NM State Aggies vs UTEP Miners Volleyball 10-3-23

Mari looking Sharp on the schedule poster.

It’s finally happened.  I’m phoning this one in.  I’ve had a long day, not a hard one, just long.  I’d prefer not to dwell on this game, frankly.  The day started off well.  I had a great burger at Legend Burger.  I went over to dad’s apartment and watched afternoon playoff baseball.  The Rangers beat the Rays, 4-0.  I was happy (though I also like the Rays).

 

Right after the baseball game, I went back home and left for Aggie Volleyball an hour later.  I sort of wished I’d taken a nap.  This was going to be the Aggies’ first conference meeting against UTEP in volleyball.  So, it’s still a rivalry game, but somehow a bit diminished, since they could be meeting up to three times a season.  At least the teams will for sure to see each other every season.

 

A great crowd showed up of over 1,500 and there was a buzz in the air.  An unidentified high school girls volleyball team sat in on the north end of the court.  There was a section of Miner fans and a few scattered in the crowd.  I noticed injured setter, Peyton Castillo, sitting by herself on the bench.  She looked forlorn and beautiful there, as she wistfully watched the team warm up.  Coach Jordan walked by and gave her a fist bump.  (Perhaps later in the match, he’d be wistfully watching her and wishing she was setting for him.)  He also chatted with Barbara “Mother” Hubbard on the sidelines.    

 

Morgan Stewart was back.  I think that might confirm my thinking in the last match that she was out sick (like me).  Starr Williams had her lengthy hair tied for this match.  (Maybe she should undo it given the results.)  Molly Johnson, our lovely grad assistant was briefly pressed into service as a ball girl, before she was relieved.  The Miners were wearing their interesting detached arm sleeves, like the last time I’d seen them.  Their 5’3” libero, Alyssa Sianez, was dressed in pink.  Bold choice.

 

Set 1

Basically, it all went right for the Aggies in the first set, which felt kind of cruel later.  They had four aces by four different players and only one error.  Mari Sharp, Kacia Brown, Ryleigh Whitekettle, Starr, and Aleka Darko all had kills.  The Aggies were blocking UTEP well.  In the huddle, the girls were enthusiastic.  Peyton was hopping in to join them.  The Aggies took it 25-12 and made it look easy.

 

Yes, I did take my usual play-by-play notes.  I’ll highlight a couple of interesting points.  6-4 Aggies, Rilen Garcia made a great offcourt save.  Mari managed get it back over the net.  Kacia finished the point with a kill.  This got a “Boom!” out of PA Ed.  7-5 Aggies, Alecka had a kill off a beauty of a set by Rilen.  21-11 Aggies, Starr let a pop up ball by the net drop harmlessly out.  23-11 Aggies, Aleka with an overpass kill.  24-12 Aggies, Mari fired into two blockers and still got the kill.

 

Set 2: Aggies 1, Miners 0

UTEP Coach Wallis made some adjustments.  UTEP got out to an early lead and never let it go.  Suddenly, the Aggies couldn’t get past Miner blocking.  The Aggies were no longer serving well, though they were serving in.  UTEP weren’t acing (in fact, they kept erroring), but the Aggies were suddenly having trouble receiving and digging.  The Miners took it easy, 14-25. 

 

4-5 Miners was about as close as it got after the set started.  The Coach challenged a touch and got it overruled.  6-10 Miners, a setter dump shot.  That was working for the Miners tonight.  11-14 Miners, the Aggies lost the point on a double touch.  During the point, the ball actually sat on top of the net for a moment.  12-16 Miners, Kacia was blocked on the point.  The coach took a timeout.  It was interesting in that he only talked to the team for about 30 seconds. 

 

Before the set, the main donors who financed the new playing surface were honored on court.  Thank you.  That was an upgrade.  During one break, the Cheerleaders were tossing the black and white baseball hats to the crowd.  One of them ended up in the hands of a ballgirl.  She held it for a little bit before finally tossing it to the crowd.

 

Set 3: Aggies 1, Miners 1

The teams changed ends again.  The Aggies huddled together without the coaches.  I’m not sure who was doing the talking, probably Kacia.  One of the high school girls worked it to Dance Cam earning hoots from her teammates.  Ashley Herman, who had started the first two sets, started on the bench here.  She resumed her role of fist bumping the coaches and high-fiving everyone before the set started. 

