Tuesday, August 15, 2023

NM State Volleyball Crimson and White Scrimmage 8-12-23 Part 2

Another fun picture.  Here's Kaitlin Espiritu.


Continued from Part 1.

Set 3

I suddenly noticed that the silver-haired girl from the Soccer team was sitting on the floor behind the court.  Unfortunately, I noticed this as she was leaving.  Some guys from the Football team moved into the area she vacated.  I wonder if they got to meet her like they wanted to the other night.  Also departing, a little girl left with her mother.  The little girl wobbled all the way down court like she’d just drank a six-pack.  She eventually fell over, but mom was right there for her.

 

Early in the set, Maggie Lightheart dove for a ball on the sidelines nearby.  I kinda hoped she’d land on me, but that might have taken me out for the rest of the match.  (Worth it.)  Kacia Brown made an overpass kill for White to tie the score at 2.  Sydney McIntosh made a block to give Crimson a 5-2 lead.  Later, Maggie made a dig in the backcourt and nobody was covering for the pass.  The ball dropped in the middle of the court.  Glad I didn’t see Coach Jordan on that one.

 

8-6 Ashley Herman made a crosscourt kill for White.  Maggie came back with a kill off her back foot for Crimson.  Anji Vishwanathan dunked one to make it 12-7 Crimson.  Ryleigh Whitekettle and Aleka Darko answered with a block for White.  Coach Jordan spoke up, “That was big time.”  He liked it.  13-10 Rilen Garcia put in a dump shot for a point for Crimson.  The coach spoke up again.  “That happened because you weren’t talking.  You’re being quiet as church mice.”  (I’ll put in, “Heads up play, Rilen.”)

 

The energy and intensity picked up in the match visibly.  Jacqueline Gomez-Gallegos and Anji combined on a block for a 22-15 Crimson lead.  The girls were pumped.  Sydney and Anji finished the set with a pair of kills.  25-20 Crimson. 

 

Set 4

A good deal of the crowd left at this point.  A girl with bright violet and blue hair left.  She was probably why I didn’t notice the girl with silver hair, because she had been next to her.  (Not a hair critique.  It looked good and she was cute.  It was probably really expensive to do that hairstyle.)

 

There was another reshuffle of personnel.  I’m not sure if I’m correctly designating which team was which.  The girls weren’t changing jerseys.  Peyton started the set with an ace off the tape for Crimson.  Starr Williams answered with a crosscourt kill.  Mia buried one for White to tie it at 2.  White ran off three points to put them ahead 5-3.  I noticed the server kept aiming at Ryleigh.  She got revenge by ending a long rally with a kill.  Maggie and Kaylee Peterson both had off court saves for White on the play.  

 

7-5 Crimson, Ashley put in a kill down the line.  11-8 Maggie took another tumble going for a ball again.  She was really selling out.  Coach Whitis talked to Peyton Castillo before she served, “You can do it if you want, if you got the guts.  You nervous?”  She served into the net.  Yep.  The White team started a comeback.  Ryleigh got a kill.  Another kill took out two defenders.  Coach Whitis nearly had a seizure.  White surged to the lead.  Ryleigh put down a very authoritative kill.  Starr tooled a block to end a long rally.  18-13 White.  Timeout.  There was an in/out question on the last point.  That’s what you get for not having refs.

 

The White team was first to 20 on a nice dump shot by Aspen.  Crimson began a comeback.  Aleka and Mari Sharp had kills.  Peyton beautifully set Ryleigh for a kill for Crimson to make it 21-16.  (Wait, was Ryleigh playing on both sides of the net?  There isn’t anyone else on the team that looks like her and I’m pretty sure I have the scoring right.  The Coach might have been switching her around during the timeout.)  22-18 Maggie scored for the White with a kill into a block. 

 

23-20 White, Ryleigh surprised herself with a tip kill for Crimson.  (She either didn’t mean to do it or didn’t think it would work.)  24-21 Crimson fought off match point on a kill by Ashley.  Crimson took the next point as Kaylee and Bella Castro collided at the net diving for a ball.  The next point tied the set at 24.  Timeout.  It was like the girls wanted to keep playing.  The Crimson took the next point as they called Starr’s swing out.  (I don’t think I’d let the opposition make line calls on my shots.)  The match ended with Kacia making a kill and taking the set for Crimson 26-24.  The team Twitter reported that the match was a 2-2 tie.  I have no idea if that’s really right.  It’s fine.

 

Keeping in mind that Coach has probably made most of the decisions on starters and preferred reserves, and that he was just giving everyone play time, I’ll give some thoughts.  First, I’m missing some people from last year.  Taylor Snow was a block party at the net.  I think injuries hampered Katie Birtcil as the season went on, but she was a star.  Molly Johnson really came on late in the season to lead the team.  This years’ team needs players to step up into these roles.  (I’m also missing Cat Kelly, even if she wasn’t playing.)

 

Maggie Lightheart was playing very hard and has a good physical build.  I don’t know if the coach will use her this year, but I think she’ll have a future with the team.  I was heartened to see Ashley Herman getting kills.  Maybe she’ll work into the rotation this year.  Kacia Brown, Anji Vishwanathan, Mari Sharp, Aleka Darko, and Sidney McIntosh all have some good pop and block.  Kacia seems like the best of this group.  Ryleigh Whitekettle and Starr Williams have the physical presence to be stars.  Do they have the experience?  I expect opposing teams to be keying on them.  Can they handle the focus?        

 

For libero, Darian Markham is the senior and an on-court leader and has done a great job, but I only noticed her playing a couple of times.  Was she hurt?  Does she already have the job and the coach just wanted to look at the other girls?  Oddly compared to past years, they’re a little thin at the DS position.  I think Morgan Stewart and Kaylee Peterson will work well as serving subs.  (I know the coach likes Kaylee, though that doesn’t necessarily translate to playing time.)  Overall, serving looked okay in this match, but it has been a bug-a-boo in past seasons.  We hope there’s someone who can take Rylee Fey’s place as an ace machine.    

 

As for setter, I don’t think there will be drama this year.  Logically, Aspen Aldous should be the main.  I think she also gives you a blocker at the net.  I thought Peyton Castillo looked good setting.  Bianca Perez did a good job last year as a freshman and should only get better as long as her hand is right.  Rilen Garcia persevered so heroically last year.  I know the coach is impressed with her and her increase in skills.  She did a good job serving this evening.  I’d hate to have to choose here (because there will be hurt feelings), but at least there are four good options.

 

Coach Jordan was pleased afterward in an interview, so I’m happy.  After running low on hitters and setters over the last two years, I hope the team is at least well-staffed now.  This team needs to replace some lost skills from last year and success in that will only be apparent in competition.  In the meantime, they’ve got talent for sure.  I’m looking forward to seeing how this shakes out.

 

No comments:

Post a Comment