I’m here in the Pan-Am
Center again. I’m sure the Aggies
are thinking, “What? Another game?” Even the staff seemed unprepared. There were only a couple programs out and no
posters on the courtesy table. There was
a clear bag giveaway that I missed out on.
This was actually the second game of the game here. The Southern
Jaguars and Incarnate Word
played this afternoon. I declined to go
due to the matchup, which I thought would be uncompetitive. I instead went for lunch at Freddy’s and had a Grilled Cheeseburger. I
made the right choice and a delicious one at that, though I was nursing a bellyache
for the rest of the day from stuffing myself.
(IW won 3-0.)
With a 1-10 record for Southern, I didn’t think this game would be much different, but I
have to show up for Aggie games.
Southern is another HBCU. They’re
best known for playing Grambling in
the Bayou Classic Football
game. (Aggie Volleyball has also played Grambling, 9-4-18)
Well actually, it’s the halftime show where their bands are battling that’s the
classic part. If Southern had brought
the “Human Jukebox" to battle the Aggie Pride of New Mexico Band, the
Aggies might have been in trouble.
I just missed Maggie
Lightheart (our sweetheart) going up the steps to go to the bathroom. I would have congratulated her on her
performance yesterday. The team seemed a bit subdued in
practice. Two losses in the same week to
your in-state rival has to be demoralizing.
Tatyana Battle and Lia Mosher on the coaching staff were
in sweats for apparently “Casual Day” this evening. The SU coach came over to Coach Jordan smiling and dancing. They had a little chat before the match and
shared a hug. I think they’re
friends. There were no little girls
teams tonight, so the crowd was a bit light.
Set 1
Libero Darian
Markham shouted, “Let’s go!” to the team on court at the beginning of the
match. At least she was up for the game. The Aggies got ahead early thanks to some SU
errors. 4-1 Aggies, Yasso Amin and Aleka Darko
teamed up on a block. Yasso added a kill
and Ashley Herman and Aleka came
together for a block. 8-2 Aggies, SU
took a timeout. Out of the break, Ashley
had another kill. Claudia Rossi had rotated in and the lefty went on serve for a six-point
run. After the side out, Aleka had a
kill, 12-3 Aggies. Claudia had nice save
on the point. SU did come back with a
nice block on Aleka on the next point.
The SU server broke out a high-toss Brazilian jump
serve. Mari did get a kill on the point,
though. 14-6 Aggies, there was a bad set
on the Aggie side and an accidental touch on an out ball. The Coach was barking at the players. Nicole
Briggs muscled a kill through a couple of blockers. She then came back with Mari for a
block. Mari then poured in a couple of
kills. Makayla Martinez served up an ace.
At 21-7 Aggies, after another kill by Nicole, SU took a timeout. Aleka made a solo block and Yasso had three
more kills, including the set-winning overpass kill, 25-9 Aggies.
Set
2: Aggies 1, Jaguars 0
That was pretty clinical.
The teams changed ends. An
assistant coach or injured player on SU was wearing sunglasses and headphones
in the huddle. I don’t know what to make
of that. (Didn’t want to be recognized
with the team? Witness protection?)
There was a long rally on the first point. Darian made a pancake save and Mari finished
it with a kill. The Aggies went up big
again. At 8-1 Aggies, SU took a
timeout. Starr Williams had two kills with Alecka and Yasso also getting
kills over the run. I could hear them on
the other end of the court, but now in front of me, I could hear the SU
reserves singing out all the time regardless of the score.
Yasso took over with a couple more kills with Nicole and
Ashley making a block. 12-4 Aggies, SU’s
setter got in a dump shot. The next
point was a little confused. Ashley hit
a kill, but didn’t celebrate. It looked
like four touches on the Aggie side, but it was not called. The SU coach was about to make a challenge,
but Coach Jordan said there were four touches and the refs agreed without a
review.
15-5 Aggies, one of the SU players went crashing into a
sideline table. She was shaken up for a minute but was okay. (Those are metal
sheets on the sides of the tables.) In
spite of the score, these girls were playing hard. Mari put in two more kills. SU took a timeout at 19-8 Aggies. Coach took the setters aside to talk to
them. Injured Peyton Castillo was in the huddle, but I suddenly noticed Bianca Perez wasn’t with the team this
evening. We’ll see if she comes back
tomorrow.
Starr and Aleka combined for a block to get to 20-8 and Starr
put in a kill on the next point. 21-10
Aggies, SU won the point, as the Aggies had a breakdown in court coverage. The Coach rubbed his face with both
hands. The next point was long rally
that Aleka ended with a kill. Yasso then
made a sweet kill and Maggie came in for the first time. She got knocked on her rear trying to make
dig. Nicole finished the set with a
kill, 25-12 Aggies.
