Me and dad were ready to go to tonight’s Aggie Volleyball game against the New Haven Chargers. Unfortunately, Lamae’s little dogs were too upset about an incoming storm for her to leave them. It’s too bad. She was even wearing her Aggie Volleyball shirt. Dad sort of apologized for just wearing an old t-shirt and old jeans to the game, but didn’t feel like changing. I offered to buy him an Aggie shirt and hat at the game. He declined.
We were a little late leaving. We’d been watching Tennessee playing Georgia in College Football. The TN kicker missed a last second field goal that would have won it. We left at that point. Georgia won it in overtime. That was sad. Outside, it was definitely threatening, but not raining yet. At the Pan-Am Center, a good crowd came out (att. 1352). This was in spite of Aggie Football playing at the same time out on the road.
Frankly, I don’t like this evening start time. According to Trey Reese from his daughter, Nellie Reese, the girls like it because they can sleep in. Dad and I weren’t sitting by the Reese family. Dad didn’t seem to have a problem negotiating the stairs, so I guess I should have brought him over. Their son and a couple of his baseball teammates were working as ball boys for the match.
Terrible news began the match. PA Ed announced that it would be Assistant Coach Lia Mosher’s final game with the Aggies. She’s continuing her professional career elsewhere. Coach Jordan had her shake hands with the New Haven coach before the match. That was a nice touch. (I have no doubt she found out about my plan to win a date with her at the volleyball auction. Darn!)
I didn’t notice Makayla Martinez with the team. I’d hoped she would have recovered by now, not gotten worse. Bella Castro would be the libero again tonight. I did see Lia chatting with newcomer, Ezgi Duzgezen before the match. Ezgi still hasn’t come into a game yet. The other starters were a little surprising. Jacqueline Corcoran was starting, along with Claudia Rossi at setter. Her and Rilen Garcia would rotate in the position. I wasn’t sure at the time if Nellie was injured.
Set 1
I’d pointed out a few of the girls in practice for dad to keep an eye on. One of them was Tess Fuqua, who got the first point on a touch kill. Claudia aced on the next point. Charger setter, Caroline Johnson, broke up the run with a dump shot. Mia Fox had an attack error and then was blocked giving NH a 2-3 lead.
Jacqueline tied it up with a tip. Maggie Lightheart got her first kill and tied it at 4. (I pointed her out to dad, as well.) We had a bit of comedy at 5-5. Claudia took shot off her chest for a Charger kill. The Aggies fell behind on a couple more attack errors. 6-8 NH, Kate Sinclair broke the run with an overpass kill. Rilen rotated in to serve, but hit the net. Maggie then hit the antenna and the Aggies were down, 6-10. Timeout Aggies.
Back to play, Maggie powered a kill through a couple of blockers and Tess got a kill off a defender. Lia was talking on the bench to Kate. She’s coaching till the end. 10-11 NH, Tess added another kill. Mia hits one hard enough to make a defender dodge it. She followed that by winning a joust at the net on an overpass and tied it at 12. Jac would tie it at 13 by making a cool-looking turn around and walk away kill while the explosion goes off behind the hero move. (Actually, that’s probably not a good idea on court, only in the movies.)
Maggie tooled a block to give the Aggies the lead, 14-13. She put in a pair of kills afterward. Kaylee Peterson came in to serve and put in ace. 19-14 Aggies, Maggie got a touch kill. She got the Aggies to the Turn with another kill. She was on fire. Off of an out-of-system set, Zoe used her 6’6” height to reach back and hit a kill on the NH backline.
22-16 Aggies, Kate made a solo block and fired up the crowd. After a long rally, Zoe ended it with a tip kill to get it to set point. Finally, Maggie was serving and hit the tape. The ball fell over for the ace and the set, 25-16. She did that yesterday. I think she practices that.
Set 2: Aggies 1, Chargers 0
Mia tooled a block to begin the set. Maggie powered a kill at 2-1 Aggies. She teamed up with Kate for a block at 4-2 Aggies. With the teams changing ends, I was seeing the NH reserves now. They seemed much more reserved than yesterday. 5-3 Aggies, Zoe again used her height to get a kill. The video screen showed the Aggies hitting at a .389 clip. Right after that, they had problems. NH took the lead on a block, 5-6.
PA Ed wasn’t announcing any updates from Aggie Football. That’s usually not a good sign. I finally looked it up. They were down 16-0 to LA Tech. Tess painted the sideline and tied it at 6. Charger Naliah Grannell gave NH back the lead with an overpass kill. Tess tied it again at 7 with a kill. The Aggies took the lead with Tess making an “intimidation” block. (She didn’t hit it. The attacker misfired trying to go around her.)
9-8 Aggies, Mia added a kill. Maggie smacked a kill hard enough to rebound high into the stands, 11-9 Aggies. Kate added a kill to make it, 12-9 Aggies, and NH called a timeout. Out of the break, Kaylee aced and did it again on the next serve. Grannell broke serve with a slap kill. Kate came right back pounding an overpass kill. The crowd really loved that one.
Zoe got the Aggies to the Turn with a block. Bella had a four-point serving run. Zoe served up a fastball kill. Claudia aced at 23-14. Finally at set point, NH had 4 touches and the Aggies took it, 25-15.
Set 3: Aggies 2, Chargers 0
For the half, PA Ed introduced a group of kids on to the court. They were child cancer survivors, including a four-year old. A kid dance group came out and performed with them. The Aggies watched the show. NH was in a huddle with their coach. It was 24-7 LA Tech against Aggie Football. I didn’t see anybody watching that game on the press row.
