NM State Aggies vs Chicago State Cougars Volleyball 10-30-23

I'm not sure why this Barbie-themed pic of Morgan Stewart and Kaylee Peterson 

works so well, but it does.

The weather suddenly turned cold here in Las Cruces.  I took the day off and spent it in a listless fashion, somewhat depressed.  Tomorrow is month end processing at work and I’ll be starting off the day in hole with today’s work.  I went out to try a chili dog at Legend Burger for a cold day.  I don’t know if I mis-ordered or they got the order wrong, but instead I got a Legend Burger in my sack.  This is one of the very few times I’d say I probably came out ahead for the mistake.  I’ll try their chili dog another day.   

 

I have some happy Aggie Sports news from last week.  Aggie Football won 27-24 over LA Tech.  They were down 16-3 in the first half before coming back.  Near the end of the game, LA Tech was driving deep into Aggie territory to tie or go ahead.  Sone Aupiu came up with a big sack forcing a fumble to get ball back.  Unfortunately, the offense barely ran off any time (but did use up all LA Tech’s timeouts) and had to punt.  It was white knuckle excitement as the defense held on second 4 and 1 down on the drive to give the Aggies the win.  With six wins, now the Aggies just need one more win in the next four games to be bowl eligible.  

There's our Aggie Soccer champs!

Even better, Aggie Soccer beat WKU 1-0 on the road to win the C-USA regular season championship.  The team has suffered losing players all season, but persevered magnificently.  Meredith Scott got her first goal of the season in the second half.  Valerie Guha was the star with 9 saves, including a highlight reel dive stop.

Shamefully, I have to admit that I missed Aggie Women’s Basketball first game yesterday.  It was a late-added exhibition game in the afternoon.  (Playing Arizona in their very first game of the season seemed a bit harsh.)  I had other plans to watch NASCAR (the final race to set the field for the championship) and FOX was broadcasting a Women’s College Volleyball game between #2 Wisconsin and Minnesota.  I really deliberated over it.  I finally decided to stay home to see this 6’9” Anna Smrek player on WI. 

 

The volleyball wasn’t live and was a blowout.  The announcers weren’t even doing play-by-play call to start the match.  Halfway through the first set, they finally started doing it.  (Their producer must have been yelling at them.)  Smrek wasn’t a starter and didn’t really dominate like you’d think.  (She did tower over her 6’+ teammates.)  The commentators did use the term, “little back row ninjas,” to describe the “smalls,” as I’ve called them.  I’ll steal that line in a post someday.

 

However, the NASCAR race was entertaining late.  I was rooting for Ryan Blaney to knockout Denny Hamlin, which happened.  The tense Martinsville race and the hot race conditions seemed to drain the life out of everyone racing.  They interviewed Denny and he was amazingly gracious and upbeat afterward.  I thought the better of him for a change.  We’ll see how long this new attitude lasts. 

 

I feel bad, but I think I made the right decision.  The ladies won their basketball game by over 20.  They probably appreciated everyone who came out on a Sunday afternoon with the Cowboys and Chiefs playing games.  I plan on going out to several of their games this season.    

 

For that matter, I got to the Pan-Am Center and suddenly figured out that I was missing a World Series game to be there.  I wouldn’t have taken off to watch the game anyway though I have done that in the past.  The crowd was great at over 1100.  I think there were a half dozen little girls teams present.  They were screaming and cheering for much of the match. 

 

I picked up a raspberry tea (watered down disappointingly as they were having problems with their soda fountain) and a pretzel for dinner and also picked up a new Women’s Basketball poster up front.  I sat in my usual seat.  I ended up being evicted twice as a family and a team came in.  My new poster got smashed as someone pushed down a seat next to me.  That’s the third time this year that that’s happened.  (It never happened before.)  I lost my pen when someone walked by knocked it over, but recovered it later.  (I always bring two for this reason.)  It wasn’t a great fan experience to start.           

