Monday, September 25, 2023

NM State Aggies vs Middle TN Blue Raiders Volleyball 9-22-23

 

I wasn’t feeling entirely well today.  I slept in like for three hours trying to sleep it off.  I probably would have gone to work today anyway if I didn’t have the day off, because I wasn’t technically sick.  I was just fighting it off.  I did go for lunch with dad next door at McAlisters.  At least I had a full belly.

 

On Twitter, the Aggie Volleyball girls were loose.  There were a couple pictures of stars Ryleigh Whitekettle and Starr Williams wearing PJ bottoms and giant bearclaw slippers to practice.  I’m sure there’s a story behind this.  For their part, Middle Tennessee was coming into Las Cruces having won 8-in-a-row, including beating #25 Auburn on the road.

 

Aggie Soccer was here tonight.  The team and Coach Baarts were guests of the team seated behind the bench.  Three of the girls worked the game as ball girls.  Assistant Coach Whitis chatted with them before the game.  Coach Jordan then came over and chewed them out.  The girls just stood there and nodded.  (Just kidding, he was friendly.) 

 

Before the match, there was a Moment of Silence for Thalia Chaverria, soccer’s fallen teammate.  Her cause of death has still not been disclosed.  The team was also honored during the match for their win last night in El Paso over UTEP, 2-0.  Goalie Valeria Guha made a highlight reel save in the game.           

 

This was the Volleyball team’s first Conference-USA match.  There was a nice conference poster available up front.  (I passed.  Nowhere to easily put it.)  The down ref for the match was very cute.  Where are all these good-looking refs suddenly coming from?  Team assistants Tatyana Battle and Molly Johnson were looking very stylish on the sidelines.  Our match cover girl and also featured first in the intro video, Morgan Stewart, was nowhere to be found.  Maybe she’s out sick.  Injured setter Peyton Castillo was sitting on the opposite sideline watching.  Her teammates high-fived her before the match.

 

Set 1

Sydney McIntosh got the first point of the match for the Aggies on a touch.  Ryleigh got her first kill at 2-1 Aggies.  She made a dive at the net for a ball on the next play.  No damage taken.  Starr got her first kill at 3-2 by burying one at a defender’s feet.  Setter Bianca Perez came out of the game with shoelace problems. 

 

5-3 Aggies, Kacia Brown dialed up an ace.  Next play, Starr got a kill, but libero Darian Markham got the applause for getting three digs on the play.  6-5 Rilen Garcia was setting.  She jumped for a ball to set it and was immediately called for a double touch.  Gotta stay on the ground for that.

 

7-5 Aggies, Mari Sharp got her first kill.  Next, Mari and Ashley Herman took a trip to Block City.  Get used to Aggie blocking for this match.  9-6 Ryleigh got a kill.  MT had two good saves on the play.  They went on a run, but Syd ended it with a kill, 11-8.  At 12-8, the Blue Raiders took a timeout.  There was a little girl behind me shouting, “Aggies!  You got this!”  There was a good crowd at over 1,000 and they were enthusiastic. 

 

13-9 Aggies, Syd split a pair of defenders for a kill.  Darian had a great dig on the play.  15-11 Mari finished the point with a kill.  Rilen almost ran headfirst into Starr for a dig.  That wouldn’t have gone well for her given the size difference.  MT took another timeout.  I was hit by a t-shirt tossed into the crowd by the Cheerleaders.  This surprised me, since everyone in front of me was standing.  I handed it to a girl behind me.  Hopefully, it fit her.

 

15-13 Aggies, the Blue Raiders took this point.  Ashley ran all around the court waving her arms on this play.  That one’s not going on the highlight reel.  Timeout Aggies.  MT came back from the break with an ace.  16-14 Aggies, Starr got a kill off a block.  Next point, Darian served up an ace, but then served into the net.  Mari sided out with a kill off a couple defenders.  19-15 Ry buried one.  On the next point, there was an Aggie block that landed by the line and called out.  Coach Jordan challenged, but was denied.  It wasn’t as close as it looked from the other end of the court when shown on replay.

