You can’t lose on
Senior Day. It’s like a rule. If you do, you get kicked out of the
conference or demoted to Division II.
It’s serious. Do not lose on
Senior Day. Aggie Volleyball had everything on the line today with this match
against the Sam Houston Bearkats.
Actually, this
match was dramatic enough without any false buildup, but I'm watching the NASCAR championship right now, so I'm
giving into the hype. I took the “back”
entrance to the Pan-Am Center and
didn't have any trouble getting in.
After I parked, I saw that the whole next door Football parking lot was
filled in for their game later.
Inside, I saw that
alumni beautiful Megan Hart and
lovely Annie Acosta were back for
today’s game. There weren't any
Cheerleaders, but Pistol Pete put in
an appearance. (They're all working the
football game.) Team Ops Director Tatyana Battle brought today's ballgirls over to
meet the officials for instructions.
We'll all get to hear more from the officials later. Coach
Jordan had a talk with the PA before the match. I think he was making an addition to the
player lineup introductions, maybe.
The girls were
loose and happy. Maggie Lightheart, Ashley
Herman, and Ryleigh Whitekettle
were dancing during warmups. Coach
Jordan gave Aspen Aldous a playful
tap on the shoulder while he was passing by.
Our playing senior, Darian
Markham, was wearing the pink top today.
The crowd was a bit more than a 1,000.
I don't know why they don’t promote these events a little better to all
the football fans tailgating outside.
For player
introductions, the PA (not Ed, who'd be at the football game) missed McKenzie Morvant's last name. She’d played so well for the Bearkats yesterday. I hoped she wasn't offended and motivated to
play harder. (He didn't have any trouble
with the complicated Polish name next.)
I think I missed this yesterday, but the PA emphasized it today. The Sam Houston head coach, Brenda Gray, has been there for 40
years!
For the Aggies,
local girl and senior Kaitlin Espiritu
was finally in uniform and got an introduction.
I'd never seen her play in her four years because of injuries. I kind of hoped she'd be in for point, but this
was just ceremonial. Her and Darian got
big cheers from the crowd. Kaitlin got
to huddle with the team on court before returning to the bench. The reserves huddled up off court. I noticed that Morgan Stewart seemed to be leading the pep talk.
Set 1
The Aggies took an
early lead with kills by Ashley and Aleka
Darko. SH tied it at 6. Starr
Williams had two good swings on the point, but Bearkats saved them. They followed that up with an ace and then a
service error. Ryleigh tied up the score
at 8 and 9 with kills.
Across the court, an
arena staff member went down a row with a mop for a cleanup. It must have been pretty bad to have merited
a cleanup during the game. Ash put the
Aggies up 10-9 with a kill. Two Bearkats
nearly dove headfirst into each other trying to dig it. SH aced and then service errored right after
again. The Bearkats took the lead with a
block, but then service errored again.
SH got another
block to lead 12-14. The Aggies were
mistiming their jumps at the net in this set.
The Media timeout came at 12-15 SH.
Uncharacteristically in the break, the starters were seated at the bench
and got a lecture from Coach Jordan, while the reserves looked on. SH came back with an overpass kill, which is
always demoralizing, but then they had another service error to break their
run.
Morgan and Maggie
came in with Maggie serving. Ry was
blocked at 15-19 SH, but tooled a block on the next point. Ashley got a kill on the next point. Darian and Morgan had tremendous saves on the
point. Ry would get another kill, but
would also get blocked. A blocking error
by Ry and an attack error by Ashley finished the set, 18-25 SH.
Set 2: Bearkats 1, Aggies 0
I was sort of
looking forward to lunch and was hoping for a quick match. I saw Tatyana talk to the team huddle
briefly. That's our future coach. Coach Jordan only had a couple of quick words
for the team. Alex Connatser started.
Rilen Garcia
started off the set with a service error.
She was obviously frustrated afterward.
Kacia Brown came back with a
block and teamed up with Starr for a block.
Starr and Ryleigh were on court together. The two “bigs” aren't usually in
together. Ry and Kacia teamed up for a
block at 3-1 Aggies.
Morgan, usually a
steady server, errored at 3-2 Aggies.
Starr put down a kill, but then Kacia had a service error. Ryleigh fired out on the next point. I saw a touch and so did the crowd and Coach
Jordan, who challenged the call. The SH
girls danced to Blondie's Call Me in
the break. The Aggies were just standing
still. The call was overturned to make
it 5-3 Aggies.
Aspen came in to
set and serve, but had a service error.
7-4 Aggies, Alex had block. The
next point, Starr had a service error.
SH followed that with one of their own.
Everyone gets one today! Mari
shot out. Coach Jordan challenged again
and got it reversed, 9-6 Aggies. This
time he was angry.
During the break,
Rilen and Bianca Perez were talking
while Aspen was still setting and they were on the sidelines. Meanwhile, Maggie was dancing seductively to
the music or maybe I was hallucinating.
The down official noticed the reserves also and told them to move away
from the court during play.
11-6 Aggies, Rilen
put in an ace. SH made an heroic attempt
at a dig over the press table on it.
Kacia followed with a kill. Next,
SH made a back set to . . . no one . . . and the ball dropped to the
court. There was immediate confusion
after the point with the team. Rilen was
back in and setting and gave Kacia a nice low set for a kill, 14-6. Then Rilen had another service error. I checked the stats later. Yep, I was dinged with a service error as
well and I was only in the stands. It
just wasn't a good day for serving.
Kacia had another
kill to make it 15-7 Aggies. From here,
the Bearkats started making a comeback.
15-10 had a SH kill. Rilen had a
brave save over the press table on the point.
After the Media timeout, Morgan had a couple of bad digs and was taken
out. 15-13 SH took the point, but Rilen
and Mari each had a dive dig on the play.
Then the Bearkats had service error.
Starr had a kill at 17-13 before Kacia had service error. Both teams seemed to be trying to give it
away.
18-14 Aggies, Ry
hit out apparently, but the up and down officials disagreed on the call. There was a standoff for a moment, before
settling on the out call. There wasn't a
challenge this time. 18-17 SH got an
overpass kill and hit Alex in the face.
No! Not her beautiful face! She was okay, but was rubbing her nose during
the Aggie timeout.
The Bearkats tied
it at 18 on a kill, though the officials may have missed the Aggies having four
touches before the kill. (The SH
reserves were jumping up and down calling it.)
The teams tied at 20. SH had
another service error and Ashley had a kill to make it 22-20 Aggies. Timeout Bearkats.
Ashley got the kill
on the next point. SH hit over three free
balls on the point. Darian had a service
error. After two Aggie errors and an SH
ace, it was tied at 24. The crowd was
getting loud. Bianca got into the net to
put SH on set point. Kacia got a kill to
tie it at 25. SH took the next point. Coach Jordan was yelling at the up official
over a call on a pancake dig. Mari tied
it at 26 with a kill. 26-27 SH, the
Bearkats fired a kill through three defenders at the net. Another kill finished the set, 26-28 Sam Houston.
Continued in Part 2.
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