Weird aside to begin with. I was with my dad at the hospital on Friday, where he was having a short procedure done. In the waiting room, two Aggie coaches with two players came in separately. I think they were there for a quick test on the players, who were from the Women’s Golf team and maybe the Men’s Tennis team. The golf player was this tall, pretty, well-built blonde that might have been from Eastern Europe. I briefly hoped she was a new Volleyball transfer when I first saw her. She would have been great at the net.
I
also heard a podcast with Coach
Jordan
later that day. He said that there weren’t a lot of new transfers
on the team. He’d concentrated on high school players and is
hoping to create players for his system, rather than integrating and
retraining college transfers. He wants his players to be trained to
be better all-around in different aspects of the game. The couple of
transfers he did pick up were from junior colleges, presumably more
malleable than university transfers.
This sounds good, but when taken with Aggie Soccer’s recruiting along similar lines, I wonder if this is an institutional directive. Perhaps NMSU cannot compete for athletes looking for NIL money and isn’t even trying, at least outside of maybe Football and Men’s Basketball. On the other hand with Volleyball, Coach Jordan had done well with his transfers, but still couldn’t match WKU. He may be pursuing a strategy to make his team more like them.
This isn’t the venue for really blunt observations, but there’s an obvious difference between this team and last years’ team that makes them look a lot more like WKU than they were before. I will say that there are four players from Las Cruces, three more from New Mexico, one from El Paso, and only one foreign player, a Canadian freshman. This is like WKU’s regional recruiting. Will their strategy work here? I don’t know, but this likely isn’t a short term plan. Coach Jordan is planning on developing players from scratch, so we might not see good results for a couple of seasons.
One reason I wasn’t sure about going to Aggie Sports this year came after I saw the Volleyball schedule. There were no home tournaments on the schedule. This issue was not addressed on the podcast. A selling point of the Aggie Country Pass is getting those Volleyball and Softball tournaments, which are much more expensive if purchasing a day pass. In past years, they’d host two volleyball tournaments. Last year, there was only one. Even though the invites might not have been impressive most of the time, you still got a lot of volleyball and it was worth taking the day off for like three matches in a day. I’m concerned they couldn’t find a sponsor and/or didn’t have the money to bring anyone here.
To today’s Saturday Scrimmage, I ran into Aggie Weight Room manager, Ramey (?), in the stands and chatted with him briefly. (I’d met him and his family at Soccer on Thursday.) The first thing I noticed when looking over the team was that senior Ashley Herman was in a boot. Ramey said she’d been injured last month and was gone for the year. I had to stop myself from cursing. It’s not like this happened last season with Ryleigh Whitekettle. Coach Jordan seemed to be looking forward to her playing on the podcast. Likewise, he’d said veteran setter Bianca Perez would be out for half of the season, but there she was on court and . . . taking hitting practice? How long ago was this podcast recorded?
Peyton Castillo was finally able to play, though wearing a big leg brace like Bianca. I was happy I’d get to see Tess Fuqua and Jacqueline Corcoran, who were injured all last season. Tess had her leg wrapped up and her golden brown hair is now flat black. I don’t approve of the change, but I still like her. The Coach likes her, too. He glazed her specifically on the podcast for her leadership, which I saw myself last season (9-19-24).
Ashley wasn’t playing, but was still full of energy on the sidelines. She’d have the clipboard for tracking game plays. Honestly though, I thought I saw her wiping away some tears later in the match. I feel like crying about this, too.
Easy to notice were a couple of new skyscrapers on the team. Kate Sinclair is 6’4” and Zoe Ziegler is 6’6”. (The Coach said Zoe is his tallest player ever.) However, both of these girls are dangerously thin-looking. It seems almost unsafe for them to be playing out on court. (I’m remembering what happened to Megan Hart, though she certainly worked out well after her injury.)
I mentioned Assistant Coach Hertel was back when I ran into him in June (6-15-25). Lia Mosher is also back as a coach, but she wasn’t here today. Also back as a coach is Chelsea Rose. She was on the staff a few years ago, but I didn’t know her name. She was a definite distraction on the sidelines (I won’t go into why) and still very much is. Our lovely, athletic young women shouldn’t be getting upstaged by a coach.
There was a great crowd for the Scrimmage in the Pan-Am Center. At least a couple of groups came in for the match. Ramey mentioned that there was a Football Scrimmage tonight, as well. If I had someone to go with, I might be interested. (There’s nothing on TV tonight.)
