Our Las Cruces High School has the same team name and colors as the NMSU opponent tonight, LA Tech Bulldogs. It’s not the biggest coincidence in the world, but it’s a pretty good one. Anyway, I started my day with an indulgent lunch over at Bubba’s. I wanted to try their hamburger. It was pretty good. I really like their seasoned fries. At least there was no gastric explosion, unlike my last meal out.
At the Pan-Am Center this evening, I noticed some piles of new shirts at the merch kiosk. They had a couple of volleyball shirts and I ended up getting a crimson one. Why did I do this? I have plenty of shirts and I’m not even sure I’ll be back next year. I don’t know. I don’t really have an Aggie Volleyball shirt, I guess. The cashier was a nice guy. He liked the Aggie stuff I was wearing. I noticed some Wave the Wonder Dog merchandise and said they should have a Wave plushie. They do. They just didn’t have one here.
There was a great crowd tonight, not even really enhanced by a bunch of little girls teams. A couple of the suites were occupied. On court, our female assistant coaches and trainer were all dressed in white tops and beige pants. Very cute. (Where was Coach Whitis tonight, though?) Bianca Perez was back. She was in a promo video for this weekend’s game. Unfortunately, she’s now wearing a full leg cast.
LAT brought a large roster with them and they were pretty international. Their coach, Amber McCray, was all smiles when introduced and waved to the crowd. During the Aggie introductions, Yasso Amin tossed a souvenir ball over my head several rows behind me. She’s got quite the arm.
Set 1
The Aggie Reserves were into it tonight. So was the crowd, but mostly a group of guys that turned out to be Aggie Football players. Kacia Brown was starting. Coach Jordan was pleased with her play (for now) from his weekly interview.
LAT double teamed Starr Williams early and blocked her, but she came back with a tip kill on the next point, 2-1. Yasso added to the lead, 4-1, with a touch kill. You know things were going well when libero, Darian Markham, got a kill on a free ball, 6-2.
Setter Nellie Reese cycled out and, surprisingly, Rilen Garcia came in. 8-3 Aggies, Ashley Herman painted the backline with a kill. The pretty line judge ruled it out, but the up official overruled her. No challenge from LAT. Ash put in another kill right after and LAT took a timeout.
10-3 Aggies, Kacia put in another kill. Ash then fired out. Yasso wanted a touch on it, but Coach Jordan made no move to challenge. Kacia and Ash teamed up for block, but then LAT went on a four-point run. Timeout Aggies. The Coach was speaking loudly in the huddle, but not yelling. A guy Cheerleader nearly threw out his arm on the t-shirt toss in the break. He was trying to get it up into the stands. Meanwhile, one of the Football guys had his shirt off and was yelling, “I need a shirt!”
The LAT run continued until Mari finally broke serve with a kill off the blockers, 13-10 Aggies. Rilen cycled out and went over to Claudia Rossi, who’s usually been the alternate setter. They chatted for a moment and then Claudia shook her hand. LAT went on another run, as Starr fired out, 13 all.
Mari Sharp came in flying in from the backcourt with a kill to put the Aggies back in the lead. It was tied again at 14 as Yasso fired out. She asked the Coach for a challenge, but he was like, “Nope.” Don’t worry. Suddenly, it was the Kacia Show. She put in four kills, along with Starr going “Kaboom” on a point. 21-18 Aggies and LAT took a timeout. Grad Assistant Lia Mosher did a lot of talking in the huddle with Assistant Coach Battle chipping in.
Starr fired out a couple of times and the Coach took a timeout, 21-20 Aggies. It was almost quiet enough that I could hear him. He wasn’t loud, but did sound very sarcastic. Mari painted the backline on a kill out of the break. Kacia and Starr combined on a block to get it to set point. Appropriately, Kacia finished it with a kill, 25-23 Aggies.
Set 2: Aggies 1, Bulldogs 0
During the break, Flex Cam went to the Football guys and Shiyazh Pete flexed. When I saw him ***last month,*** he did say he was going to try to come to some Volleyball games. With the Bulldogs now on our end of the court, the guys did intensify their heckling of the team. Undeterred, the LAT Reserves were really singing out. They have a good team spirit.
