This is not going to be the most comprehensive Volleyball match review between the Aggies and the Liberty Lady Flames. When I walked into the concourse of the Pan-Am Center, I ran into Shiyazh Pete of the Football team. He recognized me and we ended up sitting together and chatting. Thus, I only have two pages of notes for the match. That might be okay, because this wasn’t the most dramatic sporting event ever.
For conversation, I passed along whatever I knew about the team and volleyball in general. I credited Shiyazh’s return to play for the dramatic win last week. He graciously called it a “team effort,” which it was. Shiyazh was buzzing that Kennesaw State had just beaten Liberty, who had been playing very well. I think that has given the Aggies some hope. The Aggies’ next opponent is FIU, whom UTEP just beat. I’d listened to that game. I made sure to tell him that Miner fans were now looking forward to playing the Aggies to save their season. They’re also keen on going to the Mountain West conference to get away from playing the Aggies in conference.
We chatted on variety of other subjects and some of them were touchy. Much like asking Mya Hammack about Thalia Chaverria, since I was talking to an actual Navajo Indian, I had to ask what he thought about the name change for the Cleveland Indians and the Washington Redskins. Shiyazh had a fairly nuanced take, as befitting a Communications major leaning towards politics.
He agreed with the change in general, thinking it was offending some people, however Shiyazh also said, “They certainly played better when they were the Redskins.” I did tell him that both teams were actually named after Indian players on the teams and that I thought the name change was erasing Native Americans from the culture. He didn’t know that history part and kind of agreed that the name change had a cultural cost to it to Indian pride.
Shiyazh was there to see Yasso Amin, whom he’d “hung out” with. He wasn’t sure of their status. “Was there anybody else with you two?” “No.” “Then it was date.” She saw him in crowd behind the bench (an easy-to-spot guy at nearly 7ft). She tried to throw him a souvenir ball in the player introductions. In spite of his height, Shiyazh just missed catching it outright. He caught it on a bounce in front of a kid going for it. He gave it to him. I said, “Yasso would approve of that.”
Quickly talking about the team (why I’m actually here and writing), Kacia Brown now has bright red hair. I didn’t recognize her for a minute. Ryleigh Whitekettle wasn’t back playing. (Now I’m really wondering what she was smiling about after the last game.) Nicole Briggs was back playing and starting, so I assume she’s okay. Yasso was also back as a starter. It was a sort of light crowd tonight at 543.
Set 1
This is probably going to be a bit sparse. I was taking notes, but with little extra detail. (It’s hard to do this and have a conversation at the same time.) Liberty got out in front early. The Aggies didn’t panic. They distributed kills around Yasso, Starr Williams, and Kacia (twice). 8-7 Liberty, Ashley Herman and Nicole came up with a big block. Mari Sharp tied it at 10 with a kill flying in from the backcourt.
Nicole had a block on the next point to give the Aggies the lead and they kept it from there. Mari went “Boom!” on a kill and gave the Aggies a 20-17 lead. Liberty took a timeout. They did mount a comeback and get it to 21-20. Coach Jordan took a timeout. Yasso came back with a kill, along with Nicole. Mari had a block to get it to set point. Makayla Martinez finished it off, 25-20, with an ace.
Set 2: Aggies 1, Lady Flames 0
A lady came up from the Booster section to talk to Shiyazh. She was impressed with the Kennesaw State win, as well. The Hot Pan Am Girl came up the stairs with a handheld camera a few times during the match. Shiyazh was strangely shy about being on Flex Cam. I asked if he knew her and he said he thought her name was Megan. Not that I plan on meeting her, but “Hot Pan Am Girl” is tiring to type, so we’ll go with “Megan” from here on.
2-0 Aggies, Starr painted a shot into a corner. The call was challenged, but confirmed. From there, the Flames went into the lead. 5-3 Liberty, the Coach challenged the call that a shot was in. During the break, the Liberty reserves sang out to Sweet Caroline. In the first set, I’d seen them put their arms out and fly around in a circle after a play. That was cute. The call stood.