Set 1
Why did I take notes for this? It’s a mess and hard to figure out, since these girls all play for the same team. The program had plenty of space on it and I wish I’d marked off kills on it, but I didn’t think to until the third set. I’ll just give some impressions of the play, without really giving play-by-play.
Zoe got the first kill for the White basically towering over the net. Maggie Lightheart (our sweetheart) made a light tip kill to answer for the Crimson. Maggie seemed very confident and serious out on court. She wants to be a leader. Okay, I’m going to go ahead and retire calling her, “Our sweetheart,” based on that, but that doesn’t mean my feelings have changed for her. (“Darling,” “Angel,” and “Baby” are still on the table.)
JC transfer, Katie Funk, tooled a block for her first kill. As per practice, though still listed as a setter, Bianca was out there hitting. Jacqueline aced twice on her serve. Mia Fox, who now looks short at only 6’2”, hammered a kill and made a block. Tess came up with a good serving run of four points (I think). Our presumed libero for the season, Makayla Martinez made a great dig.
Kate and Jac teamed up for a double stuff. Maggie added another kill and Jac got her first kill. Freshman and El Pasoan, Jaelynn Kahli, put in her first kill. Tess tooled a block for her first kill. Surprise, Kaylee Peterson, a defensive player, came in as a hitter. This was unexpected and she got a kill. Maggie made a nice effort on bad ball trying to dig it. She was going for a lot of balls in the backcourt.
Senior Rilen Garcia, the best story on the team, was in at setter and put in a dump shot. Between her, Nellie Reese, and Claudia Rossi, I don’t know how the position will filled. (Not to mention the three other girls listed as setters.) Kate made a kill. Okay, this is going to be a problem between Kate and Katie. They’re not at all the same, but it may take a couple of games to keep the names straight.
Maggie put in another kill off a nice set by Claudia. Oh, no! Zoe went hard into the press table. Don’t tell me we’re going to lose her already! She’s okay. She’s more resilient than she looks. Kate had another kill, or was it Katie? The teams tied at 22. Claudia went on a serving run. She got another ace and took it to set point. Jaelynn finished it for the Crimson with a kill, 25-22.
Set 2: Crimson 1, White 0
Zoe went over and apologized to the staff member at the press table when she knocked over his stuff. He was alright with it. Some of the players changed jerseys. Kaylee went to libero and Kate and Zoe were together on the White team as the Towers of Power. (We’ll workshop that name some more.)
Bianca started off with a kill. She’s serious about this position change. Tess added a couple more kills and teamed up with Katie for a block. Jac aced. Mia had a kill. There are two “Mia’s” on the team. The other is freshman setter, Mia Mendoza, who saw quite a bit of time later in the match. Bella Castro was in defensively and made a great off-court save. Katie and Bianca teamed up for a block. Tess made a tip kill.
White went up, 10-4, and Crimson called a timeout. Jac tooled a block out of the break. There was a mid-game poaching. Coach Hertel had Zoe change sides briefly. Jac and Bianca each had kills. Kate reached over and disrupted a set on the other side of the net. Jac and Jaelynn added kills, but Tess was on fire with three more kills. Finally, Maggie and Mia teamed up to stuff her.
I noticed Jack Nixon on the sidelines. He was standing and watching. Later, he greeted Coach Jordan and left. I don’t know what Jack’s going to do without a microphone in front of him this year. Maggie smashed a kill that produced thunder after it struck. Maggie added another kill, along with Bianca and Kate. Kaylee was digging the ball well this set. Jac put a kill between two blockers to get to set point. Tess made a touch kill to take the set for White. I missed writing down the final score. I think there was some question on the call that delayed the final outcome.
Set 3: Crimson 1, White 1
Tess, Peyton, and Las Cruces freshman Jazlyn Vasquez posed for a picture on the sidelines. Tess stuck her tongue out. Some players changed uniforms again. Bella came in a libero.
Jaelynn and Zoe teamed up for a block and Maggie had a touch kill, as Rilen reeled off four points on serve for Crimson to begin the set. Jac aced for the other side. Maybe a little fatigue was setting in. I missed the players, but a hitter completely whiffed on a set. Oops.