 

The Aggies took a timeout with the Blue Raiders closing in at 19-18.  An old commercial played on the video board of the coach hanging out with a WAC Championship trophy to the tune of Best Friend.  Everybody got a laugh out of it.  20-18 Aggies, Ry broke the run with a kill.  MT made a nice dive save on the play.  But then, Mari served into the net. 

 

22-19 Aggies, Syd and Starr added kills.  MT was out of timeouts and instead made a questionable challenge that was denied.  The players on the court huddled with the coach.  The reserves and Ryleigh huddled together as well.  I wonder what they were talking about.  22-20 Dasia Smith got a big kill for the Blue Raiders.  She had the biggest arm on their team.  22-22 an Aggie block went wide. 

 

MT took the lead 22-23 on a block, but then Starr hammered a nail to re-tie it.  Kacia tied it at 24 on a touch call.  MT got to 24-25 with a kill on the line, but Starr was the big eraser and tied it at 25.  26-25 Aggies, Darian served up a big ace.  27-25 Aggies, MT was called for four touches.  Their coach challenged, but it was quickly denied.  Aggies take Set 1.

 

Set 2: Aggies 1, Blue Raiders 0

The Soccer girls acting as ballgirls talked briefly to the up official.  With the teams changing ends, I watched the MT huddle.  Dasia seemed like the leader and yelled encouragement to her teammates.  Off to the side, their coach talked to a couple of players.  He had his hands together like he was begging them.

 

MT’s libero Erin Eisenhart had a very dramatic serve.  She presented the ball as she walked to the service line like she was carrying a platter before she struck it.  Mari and Kacia had the first two Aggie kills.  2-3 MT, Ryleigh served into the net, but the Blue Raiders tied it by doing the same on the next point.  (Contagious.)  3-5 MT went up on an overpass kill.  Kacia made a flying kill next, but then served into the net.

 

5-6 MT, Aleka Darko got the kill.  From the other end of the court, I could hear her call Rilen for the ball.  6-6 Aleka and Mari on the block.  7-6 Aggies, Ry and Aleka on the block.  8-6 Aleka and Mari for another block.  After a swing into the net by MT, they took a timeout at 9-6 to disrupt the Aleka Show.

 

Out of the timeout, Darian, who had been on serve for the run, put one into the net.  “Damn!” yelled out a fan next to me.  You could see that one coming.  (Maybe they should practice delays in serving.)  Ryleigh was blocked twice on the next point and MT went back on a run.  11-11 “Boom!” PA Ed called it, as Ry came back with a big kill to break the run.  She followed that with another huge kill to give the Aggies the lead.  Mya Hammack (my favorite on the Soccer team) and a couple of girls on the team walked by.  I wasn’t on the aisle, but I tried to wave to them to congratulate them on the win, but couldn’t dare attempt to yell with my questionable throat. 

 

Meanwhile on court, Ryleigh was blocked out and the Aggie lead increased to 14-11.  Ashley got a big kill.  A cute video played of her dancing in a cowboy hat.  Kacia hit the backline with a kill.  Rilen then made a high, floating serve that didn’t clear the net.  17-15 Aggies, Kacia came back with a flying kill.  19-16 Darian aced again.  The Aggies were first to 20 with a put-back by Aleka.  Timeout MT.

 

Back to the block party, Ryleigh and Aleka teamed up to make it 21-16 Aggies.  MT took the next point, but Darian made a great save on a setter dump attempt.  At 22-19, the Aggies took a timeout.  Ashley broke the Blue Raiders’ run by tooling a block, 23-20, but MT wasn’t going away.  23-22 Aggies, timeout.  Never fear, Ashley is here, 24-22, on a kill.  Dasia had a kill to bring MT within a point again, but Kacia finished it on a tip, 25-23 Aggies.

 

Set 3: Aggies 2, Blue Raiders 0

The crowd was totally jacked by this point.  The teams changed ends again.  Freshman Maggie Lightheart (my Volleyball favorite) happily walked by on the sidelines.  Meanwhile, Bianca was still having trouble with her shoelaces, though it wasn’t affecting her play.  In the huddle, while they were waiting on the coach, the girls watched the fans on Dance Cam.  Maggie grooved along with the music.

