Monday, September 4, 2023

UTEP Miners vs ASU Sundevils Volleyball 9-1-23

Deanna Almaguer

 

Wait.  Didn’t we just play the Sundevils?  And who are these girls they’re playing?  What sport are we playing here?  Where am I? 

 

It was a Biden moment.  Thursday night I was running a trouble-filled month end processing at work and was convinced the whole time it was Friday.  I was also missing out on Aggie Soccer playing Incarnate Word for their tribute game to Thalia Chaverria.  Coach Baarts even colored his hair purple for her.  On the other hand, it was a nil-nil draw.  I sort of felt like I dodged a bullet.  (Since they aren’t doing overtime anymore, can college soccer please start doing shootouts for tie games, please?) 

 

I was taking off today so I could see a couple of Volleyball matches at the Pan-Am Center.  For this Borderland Invitational tournament, games were being split between El Paso and Las Cruces.  I don’t know why ASU wasn’t playing the Miners in El Paso.  (They will be playing the University of San Francisco there.)  As long as they were both here, it was a good opportunity to scout a couple of future Aggie opponents and maybe see some good volleyball.

 

I wasn’t the only one.  Aggie Associate Head Coach Whitis was sitting on the sidelines scouting the teams.  My preliminary analysis sitting in the stands was that ASU looked big and UTEP looked lean.  The Miners were also wearing something like muscle t-shirts and had loose arm sleeves.  The crowd was light.  It was a mix of Miner fans, some ASU fans, and some Aggie regulars (I guess that’s me, too).  The partisan fans were vocal cheerers.  The Aggies fans (including myself) were sort of rooting on UTEP.  Officially, it was over 200, but it looked like more. 

 

Also present was the sexy Asian line judge.  Today she was all smiles, so she was having a better day than last time.  Broadcaster Adam Young was here.  He would be doing the Aggie game later on radio.  He was also helpful.  ASU player, Geli (Jelly) Cyr went over to him to borrow a Sharpie, which he provided.  The bus driver, probably for ASU, came in nearby to watch the match.  AD Mario Moccia walked by and we shared a friendly wave. 

 

There was no Anthem.  The players and the crowd stood, but it never happened.  There was a young PA guy, whom I don’t think I’d heard before.  He did a good job for the match.  The only faux pas was nearly forgetting to mention Miner Coach Wallis during the introductions.     

 

Set 1

While ASU looked bigger, UTEP did block for the first point of the match.  ASU came back with a kill anyway.  The Miner reserves were loud.  The ASU reserves were chanting “O-U-T!  Out!” on out swings, at least at first.  2-2 the first long rally of the match and UTEP took it.  The ASU fans piped up as the Miners went up 5-3.  The UTEP libero, Alyssa Sianez, had a bump kill that got past ASU libero, Mary Shroll. 

 

Both teams were hustling making off-court saves.  Both teams also got called for being out-of-rotation.  (I think, if I was interpreting the down official correctly.)  The staff attempted to show player stats on the scoreboard, but it was showing the wrong names.  Nobody can figure it out how to use the new scoreboard for volleyball. 

 

UTEP had a slim lead midway, but Claire Jeter tied it at 15 for ASU with a dunk on an overpass.  She was easy to spot on court.  She was the tallest and probably biggest player.  UTEP’s block combo came back to get the lead, but Jeter came back with a solo block.  She followed that up with another dunk to give ASU the lead, 17-16.  After a Sundevil ace that just nipped the corner on the next point, UTEP took a timeout. 

 

The University of San Francisco Dons team came to watch the game.  UTEP beat them in El Paso yesterday and the Aggies would be playing them tonight.  Kaya Weaver made an authoritative kill to get the Miners within 1, but ASU pulled ahead and held.  They rattled off the last 5 points.  25-18 ASU.  I think UTEP was called for a lift on the last point.

 

Set 2: ASU 1, UTEP 0

The teams changed ends.  They hadn’t been doing that the last couple of years.  ASU ran up a 5-2 lead with a couple of blocks.  Shakira LaCour had a kill for UTEP to make it 6-3.  ASU made an off-court save on the point.  7-4 Jeter was stuffed on a swing, but then got a dunk to finish the point. 

 

UTEP came back to tie it at 7 with an ace.  ASU immediately regained the lead with Roberta Rabelo slapping down an overpass.  Jeter served into the net at 11-8 ASU, but UTEP served long right after.  It’s contagious.  The Miners took a timeout losing 13-8 and another TO down 17-9.  UTEP seemed to be putting out the reserves for the rest of the set.  ASU took it 25-12.  The Aggie fight song inappropriately played for the halftime break.

 

Set 3: ASU 2, UTEP 0

In the break, they advertised free popcorn with the purchase of a large drink on Fridays.  Unfortunately, I had other food plans this evening.  The Miners went off court and up the tunnel.  They let out a howl and came back out on court cheering.  ASU stayed on court.  The Dons left to get ready for their game.