 

The Miners jumped out to a 0-4 lead, which included another setter dump shot.  The coach called a quick timeout.  He talked to setter Bianca Perez separately.  (Several players got talked to separately in these two sets.)  There were some heavy duty volleyball fans behind me.  They highlighted the setting specifically as being a problem tonight.  The Aggies would tie the score three times, at 7, 8, and 9.  8-8 Mari made a great play on a free ball to save the point and Ashley finished it with a kill.  9-9 Starr hammered one.

 

Unfortunately, the Aggies could not get ahead.  They soon went behind 10-15 UTEP.  The Aggies were looking dejected on court.  Honestly, Miner service errors single-handedly kept the Aggies in it.  I counted five.  Late in the set and down 16-22, Maggie Lightheart and Alex Connaster came in.  The team responded and got it to 20-22, but that point was overturned to make it 19-23 Miners. 

 

Ryleigh tried to come in, but the coach sent her back.  21-23 Miners, Alex and Maggie teamed up for a block and got the crowd into it.  22-24 Miners, Alex had a kill.  At 23-24, UTEP took a timeout.  Maggie had been on serve here and was all smiles in the huddle.  However, the Miners would take it 23-25 with a kill.

 

Set 4: Miners 2, Aggies 1

The Aggie player huddle featured Mari and Kacia doing the talking.  The UTEP players were dancing to the PA music.  There was a beautiful blonde on the team in a leg cast.  She was still dancing and smiling.  (I couldn’t identify her.) 

 

Again, the set was close.  Ashley had a couple of early kills.  The Miners took the lead at 3-4.  Starr and Mari each had a couple of kills to keep it close.  Ryleigh could not get it going and was blocked at 8-10.  Then UTEP had their final service error and with a kill by Kacia it was tied at 10.  

 

Unfortunately, UTEP pulled ahead to 10-12 on an ace where Kacia and Darian Markham collided.  Ash and Starr got kills, but a block on Starr took us to the Media timeout, 12-15 Miners.  Maggie came in and had an acrobatic kill that dropped into the corner at 13-16.  Anji Vishwanathan came in as the Aggies went down by 6.  She almost got credited with a kill, but was called for a lift (?). 

 

Morgan finally came into the game.  Mari and Ry took the shots.  Each got a kill and were blocked.  Mari and Ash teamed up for a block to get it to 17-23.  Timeout UTEP.  They were still loose, as an assistant coach was on camera for Bongo Cam.  18-23 Miners, Ryleigh came up with a solo block.  She then got a kill on the next point, but it was challenged and overturned. 

 

That brought us to Match Point #1.  The coach was pissed and so were the fans with that call.  Ash held it off with a kill.  Miner Kaya Weaver seemed to finish it on an overpass kill, but that was waved off on a net violation.  She’d end it with a kill on the next point anyway.  Miners take the set 20-25 and the match 1-3.

 

Our stat of the match is UTEP 4 aces to 12 service errors!  No.  Actually, our stat is UTEP winning 15 to 6 in blocks!  (Yikes on both of those stats!  And the Aggies are good at blocking.)  The Aggies had 5 aces and only 4 service errors.  Unfortunately, four of those aces were in the first set.  Aggie serving didn’t matter after that. 

 

Ryleigh Whitekettle and Starr Williams both had negative hitting percentages for the match.  The Miners nullified both of the Aggies’ heavy hitters.  Oddly, neither side had much in the way of kills, especially for a four-set match with two sets close.  Mari Sharp led everyone with 13 kills.  Ashley Herman had 8 kills.  Kaya Weaver was the only Miner in double digits with 12 kills.  Aggie setters Bianca Perez and Rilen Garcia only had 17 assists each.

 

UTEP was a bit subdued after the win.  They’re going to have to play again tomorrow, so it wasn’t a good idea to gloat.  Coach Jordan made a brief statement to the team and then dismissed them.  Honestly, I think the Aggies have more talent, but they were out-coached tonight.  Coach Wallis made a winning adjustment and wasn’t given anything to really worry about after that.  Coach Jordan made a lot of lineup changes after the second set, but couldn’t find the magic of that first set. 

 

I made the loser play of the night.  I got home and dropped my keys right after I’d parked my truck.  It took me five minutes poking around the cabin like a drunk to find them.  (In fairness, they got behind the seat and were buried under junk.)  At some point, it stopped being funny.  What a way to end the night!  Here’s to a better tomorrow.