    

This Monday game was scheduled because the Aggies didn’t have a conference opponent this weekend.  Well then why weren’t the UTEP games scheduled here instead of the middle of week earlier in the month during a football game?  The Chicago State Cougars accepted the invitation.  Unlike last year, Chicago State is doing well at 11-5.  They finally got to play home games this year.  However, they’re still not in a conference.  I remember them in 2019 surprising the Aggies in a weekday noon game.  After losing the first set, Coach Jordan almost threw the match.  (The Aggies had an undefeated conference season that year, so that would have been bad.)

 

Jaclyn Inclan isn’t with the team this year.  I liked her.  The Cougars only brought 10 players and only played 8 of them.  Their libero, Andrea Calderon, stood at 5’4” and wasn’t even the shortest player on the team. 

     

This was the Barbie game.  I got my only pink shirt out to wear as requested.  However, it is a short-sleeved dress shirt and it was too cold for it.  Throughout the game, they were playing music from the movie and playing clips from it.  Ops Director Tatyana Battle won the night in wardrobe with a pink dress shirt, a white t-shirt underneath it, and a tan pair of khakis.  Very stylish.  The girls were wearing new pink tops with detached sleeves.  They looked good and they seemed happy in them. 

 

The team split their previous two matches, I mentioned in a previous post.  The music during the player warmups was super chill.  I appreciated that.  They played the Nick Gonzales walk up song that I don’t know the name of.  Mari Sharp, who missed the last two matches, was ready to play tonight.  Encouragingly, Peyton Castillo wasn’t wearing a cast.  She was limping a bit, but was walking without crutches.

 

Set 1

It was tight right at the start.  You could tell this one was going to be tough at 5-6 CS.  Bianca Perez nearly served up an ace and the point ended up being a kill for Yanlis Feliz.  CS went on a four-point run before Bianca put in a dump shot to break it, 6-9.  She then made a great pancake dig on the next point that Mari and Starr Williams finished with a block.  The Cougars coach challenged the dig call, but it was upheld.

 

CS went back up 7-10 the hard way, as Kacia Brown took a kill to her face.  Aleka Darko and Ryleigh Whitekettle teamed up for a block to tie it at 10.  CS tied it at 11.  (Starr made a great dig on the point.)  Aleka and Ry threw another block party to put the Aggies back up, 12-11.  Ryleigh had a touch kill at 13-12, but the Cougars came back and went up, 13-14, after a double touch by Rilen Garcia.  Ry would tie it again at 14 with a kill.  The Cougars retook the lead on a monster kill by Julieta Sandez that nearly bounced into the second level of seats, 14-15, which led to the Media timeout.      

 

I was evicted from my seat again by new people coming in.  I’m not that particular about where I sit, but I’d like to keep a seat once I’m there.  Ashley Herman tied it at 15 with a kill.  Kacia fired her own big blast into the stands, 16-15.  Bianca hit the tape for a kill on the next point.  Sandez (that’s the way it’s spelled) had another big shot, but Aleka hit a couple of kills and Ash and Mari had a block to make it 21-18 Aggies.  Timeout CS.

 

The Cougars went on another run.  The closed to 21-20 off a great dig by Calderon.  Timeout Aggies.  Out of the break, Ryleigh fired out and Mari was blocked to put CS up 21-22.  Timeout Aggies again.  This time, the coaches talked to each other for a couple of minutes while the team stood and watched them.  Finally, Coach Jordan came over and calmly said something short and dismissed them back to the court.  Ry had a kill and Mari served an ace to put the Aggies back up, 23-22.  Good talk.  The Cougars took another timeout, but Ryleigh would finish it off with a kill.  25-23 Aggies.

 

Set 2: Aggies 1, Cougars 0

Mari, Ryleigh, and Kacia had kills early.  Starr and Aleka had a block.  Starr also made a great dig under the net.  At 6-3 Aggies, CS took an early timeout.  The Aggies kept adding to their lead.  8-4 Aleka had another kill on a good, quick set by Bianca.  9-5 Mari had tip kill.  10-6 Starr served one out.  That was the third Aggie service error of the set.

 

The Cougars seemed to take the next point on an out-swing by Mari, but a touch challenge overturned it.  She really took flight on that back row attack.  Ry added a kill off a block and Mari had another kill.  13-8 Mari missed a set from Rilen.  Then Ashley was double blocked and Rilen was called for a lift (?), 13-10.  Timeout Aggies.  A promo ran for Women’s Basketball.  Some team members were also in attendance (I think) on the other side of the court.  I felt guilty. 

