NM State Aggies vs UCSB Gauchos Volleyball 9-9-22

Welcome to Aggie Double Header Day!  Volleyball and Soccer had overlapping games this evening.  I took another day off today for them.  The night before, I was despairing over what I’m going to come back to and what may done wrong.  It’s okay.  I had to take time off anyway.  I may as well enjoy it. 

 

I already recapped Aggie Volleyball’s performance in the Davidson tournament last week.  (I really should have thought this reporting out better.)  Coach Jordan, on the Aggie Coaches Show this week, added a couple of more details.  Libero Darian Markham was the MVP of the tournament.  She’s great and has a great attitude.  However, this probably means we’ve seen the last of mine and my friend Ron’s new favorite player, Morgan Stewart, except as a serving sub, maybe.  Also, the team racked up a bunch of aces in the tournament.  The Coach singled out Setter, Rylee Fay, for her serving.

 

Meanwhile, my co-worker, Taylor, is getting more excited about seeing Outside Hitter, Mia Peterson, after I told him about her 10 kill performance.  He immediately looked her up on Instagram and found her.  Whoa!  She has 12k followers!  And lots of pretty pictures of herself.  Her being an Instagram model has definitely increased his interest.  By the way, unlike me, Taylor is, shall we say, highly desired by most women.  I’m starting to believe this relationship will happen and I will have my inside source on Aggie Volleyball.  (Maybe I can somehow get into a practice session.  Dare to dream.)

 

Ron picked me up a couple of hours early and we (I, because he never has an opinion) decided on Chicken Bacon Ranch sandwiches at Dominos with Parmesan Garlic Knots.  How’s that for a trip to Flavor Town?  It was very good, but we both ended up tasting those flavors, especially the garlic, for the rest of the evening. 

 

At the Pan-Am Center, we ran into Danny, a fan we hadn't seen in over a year. Admittedly, I saw him in the ticket office a couple of weeks ago, but he didn't say anything and I didn't remember his name.  Actually, nobody remembered anybody's name at the time.  Danny definitely had had a bad time of it since the last time I’d seen him.  Still, even in his poor condition, he was here to see Aggie Sports. 

 

At our seats, we watched the Aggies and the UC-Santa Barbara Gauchos warmup.  UCSB is picked to finish first in the Big West.  The Coach said not to look at their 1-5 record, as they'd played a tough road schedule to start the season.  The Gauchos had some good height on their team.  Sort of like UCLA a couple of years ago, they all had a certain look to them (though not as appealing as the Bruins).  The Aggies tend to look like mismatched parts by comparison. 

 

Not to say that some of the refugees from the Island of Misfit Volleyball players aren't very appealing.  For one, I was heartened to see Alana Embry on court practicing.  Unfortunately, her injured fingers were still wrapped, but at least not in a brace.  Fashion-wise, more of the girls are emulating star Katie Birtcil in wearing long pants to play in.  I counted five, including Morgan.

 

Official attendance was listed at 363, which was a definite undercount.  There were a bit fewer on Saturday and that was listed at over 600.  (The stats were screwed up Friday night, but were fixed later.)  There was a Raising Canes announcement.  If the Aggies had seven aces in the match, there'd be free dinners for everyone with a game ticket.  Swell, Ron had just bought his Aggie Country Pass, so neither of us will have a ticket for the rest of the season.

 

The UCSB girls changed to their uniform tops in the tunnel and made a loud cheering circle there.  I think the Aggie Women's Basketball team was here again to watch.  One of the girls was on crutches and couldn't get up for the Anthem, but she still looked up at the flag.  Other members of the team came in after the Anthem.  Coach Jordan was taking this match seriously.  He was literally yelling at the girls on court before the player introductions.  He did go over and hug the UCSB coach.  I think he's friends with all of the other NCAA coaches.

 

Set 1

The Aggies started Katie, Darian, Rylee Fay, Taylor Snow, Molly Johnson, Lia Mosher, and Ryleigh Whitekettle.  Darian had two great digs early, but UCSB served up two aces.  Their bench players danced in a circle, singing “Ole!” for every ace.  One of the requirements of being on the Volleyball reserves is that you have to be your team's cheering section on the road.  At 3-9 UCSB, the Aggies took a timeout.  They were not sharp in their hitting.

 

Ryleigh (it's a good thing the two “Riley’s” spell their names differently and unconventionally and play different positions) broke up the run with a kill coming out of the break.  The Aggies started a comeback.  Mia came in and got a kill, Taylor made a solo block, and Jayde Shelton got a kill.  10-13 SCSB, Jayde and Bianca Perez combined on a save that Katie finished with a kill.  You could tell it was a difficult dig as Bianca yelled, “Oh, shi . . .” as she dove toward the sideline table.  Taylor had another solo block.  Mia was on serve during this run.

 

UCSB finally broke serve after an incredible rally.  Lia came back with her signature slap kill and teaming with Mia on a block.  Ryleigh had three kills to tie it at 18.  Timeout Gauchos.  I could see former player, now staff member, Cat Kelly, sitting on bench, all smiles and enjoying the show.  The Aggies took the lead, 20-19 on a Taylor overpass kill.  However, UCSB went back up 21-22 and Coach Jordan took a timeout.

 

A UCSB net serve out of the break evened the score.  Katie slammed one down the middle to give the Aggies a 23-22 lead.  Timeout UCSB.  Back to play, Jayde fired two shots out and was subbed out, but the Gauchos finished it out, 23-25.

