It was a novel experience for today’s Volleyball match
between the Aggies and the Incarnate Word Cardinals. Dad’s neighbor, Lamae, is apparently a big
volleyball fan, so they asked about coming along for the game. The last time I did something with the two of
them, I got Shang-hied for an entire afternoon.
I was a bit skeptical but went along with it to share the sport.
I’d kind of suggested going to a game next month, because
I suspected that tournament prices would be in effect for this game. (They were.
I was paying.) Lamae was an
indefatigable fan for the Aggies during the game. She also asked me lots of questions about
volleyball that I couldn’t answer (mostly about the officiating). Given that she was a high school volleyball
player, I’m not quite sure why she wasn’t telling me things. I told both her and dad about the players and
Coach Jordan. I was glad to have someone to relate their
stories to.
The Pan-Am parking
lot was full, but this was probably mostly for the battle of the high school
marching bands going on at the football stadium. Inside, the crowd was light. Again, there weren’t any little girls teams
there to cheer on the Aggies. I had no
idea what to expect for this afternoon’s game.
The Aggies were playing their fourth game of the week, including losing
two to their in-state
rival. I don’t really know anything
about IW, but they’re looking good with a 7-2 record coming into this.
Grad Assistant Lia
Mosher wasn’t here for the game and Bianca
Perez was still missing. I wonder if
they were out sick. During player
introductions, Yasso Amin ran over
to where Adam Young was calling the
game and handed a souvenir ball to his partner.
They’re across the court and haven’t gotten a good look at them, but it
might still be Kelsi Meredith. Regardless, this was an unexpected
gifting. Yasso’s here trying to make
friends.
Set 1
Starr
Williams got the match going with a kill. I’ll be noting that a lot today. There was a delay right after over a rotation
issue. (I was getting questions that I
had no answers to about that.) It was
just about quiet enough that I could almost the conversations on court. Starr put in another kill, but the Aggies
were looking flat and IW soon ran up a lead.
At 8-3 IW, the Aggies made some heroic saves but looked
disorganized. Timeout Aggies. The Coach was calm to this point. (I’d told dad and Lamae to keep an eye on him
for possible eruptions.) The girls
seemed down. Even the reserves were
passive. 8-4 IW, Mari Sharp finally broke the run to side out. Nicole
Briggs and Ashley Herman then
teamed up for a block. However, IW kept
adding to their lead. 12-7 IW, Darian Markham made a great off court save, but IW made a smart tip over the blockers to take the point.
14-7 IW, something of a low point for the match, Nicole
hit a free ball standing at the net and an IW player jumped up and dunked it on
her. Timeout Aggies. Mari and Yasso put in a couple of kills, but
didn’t threaten the IW lead. Aleka Darko had started the match, but Kacia Brown came in to serve. I think this became significant later
on.
The effort was still there for the Aggies. 23-13 IW, Mari made a great off court save on
the point, though IW had a great kill to finish it. Ashley made a kill afterward. There was more weirdness over the
rotation. The Coach argued with the up
official and finally sent Darian over to talk to him. Starr and Yasso had kills, and Nicole and
Starr had a block, but IW took the set fairly easily, 25-17.
Set
2: Cardinals 1, Aggies 0
Kacia was in to start this set. In terrible news for myself, I was forced to
participate in Bongo Cam because of the people I was sitting with. Normally, I avoid the camera. I don’t want the attention.
It was all Yasso to begin with. She had three kills early. Darian had a crowd-pleasing pancake save on
one of them. 5-4 Aggies, Starr tooled a
block. IW was still in it. They tied it, after double teaming Yasso on a
block. Mari put in a tip over the
blockers. Ash got a nice set from Claudia Rossi for a kill. Mari tooled a block and Nicole made a block
to make it 11-7 Aggies. Timeout IW.
The Aggies came back with more. Yasso had a touch kill and Kacia and Ash had
kills. IW challenged the call at
17-11. With the IW team in front of us,
we got to watch one of their girls show off her dance moves to a Spice Girls
song. The call was reversed for them,
16-12 Aggies. No problem. Mari and Ash piled on kills. 20-14 Aggies, Mari flew in from the back
court on a set from Nellie Reese for
a kill. Yasso then blasted a kill that
rebounded high into the north end stands.
Timeout IW.
It was a good timeout for them. IW started a four-point run that included a
block on Starr. 21-18 and timeout
Aggies. They went right back to Starr
out of the break, and she put in a kill.
Yasso and Ashley added kills.
Finally, Yasso ended it on a touch kill, 25-19 Aggies.