 

Ryleigh broke up the CS run with a kill.  Mari and Ash followed with kills.  17-22 Aggies, Kacia won the long rally with a tip.  Bianca also saved a dump shot from setter, Wiktoria Zagumny, on the point.  The Cougars went down further on kills by Kacia and Starr and an out-serve.  21-14 Aggies, timeout CS. 

 

Kaylee Peterson came in to serve.  Ryleigh took the next point, 22-14, on a kill.  Bianca saved another dump shot.  Ry and Aleka combined for another block.  Aspen Aldous came in to set.  The teams then traded DT’s (at least that’s I saw the refs call).  The Cougars outlasted the Aggies on an insane rally at 24-16.  The crowd went crazy during the point.  Ryleigh again finished the set with a kill, 25-16.  The crowd was roaring.

 

Set 3: Aggies 2, Cougars 1

It had to happen: Barbie Cam debuted.  The little girls went nuts and started singing the Barbie World song.  Groan.  Well, at least they had fun.  (Again, I like the doll.  The movie, I’m not interested in.  I had that darn song stuck in my head for the rest of the night.)

 

Maggie Lightheart, my favorite (and looking stunning), started the set.  She was in for Starr, who had probably been playing hurt.  The Cougars began the set with an ace.  After kills by Ashley and Kacia, Darian Markham painted the sideline with an ace, 4-2 Aggies.  The teams traded errors with a Cougar DT and Kacia put a serve into the net.  Mari had another kill, but CS tied it at 9 as Aleka missed a set by Bianca. 

 

CS challenged an out call claiming a touch, but it was upheld to make it 10-9.  Ryleigh scored two more kills, but CS tied it again at 13 with an ace.  Ash and Aleka had kills going into the Media timeout at 15-14 Aggies.  I ran to the bathroom.  I couldn’t hold that watered down tea.  Darian was honored in the break for accumulating her 1,500-th dig.  I only missed one point coming back.

 

17-14 Aggies, Mari and Aleka combined on a block and CS took a timeout.  Aleka came back with a tip and Ry hit an offspeed kill to increase the lead.  The Cougars got back into it as Ash fired out at 19-18.  Timeout Aggies.  Ash hit out another to tie it at 19 and Sydney McIntosh came in for her. 

 

The Aggies retook the lead.  21-19 Aggies, the Cougars swung into the net and took a timeout.  Ry had a kill at 22-21.  Maggie came up big with a solo block at 23-21.  Rilen gave her a huge hug afterward.  Kacia put the Aggies on match point with a kill, 24-21.  Darian had a service error on the next point and the Cougars got a kill to close to 24-23.  Maggie took a tumble going for the dig on the point. 

 

Timeout Aggies.  The crowd and the little girls became deafening.  Queen’s We Will Rock You played during the break.  Finally, “Boom!” said PA Ed, as Kacia slammed a kill into the middle of the court to end the match, 25-23 and 3-0.

 

It was a three-set sweep, but the Aggies had to earn it.  You could see where if Chicago State had more resources, they could build a winner with Coach Tony Trifonov.  Surely, they’ll end up in a conference at some point in the near future. 

 

For today, the Aggies dominated.  They were up 50 to 35 in kills and 8 to 4 in blocks.  Ryleigh Whitekettle led everyone with 15 kills.  Kacia Brown had 11.  Aleka Darko was part of 6 blocks.  Rilen Garcia had 27 assists.  For the Cougars, Patrycja Lagida led with 10 kills.  The Aggies still need to clean up their serving.  They had 3 aces with 8 errors.

 

It was cold outside, even wearing a jacket and a hoodie.  Trust me, this was sudden, as it was t-shirt weather yesterday.  I made a cup of hot chocolate at home.  Good thing I bought that hot chocolate last week (and the heater was turned on, also).  I was in time to watch the last three innings of Game 3 of the World Series.  The match felt longer, but was only about an hour and a half.  Okay, everything worked out well in spite of my misgivings about today.  I have another day off ***Friday*** for Aggie Volleyball’s final home series.