I came prepared today. I was wearing my new Wave the Wonder Dog t-shirt and hat, and there he was waiting by the front door for me. I said, “Hello,” to his agent. A ticket girl commented on my outfit. While I was petting Wave, I asked him about joining his entourage. He was noncommittal. Sigh. Inside the Pan-American Center, I saw a pretty golden Lab. I wonder if that’s his glamorous girlfriend. Should I try taking some paparazzi pictures?
For today’s exhibition match between Aggie Volleyball and the Lubbock Christian Lady Chaps, this time I found Trey and Robin Reese, setter Nellie’s parents, early and sat down with them. It was really interesting conversation with them. Maybe too much. I was watching the match and taking notes, but not entirely paying attention. I did get quite a bit of gossip about the team.
First off, I knew I shouldn’t have said something, but couldn’t help myself. I mentioned meeting Coach Hertel (6-15-25), whom they only knew by his first name. He’d said Nellie was nothing like her mom. Judging by the reaction, I quickly added he did like the both of them, but it didn’t matter. Apparently, she didn’t have a great opinion of him already and thought the coach played favorites. (Your daughter is already a starter. I don’t think she’s having a problem with the coaches.) Oh, well. I found out there were already issues with the coaches not all being on the same page and all telling the girls different things. Hopefully, the current staff is more in sync.
Robin already messed up my enjoyment of the team. I asked who she thought looked good on the team. She named Tess Fuqua and a couple of others that I forgot. I said she looked good too, but seemed to wear out later on in the Scrimmage. Robin said she had an abdominal tear that made it painful for her to play. How can I enjoy watching our lovely Tess playing knowing that she’s out there suffering? This sucks. Now I know too much.
I asked a couple of specific questions that were bothering me. One, there were no home Volleyball tournaments this season. They didn’t know why, either. I thought it was a bad sign. If Softball doesn’t have a tournament, we’ll know for sure it’s university funding and/or finding sponsors.
Two, I asked why there weren’t any new transfers from any major universities. Robin just said it was hard getting players to come here. Maybe it’s gotten worse since last year. I’m still wondering if it’s an institutional issue, since Soccer has the same problem. Speaking of Soccer, I mentioned to Trey about the three Anthem kneelers on their team and he just shook his head.
Later, Robin did say that there were issues with some players transfer players that weren’t asked back to the team. She wasn’t naming names, but the only non-senior, non-returner I saw on the roster was Starr Williams, but there might have been senior transfers that were also a problem. Like I said before, this team looks a lot different than last year. (Read between the lines.)
In other player news, I’d heard from different sources that Ashley Herman was either done for the season or just out for a couple of weeks. The answer is neither. It’ll apparently depend on how hard she rehabs when she’ll be back, but it probably won’t be two weeks. Zoe Ziglier, our new 6’6” middle blocker, occasionally trips on her own feet. I’m guessing she has a large shoe size. Katie Funk, who I’d tabbed as nice pick up for the team and mentioned it to Robin, she said Katie needed more experience at this level. She needed to learn where to watch on court during plays.
A new player was added to the team since the Scrimmage. Ezgi Duzgezen is a junior college transfer originally from Turkey. We did not get to see her play today. She’s another skyscraper middle blocker at 6’3”. I’m sure she’ll get worked into the rotation shortly. Also new is a Café area at the southeast end of the court. It wasn’t open or occupied. I’m questioning this, but we’ll see how it looks in operation sometime.
Set 1
And there was Volleyball match. I probably got my money’s worth from the conversation, so this was a bonus. A decent crowd showed up for this exhibition with a DII team. PA Ed Carnathan seemed to be calling them the “Lady Chefs.” They are the Lady Chaps. We’ve seen their Softball team here (9-28-19). I was tempted to go by and ask Ed, “Nice job announcing, but who are the ‘Chefs?’” (It’s an homage to the old Snickers commercial.)
These notes are rough. Thankfully, this game doesn’t count. I’m sorry for not giving much coverage to the opposition. I didn’t see much of them where I was. I was sitting on the north end near the court, instead of in the east side stands on the north end. Robin preferred this angle. Trey said to watch for loose balls, which did come up in the stands.
Maggie Lightheart got the first kill against on an opponent early. Mia Fox added a tip kill, before Maggie served up an ace. 3-1 Aggies, Zoe made a kill off of a good set from Nellie. On defense, Maggie made a pancake dig. She is looking good. 7-5 Tess tooled a block for her first kill. She went back to serve and aced, too
Kate Sinclair rotated in. (I think I can keep her and Katie straight now for scoring.) Kate got kill and the reserves went crazy for her. 11-8 Aggies, Maggie had another kill. 12-8 Nellie had an ace as an LC receiver flat missed a dig, as the ball dropped in front of her. 13-9 Maggie served up another ace. She was used as a serving sub as a freshman. 14-9 there was a long rally on this point. LC made a nice off-court save to keep the point going. Mia and Zoe teamed up for a block to take it. Libero Makayla Martinez aced at 16-11. Tess had another kill. Mia had a couple of blocks. Maggie got a “Boom!” from PA Ed on a kill that brought it to set point. The Aggies took it, 25-16.