Liberty added to their lead with an ace, but after Rilen Garcia fisted a loose ball and it fell in for a kill, 6-4 Liberty. That was kind of lucky. Next, Yasso had one of her signature “no-look” kills, followed by a kill by Starr. The score again tied at 10 off a Liberty net violation.
The score stayed tight. It tied at 12 after a bad Aggie set missed a hitter. Liberty tied it at 13, as a ball hit the overhead unit. It was tied at 14, when Yasso was called for a roof. Yasso came right back with a couple of kills and Liberty took a timeout at 18-14 Aggies. Liberty took a couple of points, but kills by Yasso, Nicole, Starr, and another ace by Makayla took it to 23-18 Aggie. Liberty took another timeout and they closed in to 24-21. The Aggies took a timeout and finished it off with a slam by Starr, 25-21.
Set 3: Aggies 2, Lady Flames 0
I noticed Shiyazh’s nachos under the seat and said they were probably cold by now. He didn’t think much of them anyway. He was headed for the concessions in the concourse when I met him. He’d offered to buy me something there, but I’d told him I’d treat. Then I thought to ask if that would be an NCAA violation. Shiyazh admitted it probably would be. I’d kind of wondered about that.
Tess Fuqua on the bench stood up and I noticed her knee was wrapped up. Shiyazh knew her and said she’d torn her ACL recently. Was she practicing and got hurt or something else happened? I mentioned that when I got her autograph, I hadn’t told her that she had the best hair on the team, because her mom was in front me. Shiyazh did not approve of me wanting to flirt with her. He also took a look at my notes and couldn’t read them. I can’t either sometimes.
The Aggies went down a couple of points to start. Yasso tied it up on a block at 5 all and tied it up again at 6 with a kill. Kacia also put in 3 kills early. The Aggies started pulling away. At 9-6 Aggies, the call was challenged by Liberty but upheld. At 15-9 Aggies, after a tip kill by Mari, Liberty took a timeout.
Admittedly, I missed a couple of points in conversation here. The Aggies added to their lead. Makayla had her third ace at 16-9 Aggies. Starr and Mari had kills and Liberty took a timeout at 21-13. Yasso added another kill. Aleka Darko came in for the first time. Ashley tooled a block at 22-14. Finally, Yasso finished it off with a pair of kills, 25-15 and 3-0 Aggies. On the final point, she had another no-look kill. Darian also made a great save on the point. Probably the biggest drama of the final set was PA Ed losing his voice a bit.
Shiyazh and I said, “Goodbye.” He said he was planning on coming to tomorrow’s match. My dad and his neighbor, Lamae, are planning on coming with me then. After the match, both teams came together in a circle on court in prayer. As Liberty is a Christian university, I guessing they suggested it. It was a nice touch.
Our name of the match is Autumn Flowers, a middle blocker on the Flames. Our stat of the match is the hitting percentage. The Aggies were up .370 to .130. They were also up 5 to 2 in blocks. The team had 5 aces with Makayla Martinez scoring 3 of them. Lady Flamer Kate Gammer led everyone with 17 kills. Unfortunately for them, she was basically the only one on the team scoring. Yasso Amin paced the Aggies with 12 kills. Starr Williams had 10 and Mari Sharp had 9. Nicole Briggs had 3 blocks.
I got home in time to see the end of the Dodgers/Yankees World Series Game 1. I wasn’t enthusiastic about this matchup of two teams and their giant salaries buying their way to a championship. I have to admit, it was a very tight, close game. The Dodgers were down a run and tied it late. The Yankees took a one run lead into the tenth. With two on and two out in the bottom, Freddie Freeman took the first pitch he saw into the right field stands. Dodgers win 6-3.
Okay, not a bad day. I had Raising Canes for lunch and also got a paleta ice cream bar. (No terrible self-inflicted bellyache this time, 9-26-24.) I got to chat with a future NFL player, watch a winning Aggie Volleyball game, and saw the first game of the World Series. It was on Univision, though. I still can’t get Fox. The Spanish game call was fine.
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