaney with a kill down the line, keep your body in time.  (Just listen to the song above.) 

 

7-4 Katie served up an ace.  8-4 Katie served up another ace.  Timeout UV.  The refs had another discussion.  The ball girls were goofing around to the music.  They were entertaining.  9-4 Shaney continued the run with a kill, but Katie served out afterward to end it.  9-8 the Wolverines came back quick.  Timeout Aggies.  10-9 on a completely broken point, the Aggies hung with it, and Shaney finished it with an awkward kill. 

 

11-9 UV took the point after a long rally.  Carly had a tremendous dump shot on the point and actually walked away after doing it, like an action hero walking away from an explosion.  It was premature.  They made a great save on the shot.  12-9 Cat with a tip.  12-10 UV tipped right back.  13-11 Mari made a great save on this point.  Cat reared back for a huge swing that was blocked out.  She grinned afterward.  Cat was having a great time. 

 

15-11 Katie fired a cannonball that forced a UV timeout.  The ball girls were dancing again.  They were just too cute.  I want to cast them for a Disney or Teen Nick show.  We’ll call it, BFF’s.  I’m smelling a hit here.  16-11 Darian made two great saves on this point.  I nearly came out of my seat going for the ball myself.  I was getting way too into it.  Cat hammered it to end the point.  18-11 Lia with the bearpaw.  19-11 Carly with the ace.  She had good downward action on her serves.  20-13 Katie fired one that bounced into the stands and into the UV family.  That wasn’t nice. 

 

21-14 Mari with the kill.  22-14 Katie and Shaney on the block.  23-14 Darian with an ace.  Keke Holloway came in to serve on the first set point.  25-18 on the second set point, UV made a couple of great saves, but Shaney finished it.  Hey, player stats are up on the scoreboard.  Cat and Shaney had 10 kills each.  Katie’s stats weren’t up.  Kazna Tanuvasa had 13 kills for the Wolverines.

 

Set 4: Aggies 2, Wolverines 1

A group of young men in big cowboy hats were seated down by the court on the north end.  They were a somewhat incongruous sight.  I wondered why they weren’t at the football game.  Are they boyfriends of some of the players?  Do they want to be?  (Who could blame them?)  It’s a mystery.  Kazna, presumably the UV captain, had a chat with the up official before play.  That conversation is also a mystery.

 

1-2 Lia was denied on her first swing on the point, but not the second.  2-3 Mari had a kill that bounced off of Caleigh Vagana and Bryton Bishop.  I’d noticed Caleigh before.  She was very pretty with long, dark hair.  5-3 Whoa!  Shaney slapped an overpass all the way to the UV backline.  6-7 Coach Jordan argued for a touch on a kill.  Yet, another challenge.  During the downtime, I noticed that my left finger was black with ink from writing.  Call reversed, 7-6 Aggies.  Coach Atoa gave the down official an earful.  I don’t like these challenges, but today, they were all going the Aggies’ way. 

 

8-6 Shaney got the kill with a touch.  9-8 Caleigh slapped one into the crowd for a UV point.  10-8 Cat with a kill.  11-8 Shaney served up an ace.  Before that, the coach had called for Alana Embry to come in and serve, but then waved her off.  Alana usually comes with Lindsay Blakey, so she’d been shelved too with her absence.  Then Shaney served into the net.  So, the decision at the time was neutral, but may have paid off later. 

 

12-9 Katie muscled one.  12-10 UV point and the Aggies almost lost Katie.  She dove headfirst for the ball nearly into the scorer’s table.  13-11 Katie got a tip kill.  Good thing we didn’t lose her.  Lauryn Taylor came in to serve, but fired it out, 13-12.  My arm’s getting tired just writing this (and later typing it).  16-17 the Aggies were outplayed on a couple of points.  Timeout Aggies. 

 

17-17 Cat powers one.  18-17 Cat with a tip.  19-17 Cat on a touch.  It is the Cat Show!  Timeout UV.  The ballgirls started doing the Macarena instantly within the first couple of notes during the break.  21-17 the Aggies got a points on UV fouls.  Timeout UV.  22-17 Cat again!  23-17 Aggies with block.  The Aggies closed it out, 25-17 and 3-1 for the match.   

 

I started doing a countback.  That was nine points in a row to finish it!  I’d noticed that Shaney was serving about halfway through.  Her first couple of serves were even risky ones that painted the sideline.  She uses a simple standstill motion, so her mechanics helped her be consistent.  As the run went on, Shaney became very deliberate with each toss.  I wonder if that net serve earlier helped to focus her.  The sketch here is from the day before.  I was looking forward to the game.  It’s a slightly better likeness than three previous attempts.  What I’d really like to try is an action shot, if I had a good picture.

 

Katie led the way with 19 kills.  Cat had 15 kills, Shaney and Mari had 12, and Lia had 8.  Kazna Tanuvasa led Utah Valley with 16.  I’ll pick the team stat of the match as kills, where the Aggies led 67 to 48.  The Aggies did a pretty good job on addressing two of their main deficiencies in this match, serving and receiving. 

 

Can I give the gameball to all of the starters?  Yeah, this time.  Most of those kills didn’t happen without Carly Aigner-Shwayzee (as the PA kept calling her) . . . err . . . Swesey setting them.  Lia Moooooosher was the force in the middle.  Darian Marham was keeping the floor clean with digs.  Katie Birtcil was unstoppable.  Special notice goes to Cat Kelly for stepping up on offense and to Mari Sharp for being everywhere on the court.  Lastly, Shaney Lipscomb really set the tone.  She was the vocal leader at the beginning of the match and set the example at the end.

 

The good news is that this group really functioned well as a unit.  The bad news is that they must have been exhausted afterward.  Coach Jordan usually uses all the subs he can during a match, at least partially to keep his players fresh.  I don’t know if Lindsay Blakey will be back by Wednesday. 

 

I wonder how the coach will play that UTEP game in the middle of next week.  It’s not a conference game (until 2023), but it’s the only home game this season against a rival.  Wanting to rest his players to finish the conference season is more important theoretically, but that rivalry game is more important to program for the boosters.  On the other hand, this may be the last time Las Cruces is going to host a conference volleyball tournament for a long time.  I’m glad I don’t have to make these decisions.            

 

Ron and I had dinner at Long John Silvers because neither of us had been there in a long time.  It was pretty good up to the point where we got overstuffed.  We’re good for probably another six months before going back.  Over the meal, Ron said he’d just about figured out the signs the coach was sending in.  He also said he missed the Cheerleaders.  Embarrassingly, I hadn’t even noticed, since the crowd did a decent job by themselves.  (Since the coach had requested more cheering when the team was down, I obliged.)  The Cheerleaders were all at the football game.  On that account, the team went down to the Utah State Aggies 35-13.  They’d kept it close in the first half, but couldn’t get the defensive stops in the second.     

 

I plan on being back for the UTEP game and the season ender against Chicago State next Saturday.  Go Aggies! 

 

Edit: Or right before I posted this, Ron sent me an e-mail that he was sick and tested positive.  I may be infected, too.  So much for going to any more games, including the WAC Tournament.  I’ll still be rooting for you ladies.