Set 2: Aggies 1, Lady Chaps 0
Nellie began the set with an ace. I can guess LC’s coach will have them working on serve receive in practice. Zoe followed that up with a no-look kill and another kill. 4-2 Aggies, Maggie added another kill. Next point, Nellie made a back set to freshman Jaelynn Kohli, who got her first kill. Jaelynn was a Set 1 starter. She was another player that Robin liked. Trey and I were both amazed that someone else didn’t recruit her given her build. Surely Coach Wallis at UTEP wanted her.
Claudia Rossi rotated in to serve. After Kate and Jae made a block, Claudia put in an ace. 9-8 Aggies, Tess had another kill. Jae fired a fastball for a kill. She is going to be ridiculous as a senior. On a quick set from Claudia, Kate slapped a kill from the middle. Tess, Jae, and Maggie added more kills. 20-14 Maggie with a solo block. She does it all and puts in a kill after. Mia made a kill to bring it to set point. Tess finished it with a kill, 25-26 Aggies.
Set 3: Aggies 2, Lady Chaps 0
Rilen Garcia came in as the setter. Robin identified her as the team’s vocal leader. Coach Jordan said Tess was also pretty vocal. I might guess Maggie is the quiet leader by example, but I don’t have intimate knowledge of the team. Mia began the set with a kill. Katie Funk came in. Maggie and Jae had kills. 10-5 Aggies, Katie made a block. Mia made another kill. 14-8 Tess had a kill. An LC player dove into their bench for it.
There was a called timeout. To this point, there had only been 15-point automatic timeouts, so the match was going quickly. The PA played Sweet Caroline. The videoboard showed Nellie and Jazlyn Vasquez dancing to the music with the reserves. (Getting a good look at her, Jaz has very pretty eyes.) Zoe had a tip kill and Jae and Maggie put in kills. 20-11 Tess served an ace.
Jacqueline Corcoran relieved Tess on serve and put in an ace. Peyton Castillo came in to set and Maggie painted the corner for a kill. 23-12 Aggies, Mia and Katie combined for a block. Jaz came in to serve and made a great dig on a point. Finally, Mia slapped a kill to finish it, 25-14. (I was near the end of the page and I thought this was going to be the final set, so I wasn’t writing much.)
Set 4: Aggies 3, Lady Chaps 0
Surprise! PA had to hurriedly shout at the about-to-depart crowd that there was going to be a fourth set. I found out after the match that Coach Jordan had called over to the LC coach asked for the fourth set right after the third set. The match had gone so quickly, I think the Coach had wanted to give the reserves some work and give the fans a bit more of a show. The LC team was kind of clearly not prepared for this. The Aggies, at least, took out most of their starters for the set.
Peyton stayed in as setter. After Jae made a kill, Peyton served up two aces and ended up with a 5-point run to start the set. The towers took over with Zoe tooling a block and Kate getting a kill. Jae got back-to-back kills to make it 10-1. LC took a timeout. During the break, Peyton attempted a lift on Zoe while impromptu performing with the Cheerleaders.
Zoe got another kill out of the break. Bianca Perez came in as a hitter, along with Mia Mendoza as a setter. Robin had said that this experiment with the setters hitting wasn’t really serious. 17-6 Aggies, an LC player crashed into the stands. On a previous play, one of them had gone into a sideline table for a dig. They were still playing hard.
18-6 Aggies, Jae made a heady off-court save. Jacqueline and Katie ended the point with a block. Katie got her first kill and Jac followed with her first. 23-11 Zoe got one more kill. Kaylee Peterson came in as a hitter and Bella Castro entered as libero. Peyton got the Aggies to set point with a sneaky setter dump. An LC player did nearly make a kick save on it. Finally, Jac aced for the 25-13 set win and a 4-0 match win, not that we’re keeping score.
This was an exhibition, so weren’t any official stats. The website said the Aggies hit .320 with 11 blocks and 7 aces, but that was probably just through 3 sets. Maggie Lightheart showed some leadership with 11 kills. Mia Fox, in the crowded middle blocker position on the team, had 9. Jaelynn Kohli playing in all 4 sets had 8 by my very questionable count. She’s definitely ready to start. I still really don’t know what to make of this team. We’ll see how they do on the road next week against stiffer competition, but we may not have a true gauge until they play the Lobos next month.
Nellie came over to her folks. I congratulated her and she had me give her a high-five. She has a nice smile. I get the impression, she’s only really happy when she’s playing. She told everyone that that fourth set was a surprise to her and the team, too. Her brother Cooper was here watching, along with his baseball teammate, Cade Shumard. They were seated elsewhere with the team, and I finally met him. Friendly fellow. Cade was also living with the family, so he is actually an extra brother. I took my leave not wanting to intrude further. I am a bit worried about being too much of a pesky entourage with the Reese family.
Quick Aggie Baseball note: Trey said that the rumors are true. Presley Askew Field will be all turf next season. Home plate will be moved back, thus the distance to the walls will be further. That might help the pitchers. Apparently, the distances listed on the walls were wrong anyway.
Even with the fourth set, the match came in under two hours. I took off for a late lunch at Burger King. It was cheap with a coupon and hit the spot without any weird taste, unlike my last two burgers out. And then I had a busy night with the ***TV remote,*** which distracted me from writing this. ***Aggie Football*** debuts next weekend.
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