Set 3 started with a confused rally. Bella saved the ball at the net and the Aggies took the point. Mia added a kill next. Charger Lauren MacKellar did make an off-court save during the point. The NH coach challenged. Coach Jordan took the opportunity in the break to chew out the Reserves for no discernable reason. The point was reversed to tie it at 1.
Mia got that kill back on the next point in anger. And it was challenged again. This time, the NH Coach sent his captain to talk to the up official. Coach Jordan had to do the same with Maggie. I explained this odd Kabuki to dad that the coaches aren’t allowed to directly talk to the up official. The point was replayed. That’s one thing with volleyball. If the refs can’t agree or aren’t sure, they’ll call for a do-over. On the replay, Mia tooled a block get the kill. Third times the charm. She worked for that one.
Mia added another kill on the next point. Don’t make her angry. I was watching the 70’s Wonder Woman briefly this morning. If you put some big curls in Mia’s hair, she might have a passing resemblance to Lynda Carter. She has the heroic proportions and pretty face. 3-2 Aggies, NH took this point on a long rally. They saved an overpass dunk by Jac.
The Aggies’ blocking came up big with Mia and Maggie combining on a block at 4-2 and a towering block combo with Zoe and Kate with their combined 12’6” height. (Not a relevant stat, but a fun one.) Maggie mixed in another kill between the blocks. 8-4 Aggies, Maggie had another kill after a long rally. The Aggie made several saves on the point. The point was challenged, but upheld. The NH Coach was pretty unhappy. A fan behind me said he should have been challenging in the first two sets and it was a little too late now.
Tess started taking over with a kill at 9-4 (there were more saves on that point), another kill, and then a block, as Maggie was on a four-point serving run. NH took a timeout at 11-4 Aggies. NH broke serve coming out of the stoppage. PA Ed muffed the name of the Charger server, Kole Fluckiger. You know, I can see stumbling on that last name badly. The camera had a close up of her during the announcement. She shook her head. Whatever.
All those challenges and long points did catch up with the Aggies, as NH began a comeback. 11-7 Aggies, the Coach took a timeout. 12-7 Aggies, Zoe got a kill, but after that there were a couple of mis-sets from Rilen. Coach Jordan sent Nellie in for the first time in the game. 13-10 Aggies, Tess won the point on a tip, but it was hard fought for it. The game was turning into trench warfare at the net with both sides dug in.
14-10 Aggies, Jac and Mia combined on a block. The Aggies seemed to be getting the upper hand back, but Tess was blocked on the next point. Charger Kira Lynch made an overpass kill next. 16-2 Aggies, Maggie won a contested overpass ball at the net. Mia followed with a block. 19-13 Aggies, Maggie had a kill. The return on it skimmed length-wise across the net and out.
NH took the next point. Kaylee made a diving save during the point. 19-15 Aggies, Bella shanked a serve receive. Coach Jordan was predictably angry. The Aggies took the Turn, 20-15, as Maggie finished it with a kill at an extreme angle after a long rally. NH was not going away and won the point at 20-17. Zoe made an off-court save during the point. Timeout Aggies.
There were more great digs on the next point, which NH took. 20-19 Aggies, Maggie hit the antenna. Rilen was put back in to set, which meant the Coach didn’t like Nellie’s set to Maggie. Rilen had another mis-set to tie it at 20 and Nellie came back in. I’ve seen before that setting seems very rhythm-based and switching back-and-forth out of rotation doesn’t work.
The crowd was in to it and urging their team on. The Aggies broke the run and took a 21-20 lead. NH took a timeout while Maggie was in mid-serve. Kate had a kill coming out of the break. Maggie came flying out of the backcourt for a kill at 23-21 Aggies. Zoe finished it with a kill, 25-22, and the match, 3-0.
The Aggies definitely dominated in hitting, .218 to .043, in kills, 40 to 28 kills, and in aces, 6-1. However, they were still down in blocks, 10-9, but not as bad as last night. There was no one with double digits for kills for the Chargers. This team played better than their record and that they’re debutantes to D1. Part of me does consider that the Aggies might not be that great right now. Having Jaelynn Kohli and Makayla back would make them about as good as they’re going to be with Ashley gone.
Maggie Lightheart again gets a Gameball with 15 kills. Tess Fuqua had 8 and Zoe Ziegler had 6. Mia Fox and Kate Sinclair had 4 blocks each. Kaylee Peterson was effective as a serving sub with 3 aces. Finally, Bella Castro led the team in digs, just like a libero should.
I went over to the Reese family after the match. Dad told me he’d wait outside. I told Trey I was going to ask if Nellie was injured until she came in for the third set. He didn’t know why she wasn’t starting. I wonder if, given the attrition of Aggie setters lately, Coach Jordan wanted to make sure Rilen didn’t get rusty on the bench. Trey was following along with Aggie Football. They were down 27-14 in the fourth. (They’d lose 49-14.)
His son came by from ball boy duty. One of his teammates ran by and said, “I’ve been holding it since the game started.” I guess they were drafted into the jobs. That’s what you get for hanging around the volleyball bench. I told Trey that the ball girls were better looking yesterday. He wholeheartedly agreed.
Outside, I didn’t know what would greet me weather-wise. It had rained, but not a lot. There was a storm in the distance. Dad enjoyed the match. He was texting Lamae about the game. He was really impressed with Maggie. We’ll see who wants to come next time, which will be the ***Aggies versus the Lobos.*** That’ll be a real test to gauge the team by.
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