Set
3: Aggies 1, Cardinals 1
I went to the bathroom and missed Dance Cam. Whew! Nicole issued a power slap to begin the
set. Yasso followed with a kill and
teamed up with Kacia for a block. 4-1
Aggies, Darian aced. Kacia and Ash
followed with kills. 6-4 Aggies, Yasso
was double teamed and blocked and the same thing happened on the next
point. 8-5 Aggies, she got revenge with
an ace here. Ashley had a kill. Mari had two kills. “Boom!” Starr had a big kill. Nicole had a kill from middle. Finally, Yasso and Kacia teamed for a block
at 15-10 Aggies going into the Media timeout.
The crowd went crazy in the break. The Cheerleaders were tossing mini-footballs
into the stands. They tossed a
bunch. Lemae got one and was pretty
happy. Kacia, Yasso, and Mari all had
kills coming out of the break. However,
IW was catching up. Mari mis-fired at
18-15 Aggies, and the Coach took a timeout.
I think the Coach’s advice in the huddle was, “Feed Starr
the ball.” She won the next two points
and IW took a timeout. A block by Starr
and Kacia brought the Aggies to set point.
Yasso finished it on a touch kill to end a long rally, 25-22 Aggies.
Set
4: Aggies 2, Cardinals 1
They kept feeding Starr the ball and she scored the
Aggies’ first three points of the set.
IW was actually ahead though, until a pair of fouls put them behind, 5-4
Aggies. Yasso put a kill into the IW
blockers. 7-4 Aggies, there was a long
rally. Mari made a great one-handed
off-court save on the point. It ended in
an IW net violation. Timeout IW. At this point, I think they had run out of
gas.
What happened ended up being a 11-point run by the Aggies
with Claudia on serve. The Aggies did it
several different ways. Darian made a
save on a point that Yasso finished on a tip.
Kacia had a kill. Ash tooled a
block and Yasso had another tip. IW
finally sided out at, 14-5 Aggies. The
Coach nearly challenged a touch call but hesitated. I could hear Yasso on the other side of the
court tell him, “It’s okay. We’ll side
out.” They did. It happened on an out serve.
The onslaught continued with Starr getting two more kills,
Mari getting a kill, and Yasso painting the backline for a kill. 21-11 Aggies, IW had four touches on the
point and took a timeout. Back to play,
Kacia and Yasso teamed up for a block.
Darian dropped in a short serve that IW returned into the net, 23-11
Aggies.
IW was not done yet.
The next point was a long rally.
IW made a great off court save and blocked Starr to get the point. They blocked her again, and then Starr fired
out two points later. The Aggies took a
timeout, but IW ended up making a five-point run. Kacia finally broke it with a kill to get to
match point. Ash finished it with a
kill, 25-17 and 3-1 Aggies. That was kind of
a stumbling finish but give IW credit for not rolling over.
Incarnate Word’s Risa
Sena led all scorers with 19 kills and Kyla
Malone had 10. Yasso Amin led the Aggies with 17 kills and that was with IW double
teaming her much of the time. Starr Williams had 13 and made them pay
for all that attention to Yasso. Mari Sharp had 11 kills. Yasso and Sena both had 5 blocks. Your stat of the match is how close the stats
were in this match.
The serving and setting game worked well with Nellie Reese and Claudia Rossi. They were
giving the hitters good looks and were capable of long serving runs. Claudia’s lefty hitting particularly seemed
to be causing real trouble.
I kept expecting to see Maggie Lightheart (our sweetheart) enter the game along with some
other players, but the Coach seemed to be sticking to a very specific roster of
players. I was worried Maggie might be
unhappy about the lack of playing time, but she was happy and bouncy in the
post-match huddle. (I was unhappy to not
see her play.)
For better or worse, Coach Jordan seems to have pared down
his starting rotation. He’s found a
group that can work well together and consistently. This is a good thing, so why do I say,
“worse.” This unit gives the Aggies the
best chance to win, but it may not be good enough to compete with the
conference leaders. It’ll probably
depend on how well they work together and if there are any more big
injuries. They’ve got a few extra parts,
but they’d be a step back.
The match went two hours.
I’d been telling dad about my sub-90-minute ones this week and
last. He wasn’t sure he could tolerate being
seated there for long periods of time.
He was okay with it today. Both
him and Lemae really enjoyed it, so I was glad for that.
We got Little Caesar’s
Pizza afterword. Yeah, I know that’s not
the best, but it was quick. Lemae was
campaigning for Sonic next door, so
I feel like we dodged a bullet. (Their
ice cream and drinks are great, but you can get much better food anywhere
else.) Lemae thanked dad for the fun
afternoon (although I’d paid for everything).
Now I get to nervously await seeing if I’m going to be taking them to
the rest of Aggie Volleyball and Women’s
Basketball this season.
Let’s not talk about the Aggie Football team that was playing tonight. Meanwhile, the Chihuahuas had some ninth-inning drama, but still won their tenth
game in a row! I was also fighting bad
reception the whole time, which unnecessarily added to the tension.
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