 

The Miners came back with some inspired play.  They went out to a 3-1 lead after an ace off the tape.  ASU came back within 1, down 5-4.  The hot line judge was nearly taken out on the last swing of the point.  UTEP rebuilt the lead with an ace.  ASU took a timeout down 8-4. 

 

UTEP came out of the break with a net serve, but Kaya made a couple of hard-hit kills to make it a 3-point lead.  ASU made a kill on an overpass, but UTEP maintained their lead with a popup kill that landed in next to the up official.  ASU closed to within a point.  UTEP blocking stopped one swing, but a follow up shot was a kill.  Jeter had a kill to tie it at 11. 

 

UTEP regained the lead after a big kill and then a foul on ASU.  A controversial net violation call on the Miners after a long rally got ASU to within a point again.  At least the Miner fans booing indicated it was controversial, but UTEP kept coming.  After a kill through a block and a tip kill, ASU took a timeout down 4.  The Miners were jacked. 

 

Up 18-14, UTEP won a long rally.  They had to make several saves on the play to win it.  Sara Pustahija made a solo block to make it 19-15 Miners.  They were the first to 20 with a block.  Next they had a facial kill.  (The receiving ASU player wasn’t hurt.)  The other line official accidentally got in the way of an off-court save attempt.  The point was replayed.  (A nice feature of volleyball.)  Another UTEP block ended it as they took the set 25-19.

 

Set 4: ASU 2, UTEP 1

AD Herb Taylor chatted up the hot line ref in the break.  What can I say?  He’s a silver stud.  Coach Whitis talked to two of the ball girls.  I wonder if they’re his teen daughters.  One of the girls was wearing sunglasses the whole time.  Given new brighter lights in the Pan-Am Center that’s not a bad fashion choice. 

 

Before the set started, I noticed Mattie Gantt doing a hand jive with one of the UTEP assistant coaches.  I’m not sure if she does it all of the time, but it reminded me of our Ashley Herman slapping hands with all of the Aggie coaches and players before the start of a set.

 

UTEP challenged a play early in the set, but Coach Wallis was denied.  Still, the Miners went up 4-1.  ASU came back to tie it at 4 with a kill on the back line and then took the lead.  Kaya got a straight down kill to get the Miners back to within a point.  From there, ASU started to takeover.  9-7 ASU Marta Levinska got a kill.  She’s good.  I finally heard her name called enough that I could figure that out. 

 

11-8 ASU, the Miners had some great blocking on this point, but the Sundevils still got the kill and nearly took out the up official on the swing.  UTEP called a timeout down 12-8.  It didn’t help.  An ASU ace punctuated a run to 15-8.  On the next point, ASU had an overpass kill that was hit hard enough to send the front line Miner players running for cover.  UTEP finally broke the run, but they were down 18-9 by that point.  ASU rattled off a couple more aces.  They took the final point, 25-10, and the match, 3-1, off of a long rally. 

 

The Miners went down fighting and were playing their hearts out.  Never underestimate Coach Wallis’ ability to rally his team and hype them up for a match.  For the Sundevils, I hate to say this, I don’t think they were really playing that hard.  I think they have another gear to go to against harder opponents.  They maybe got a little lax and were surprised in the third set, assuming they were still going to win it.   

 

Here’s your stats.  For ASU, Roberta Rabelo led all scorers with 15 kills.  Geli Cyr had 13 and Marta Levinska had 12.  Shannon Shields led everyone with 41 assists.  For UTEP, Alianza Darley led with 9 kills.  Alyssa Sianez led everyone with 11 digs. 

               

I enjoyed the match, even if it was a bit of an overmatch.  I appreciated that it ended with over an hour before the Aggie game was about to start, which allowed me to hop across the street to McDonald’s for dinner.  A squirrel darted in front of me on the way there, but I didn’t take it as a good or ill omen. 

 

I’m not much for McDonald’s, but it was that or the Concessions.  (Dominos is also there across the street, but there wasn’t enough time to get a sandwich there and they don’t sell chips or fries for their sandwiches, thus you need to eat them at home.)  The McCripsy chicken sandwich looked reasonable in the pictures.  It was one of the better chicken sandwiches I’ve ever had at McDonald’s, but that isn’t saying much.  Chik-fil-a and Popeye’s have no reason to be concerned. 

 

Their fries were good and their ice cream machine was working, so I had a McFlurry, which was adequate like the rest of the meal.  It was also all overpriced.  I should mention it was cold inside of Pan-Am Center.  Along with the ice cream, I drank three cups of cold Dr. Pepper.  By the end of the meal, I was shivering almost uncontrollably.  I’d also probably eaten too quickly.  I returned to the arena for the **Aggie game,** in a rather bloated condition.        

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