 

Ashley started the set, so nobody was there to fist-bump everyone before play started.  (She needs to delegate somebody to take up that task when needed.)  The first four points were a Mari tip, a Ryleigh kill, a Ry and Kacia block, and an Ashley kill.  I had a good feeling about this set.  MT took a point, but Kacia went boom with a kill.  Maggie came in to serve.  (She’s going to get mentioned by me whenever she comes in.)  6-2 Aggies, MT had a net serve.  Next point, the Aggies had two monster saves before MT fired into the net for another point. 

 

8-3 Aggies, Starr slammed one.  Mari had a solo block.  MT was then called for a DT.  The coach complained, but didn’t challenge.  The run continued.  11-4 Ry and Aleka posted another block.  On the next point, the Blue Raiders may have been called for being out-of-rotation.  Their coach complained again and then called a timeout.  The Cheerleaders tossed Aggie Soccer scarves to the crowd.  A guy across the court put his on with the help of his friends wrapping him up.

 

The timeout was no help.  Mari put in two kills and crowd was becoming rabid.  15-6 Aggies, Kacia turned on an overpass.  Timeout MT.  Coach Baarts and his family walked by at some point.  He couldn’t get his attention either.  17-6 Ry stood and let a ball drop just wide of the sideline.  Nice.  18-6 Ash got a kill, but the MT coach used his last challenge and got it overturned, 17-7.  Next point, Kacia got a kill with Maggie sub serving.  19-8 here was a no doubt kill by Ash. 

 

MT took the next point, though Maggie made a good dig on the point.  20-9 Aggies, Kacia with another kill.  MT had no answer.  21-9 Mari nukes one from orbit!  23-11 an MT net serve.  They outright looked dejected.  Coach Jordan was losing it with his team anyway on any bad point.  Mari brought it to set point with a kill.  25-12 Aggies, MT fired out and the Aggies took the set and the match, 3-0.

 

This was an unexpected, but happily received result.  Middle Tennessee came in red hot, but the Aggies played tough when it was close and finished out well.  Your relevant stats are Aggies up 10-4 in blocks and 5-1 in aces.  The Aggies were 5 aces to 8 service errors.  The coach would probably take that.  Darian Markham had 4 of those aces and 14 digs.  Mari Sharp led everyone with 11 kills and 5 blocks.  Ryleigh Whitekettle had 10 with 5 blocks.  Kacia Brown had 10 blocks and Aleka Darko led with 6 blocks.  Nobody on the Blue Raiders had kills in double digits.   

 

The Aggies took a couple of happy team pictures on court.  I left immediately.  I felt fine (even better with the win), but thought I’d best get home quickly.  Due to the conference scheduling, these two teams would be going at it again the next day.  Hopefully, I’d wake up ready to go and feeling good. 


9-24-23

Yeah, that didn’t happen.  I was feeling okay when I wrote that, but when I went to bed, I immediately got sick and was laid out all Saturday.  The team would win a thrilling five-set match that afternoon.  The Aggies lost the first set badly, took the next two (including one in extra points), and lost the fourth.  In the fifth, they were down 8-4, but the Aggies brought the good serving today and with 3 aces won the set and match in extra points. 

 

The usual suspects were all good.  Aspen Aldous was the second setter for the match and had three aces.  The stat of the match was 12 aces to 8 service errors for the Aggies.  (The next day, I heard from Fan Danny that two of the line judges showed up late, so they used a couple of assistants, one from each team, to start the match.  I think he said Molly was the one from the Aggies.)   

 

Not only was the match great, but I also missed out on Autograph Day, the first in three years.  Darn.  This may have been the first time I’ve missed a home volleyball game in a while.  I’d be regretful about not being there, but that decision was taken out of my hands.  There was a great crowd for the game, so they didn’t need me.  The girls probably got wore out signing autographs.                   

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