 

Set 2: Gauchos 1, Aggies 0

Mia was now starting.  Two missed serves started the set.  I always say that those things are contagious.  Katie helped to give the Aggies an early lead with a couple of kills, but some sloppy team play put UCSB in front.  Taylor and Katie would even up the score on kills, but two more bad Aggie serves put them down 9-12.  They seemed to be having a hard time serving since changing to the south end of the Pan-Am. 

 

Not to say the Gauchos were doing much better.  Megan Shimoda had an impressive high-toss Brazilian-style serve that made an intimidating amount of noise.  The Aggies seemed to be able to handle it.  She had a service error right after the Aggies' last error.  Bianca evened the score at 12 on an ace.  At 13-15 UCSB, there was the Media timeout.  The Cheerleaders tossed out t-shirts.  The student-athlete groups in attendance are always yelling the loudest for shirts.

 

Out of the break, Lia and Katie had a block, and then each had a kill to tie it at 17.  Timeout UCSB.  Katie fired in another kill, but the Gauchos took a 19-21 lead.  Some Aggie Baseball players were here.  They participated in “Bongo Cam” during an Aggie timeout.  The UCSB reserves formed a conga line and danced.  Molly and Taylor combined on a pair of blocks.  Keke Holloway came in to serve late.  The Gauchos did not give back the lead and took it 23-25 on a rare misfire by Katie.

 

Set 3: Gauchos 2, Aggies 0

The new scoreboard was useless as ever for Volleyball scoring.  I did get that UCSB's Michelle Ohwobete had 10 kills off it.  She was hitting hard.  Kills by Ryleigh, Katie, and Lia gave the Aggies an early 4-1 lead.  The refs had a disagreement on that last one.  Coach Jordan challenged on the next play and got a reversal to get it to 6-1 Aggies.  Molly kept up the lead with a thumping kill.  She'd also made a couple of good digs earlier.  Mia had a flying kill.  Katie hit one down the line.  13-9 Aggies, UCSB took a timeout. 

 

15-10, Lia came back with a kill.  The Aggie reserves went wild.  UCSB took the next point, but the Aggies hustled with three diving digs on the play.  18-14, it was an Aggie point, but the Gauchos had a beautiful one-handed acrobatic save at the net.  Molly had two more kills to make it 21-14.  Darian made an off-court save on the second kill.  Timeout UCSB.  Katie tacked on another kill.  Lia finished the set with a block.  25-16 Aggies.

 

Set 4: Gauchos 2, Aggies 1

I think the Men's Basketball team was here, as well.  They were not sitting with the Women's team.  Katie got a tip kill for an early 2-1 Aggie lead.  There were once again offsetting net serves.  Aggie Baseball was roaring on serves, like they were for goalie kicks at soccer.  The Aggies went behind 3-6 and took a timeout.  They'd looked disorganized and were aced on the last play. 

 

Bad play continued with a double touch call.  The Coach argued with the up official on that one.  4-7 UCSB, Mia came back with an ugly-looking kill, unfortunately she net-served on the next point.  UCSB wasn't immune and had a couple of their own bad plays to narrow their lead to 7-8.  The next play was a long, confused rally that ended with an Aggie DT.  The UCSB reserves sang out, “Butterfingers.” 

 

The Aggies were starting to look tired, but rallied.  Lia and Katie had kills.  Darian aced to tie it at 12, and the Aggies took the lead on the next point.  Timeout UCSB.  Women's Basketball took a group selfie during the break.  16-14, Molly got a tip kill.  The UCSB coach nearly challenged, but one of her players nodded that it was in.  The Aggie lead increased to 17-14 with Keke serving.  Timeout UCSB.  I noticed the Cheerleader coach singing along to Earth, Wind, and Fire's September.

 

Molly and Katie kills got the Aggies to 20.  Coach Jordan successfully challenged another call to make 21-18 Aggies.  The Gauchos got right back in it on a couple of Aggie attack errors.  21-20 and an Aggie timeout.  I could see Adam Young below us on the TV call animatedly using his hands with his commentary.  The Gauchos tied it at 21, as a dig by Darian deflected high into the stands.  I said the Aggies looked tired earlier.  What happened next was a complete collapse.  21-23, the Aggies stood and watched a kill drop in.  They seemed to have dead legs as UCSB closed it out, 21-25, for a 1-3 match victory.           

 

That was a bit of a letdown of a finish.  The Aggies just didn't seem to have any more to give.  Maybe some more subbing might have helped.  The team has lots of hitters available.  But the match was so close, Coach Jordan seemed reluctant to tinker with his lineup.  A few points here and there and the Aggies could have taken this in a close one.  These two teams were really evenly matched.

 

Katie Birtcil led all scorers with 14 kills.  Ryleigh Whitekettle followed with 9, and Lia Mosher with 7.  Tallulah Froley and Michelle Ohwobete paced the Gauchos with 12 each.  The stats were pretty close in all the categories.  The Aggies led on blocks 9 to 6.  Mia Peterson, Lia, and Taylor Snow combined on those totals.  Mia was a real sparkplug in the first set.  That was a sub that worked well.  (I'm just glad I got the official stats, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered with this paragraph.)

 

Strangely, Ron and the rest of the crowd seemed pretty upbeat as everyone left the arena.  It was a good, close match.  However, there was no time to ruminate.  We were already late for Aggie Soccer, which we will join in progress.