Mari led the Aggie scoring to start by pounding in a kill and then having a flying kill. LAT was keeping it close. Starr tied it at 4 tooling the blockers, after firing out on a couple of shots. Yasso tied it at 5. A LAT server put it into the net to tie it at 6. You might give an assist to the Football guys’ jeering on that point. The Aggies took the lead on a double touch by the Bulldogs. The Football guys chanted, “You can’t do that!” They’ve been here before.
On the next point, Ashley’s swing was called out. The Coach challenged this call. It was obviously the wrong call, but the down official took forever to review it and reverse it. The LAT Reserves had a good time dancing in the break. Mari got a touch kill to make it, 9-6 Aggies. Rori Gray, Bulldog middle blocker, hit a great slap down to close it to 9-8. Starr was stuffed at 11-9 Aggies.
From there, the Aggies started pulling away. Mari got another kill and Yasso tooled a block and got a kill on a touch. She was double teamed and blocked on the next point, but Starr came back with a kill. 15-11 Aggies into the Media timeout. Yasso won a joust at the net on the point out of the break. Kacia had a kill and LAT took a timeout at 17-11 Aggies.
The Aggies kept it up. Ash put in a kill. Mari had a tip kill and a nice shot between blockers. 21-15 Aggies, Nellie aced and LAT took another timeout. Shiyazh posed for the camera in the break. He’s photogenic. Out of the break, there was a completely busted play on the Aggie side, but they rallied long enough for Starr to get a kill. On the next point, both sides were discombobulated, and LAT took the point.
23-17 Aggies, LAT was called for roofing. The Aggies got to set point, but LAT took the next point, as the Football guys called out to their server, “I saw you on Tinder!” Yasso tooled a block to end it, 25-18 Aggies.
Set 3: Aggies 2, Bulldogs 0
There was a promo video during the half. This was Aggie Volleyball’s 50-th anniversary. Their first game was a win against UTEP. The program has had over 900 wins and over 500 of them were with Coach Jordan. On court, Yasso did a little Salsa dancing and Aleka Darko started.
Starr hit an offspeed swing for a kill for the first point. The Aggies rattled off 5 points early on kills by Yasso (2), Kacia, and Starr, and a block by Starr and Kacia. 6-1 Aggies and timeout LAT. Lia seemed to be taking over in the huddle talking to the team.
7-2 Aggies was a long rally that ended on an LAT DT. Yasso got a kill and then followed it up with an ace. The crowd really seemed to be enjoying her big toss jump serve. Mari put in two more kills and Yasso added another to make it, 13-9 Aggies. The next point was a huge rally. There were great saves on both sides to keep it going. Starr finally ended it with a kill.
Yasso and Kacia added kills, but LAT kept lingering. Mari had a net violation and a miss before getting a tip kill at 17-14 Aggies. Ash tooled a block on the next point and LAT took a timeout. The Coach talked mostly to Rilen in the break. Kacia put in an ace out the break. Morgan Stewart in the Reserves fell flat to the floor miming diving for it. Kaylee Peterson dragged her by her feet back to the group. The girls all started laughing.
20-15 Aggies, Mari had a touch kill. Starr followed with a pair of kills. Kacia had a kill with an improvised one-hand slap. Starr finished the set, 25-19, and the match, 3-0, with a kill. Aggies win!
For a three-set match, the Aggies really racked up the kills. They led 58 to 29. Mari Sharp paced the Aggies with 14 kills. Starr Williams had 13, Kacia Brown 12, and Yasso Amin had 11. Rilen Garcia did very well as the alternate setter with 20 assists. The Aggies were outblocked 5 to 2.
I was back home before 8:00pm, so the match was well under two hours. LA Tech was fighting it out enough that it didn’t seem that short. I watched the local El Paso news later. They reported on the Aggie match and UTEP’s home match. UTEP was also a straight-set winner. These two teams will collide next week in El Paso, but the Aggies have another with LAT on Saturday.
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