Zoe made an overpass kill. Kate had a kill and put White up, 9-8. Maggie aced and put Crimson back in front, 11-9. Jae and Jac had kills for White and it was tied at 11. Tess hit the middle of the net on a swing. She looked winded. Timeout Crimson. Kate had a kill and Tess came back with a tip kill. Mia M. made a quick set to Katie for a sudden kill. Very impressive. Blink and you missed it.
Jac with a tip kill. Maggie kaboom kill to tie it at 16. Bianca chipped in a kill. Kaylee was back in hitting and teamed up with Mia on a block. Zoe, Jac, Katie, and Peyton had kills, as White took the set, 25-20. Wait! Peyton was hitting? Yes, she was. I’m sure other volleyball players have changed positions on other teams, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen this on the Aggies. With six setters, I guess Coach Jordan was willing to experiment to keep everyone playing.
Set 4: White 2, Crimson 1
There was a Whataburger video between sets with various food items racing. It was cute. I wonder if this will be a new contest during the season. Peyton was signing some girls’ shirts on the sideline. Chelsea was now working on my end of the court, which I appreciated.
Kaylee began the set with a kill. Jae came back with a kill and teamed with Mia for a block. Maggie served an ace that hit the net in an odd way. A player on the other side got hit on the back by it. Coach Jordan facepalmed, but then laughed, while the reserves danced a doe-see-doe for the ace. Kate made a kill that bounced off a couple of defenders. Jac made a solo block and had a kill.
Katie made an overpass kill to put White up, 9-7. I think there might have been a Roof call after that. Nobody was getting mad at the refs in this, though the up official did blitz a call in this set and had to correct himself. It’s the first match of the season for everyone.
Jae and Mia teamed for a block to tie it at 11. Peyton was back hitting again. After missing a couple of shots, the Coach immediately pulled her. She wiped away a few tears by the bench. Jac caught fire with three more kills for White. Jae and Mia made another block for Crimson. Jac added another kill off Tess, who was definitely flagging by this point.
Crimson got back in the set with a kill from Zoe, a Maggie fastball, an ace by Nellie, and Maggie tied it at 22 with another kill. This was followed by two dueling out serves and a net serve all in a row. The girls need to work on their serving under pressure. White was at match point, but Maggie tied it at 24 with a kill. Zoe and Bianca made a block to give Crimson the set, 26-24. I guess that ties it at 2 for the match. Crimson celebrated anyway.
Peyton looked miserable after the match. I hope she wasn’t playing to avoid getting cut from the team. A bunch of kids went down to the court for signatures. I looked around for Nellie figuring she’d go to her parents. I was looking for her mom and dad, Robin and Trey, when I came in. I was looking in the wrong place. I went to down to say, “Hi” to them. Nellie was wearing a big, happy smile, which I didn’t see when she was watching baseball. (Playing makes her happy.)
I assumed the young man with them was her ballplayer brother, Cooper. No, it was Cade Shumard, his roommate. Cooper was doing well, but was working out right now. “So you just brought in a reliever to replace him?” I said. Nellie said, “He’s also a replacement brother when Cooper irritates me.” I wish I’d found them earlier, so we could chat. I was embarrassed enough barraging in on a family gathering.
So, what’s my assessment of the team? I don’t know. We’re going to have to see them playing someone else and see who’s playing to get a sense of how well they’ll work together. I will throw out some observations about some players.
Maggie Lightheart, just from the sound, appears to be the hardest hitter on the team. She seems pretty mature out there and wants to be a leader. Claudia Rossi might be the best server, though a couple of other girls did serve well. Tess Fuqua and Jacqueline Corcoran, two virtual newcomers who were injured all last season, came out firing well. Jac’s name came up all over this recap. Tess did seem a bit fatigued as the match wore on. I hope that’s it and not her injury getting re-aggravated.
Bianca Perez was kind of shockingly effective as a hitter. Peyton Castillo and Kaylee Peterson were somewhat less effective, but could play it. Kaylee is still probably better as a defensive player. (All this to replace Ashley Herman on the court?) Finally, I was really impressed with transferee Katie Funk. She seemed to do everything well at the net and jumps well really well. (And I’m not sure how many times I credited her kills to Kate Sinclair above.) Jaelynn Kohli also looked good, especially for a freshman. She isn’t built like someone just out of high school.
Okay, that was fun and surprising. They’ll have their first match with an opponent ***next weekend.***
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