Set
3: Aggies 2, Jaguars 0
Pedro, the dancing baby raccoon, came on for Dance
Cam. He’s a crowd-pleaser (at least with
me). Makayla came in as the Aggie
libero. Her and Yasso had a chat on
court before play. SU put in an ace on
the first point right past Makayla. I’m
sure the Coach started second-guessing himself.
That feeling would come up a few more times in this set.
SU might have gotten ahead quickly but served into the
net twice early. Mia Fox came in for the first time.
Yasso went into the Press Table for a dig. She came back with a block with Mia at
3-3. 6-4 Aggies, Mia got a sweet kill on
a nice set by Claudia.
Morgan
Stewart came in. The
family seated in front of me started applauding for her. I then noticed the mom looked like Morgan, so
I’m guessing that was her mom, dad, and brother. I wonder if my friend, Ron, Morgan’s biggest
fan, would have introduced himself to them.
(I think Maggie’s family was also nearby. She also resembles her mom.) The fam probably wasn’t pleased that Morgan
let a kill drop in on the backline right after she came in. The Coach was yelling at her.
7-6 Aggies, Mia got another kill, though there was an
awesome off-court save by SU on the play.
Ash, Mari, and Aleka all put in kills to put the Aggies into the
lead. 12-10 Aggies, the Coach challenged
an out shot by Yasso for a touch. It
seemed like a stretch. The Reserves were
dancing in the break and got embarrassed when they were put on camera. (Is Ashley now too cool to dance?) The call was upheld.
Mia was blocked on the next point, but Starr put in a kill
right after. Claudia put in an ace on
service that dropped into the corner of the court. The line judge had to get out of the way of
it and ruled it out. The Coach
challenged that one and won. 15-11
Aggies, Media timeout.
Mia and Yasso teamed up for a block out of the break. I noticed that SU was aiming their serves at
Maggie, who was in, just like UNM
was doing yesterday. She was still
digging them. Her and Mia both collected
kills. 21-13 Aggies, I’m not sure I
understood this strategy; both setters, Nelle
Reese and Claudia, were both in. I
don’t think the Aggies were out of subs.
Mia made her second serve attempt in the set and put it into the net
again. Starr came in for Claudia on the
next point, an Aleka kill, to restore order.
23-14 Aggies, Maggie got another kill. Makayla made a great save on the play. Bella
Castro came in to serve but put it into the net. Suddenly, the Aggies had no setters in. Bella attempted a set on the point, but it
didn’t work out very well. Nelle came in
right after. The Coach grabbed Bella’s
hand and gave her a talk coming out of the game.
SU put in an ace that fell in at Morgan’s feet. Her mom exclaimed, “Oh, Morgan!” The Aggies got to match point on a long
rally. Starr made an off court save over
the Press Table and Aleka finished it with a kill. Maggie put the next serve into the net. (I wasn’t close enough to hear if her family
said something.) However, SU also put
the next serve into the net. Aggies win 25-18 and 3-0.
The team huddled up on court, but Yasso stepped out and
waved to the crowd, “Thank you all for coming!”
That was entirely appropriate tonight.
It was the friends, family, and hardcore fans out for this one. Meanwhile, Coach Jordan had a serious talk
with the SU Coach. I’m guessing he was
apologizing for whatever happened with the rotation there in Set 3. It had looked like the Aggies weren’t taking
the game seriously at the end.
Nobody was doing player stats on the scoreboard, so I had
to wait to get the stats. Yasso Amin had 9 kills. Mari
Sharp had 7 kills and Starr Williams
had 6. Aleka Darko did well with 4 blocks and added 7 kills. Rilen
Garcia and Kacia Brown didn’t
play tonight. I would have expected them
to come in at some point, unless they’re hurt.
I was glad to see Mia Fox get
playing time in Set 3. She’s got the
height and build, but she really needs the play time to blossom (like Maggie Lightheart). Your stat of the match is hitting %: Aggies
.337, Tigers -.069.
Like yesterday, at least this was quick. Did the match go maybe an hour and 15
minutes? I got home in time to see the
end of the CW’s premiere of their Xfinity NASCAR coverage. (Dale
Earnhardt Jr. was driving in the race.)
They followed that with a good college football game. I had poor reception on the radio but could
hear just enough to listen to the Chihuahuas
ninth win in a row. Tomorrow, one
more Volleyball game for the Aggies this week.
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