Springhill Suites Invitational NMSU vs Lamar Volleyball 9-14-19

Adorable Halle Razo

Here’s where I finally question going to 12 volleyball matches and two soccer matches over two weeks with the intention of recapping all of them.  I’m bushed and all I did was watch and type.   

It was darkly cloudy outside, but hadn’t rained more than sprinkles all day.  Still, it was nice and cool.  I hoped that attendance for Aggie Football wouldn’t be diminished for the weather.  Of course, the cross-scheduling with Aggie Volleyball in the last match of this weekend’s invitational probably didn’t help either sport.  Ron picked me up for one more trip to the Pan-Am Center this weekend. 

It was sprinkling a little when we pulled into the parking lot, which was full.  I noticed the lot where I’d parked earlier was full.  This was good news for Aggie Football.  They’d heavily promoted this game with San Diego State.  Of course, this pretty much took away from Aggie Volleyball’s match.  It’s hard to say by how much, but there were a few less people inside tonight (attendance 746) than last night.    

Right after Ron and I got settled and were talking to Mike, a ball from warm-ups suddenly bounded up towards me.  I just missed fielding it or it hitting me.  Take your pick.  Balls were shooting up into the stands all over the place.  The Aggies and the Lamar Cardinals were amped up and firing.  Julianna Salanoa was happy and bouncy on the floor, as I suspect she usually is away from the court.  She sang along with I Love it (I Don’t Care) and That’s Not My Name.  Halle Razo was back in the libero shirt, so she’d be playing tonight.  She seemed a bit apprehensive on the court.      

Coach Jordan was at one end of the court talking to the opposing coach, Michelle Kuester.  Once again, he would be facing a former Aggie, this time one of his old players.  This has to be the dream of any Aggie player who wants a career in volleyball: being back at the Pan-Am and coaching against Coach Jordan.  She’d get a special introduction for the crowd, who gave her a big hand.  Jordan gave her a big hug afterward.  He must be proud of her. 

OMG!  OMG!  Dizzykitten, my favorite streamer from Twitch came in sat down in front of me!  She came all the way from Arkansas to see this match.  She was wearing a lovely, fun dress like she does when she streams.  I can’t believe this!  (How’s my hair look?)  What are you doing, Ron?  He sent her away.  He told the group that she was with that the front row is usually a crossing area for fans.  That is correct, when there are more fans here, not now.  They left to sit in lower seats by Danny and Mike.  Couldn’t you have at least directed her to sit by me? 

Hmmm . . . Looking twice, Dizzy looks a bit older in person and the guy she’s with seems like a husband of some sort.  I’m tweeting this anyway: jdh417 meets Dizzy!  Life now complete!  (Insert carefully cropped picture.)  After she left after the match, Danny came by said the nice blonde girl in front of him gave him an invite to play to Apex Legends with her on Sunday night on her Twitch stream.  Damn it! 

Set 1

I had the football game on in my ears over the radio during the match.  I don’t think I actually listened to any of it.  Events on court were much more interesting (and appealing).  Before play started, Coach Kuester directed the Lamar captain to ask the up official why NMSU scheduled this match at the same time as the football game.  He immediately issued Coach Jordan a yellow card, since Athletic Director Mario Moccia wasn’t in the building to more properly receive it.  With that, we were underway.  

The Aggies started the match off with Julianna getting a kill.  Halle looked pretty good on a couple of points.  The coach must have sat her out in the morning match to keep her fresh for this one.  If she had some lingering illness yesterday, she appeared to have recovered.  Ashley Anselmo got a kill at 3-2 Aggies.  4-4, Aggie blocking caused Lamar to scramble.  5-5, beautiful Megan Hart and Ashley combined for a block.  6-6, Savannah Davision got a kill.  Briefly, the scoreboard was correctly giving player stats, but it seems whenever a player cycles out, the scoreboard doesn’t put them back on.  I can’t find Sav’s stats after somebody serves for her.

You can tell by the running score that this set was close.  Lamar eventually took the lead, 9-6.  Much like this morning, they were still cleaning the court about every other point.  It really wasn’t that warm inside.  9-7 Lamar, Meg got her first kill after several swings.  11-7, Annika Slovak with the nice hair for Lamar served up an ace.  12-8 Lamar, after an out-serve by Natalie Mikels.  Timeout Aggies. 

12-9 Lamar, Ashley fired a crosscourt kill, but Lamar increased their lead to 15-11 after a couple of Aggie out-blocks.  15-12, Brigette Lowe came in.  She got some good playing time today.  16-14, Meg got her second kill.  Kiley Tonge came in to serve.  The Lamar reserves began an out-serve chant.  16-16, Meg hit the line with a kill.  17-17, Megan on a tip.  18-17 Aggies, Jules got a kill.  18-18, net serve by Halle.  This continued the tone from the UTEP game and yesterday.  The Aggies would score a couple of points and then commit a service error.

19-18 Aggies, Cat got a kill as two Lamar girls tripped over each other.  However, Lamar retook the lead.  After an ace at 21-19, the coach called another timeout.  22-20 Lamar, Cat had a net serve.  22-21, Jordan Pleasants came in to serve, but a double touch gave the Cardinals the lead at 23-21 lead.  24-21 Lamar, the Aggies were completely disorganized on this point.  They looked like a bad high school team.  Coach Jordan was furious.  24-22, Ash got the kill after a long rally.  Lamar had some great digging on it though to keep it going.  Lamar finally took Set 1, 25-22.

Set 2: Cardinals 1, Aggies 0

Lia Mosher started this set.  I’m not sure if she was in the first set.  Megan started Set 2 with a kill.  3-1 Aggies, Cat had a kill.  4-1, Halle put an untouched ace into the corner.  4-2, net serve.  Sigh.  The Aggies did add to their lead and went up 7-2.  A couple of Lamar fouls helped.  8-2, Sav got a kill.  Timeout Lamar.  During the break, one of the line judges seemed to be having an argument with the up official, probably over those foul calls.

The Aggies continued on their roll with a 10-5 kill by Cat.  Aggie blocking got into it with a point at 11-5.  12-5, Savannah’s cross-court kill hit the sideline.  12-7, Lamar got this point after an Ashley mis-hit.  She’d had mis-dig earlier in the set.  I was concerned about her.  13-7, Sav got the kill, but Jules served into the net on the next point.  14-8, Megan put down a kill with authority.  14-10, an Aggie DT.  15-10, Sav put one into an open court. 

15-11 Aggies, Sav net served.  The problem in the match wasn’t one bad server.  It was basically all of the Aggie servers doing the same thing: making two good serves, then making an error on the third one.  This was why it’s been almost impossible for them to come from behind in a set since last week.  15-12, Meg took a swing into the net.  She talked to Krysten Garrison about the set afterward.  16-12, Aggies with a block.  18-12, Lamar whiffed on a swing and had a player collision on the point. 

20-13 Aggies, Jules got the kill.  After, she thanked Krysten for the low set, which is where she likes it.  20-14, Nat made an out-serve.  Oh, my head.  21-14, Jules got another kill and Sav got a kill at 22-15.  23-16, Cat fired a fastball down the middle of the court.  24-17, Lia got a kill.  24-18, one more net serve by Sav, but Cat finished the set out with a kill.  Aggies took Set 2, 25-18.

Set 3: Cardinals 1, Aggies 1

Aggie Marketing staffer, Nicole had mentioned earlier that a “B” team was running the show today at the Pan-Am with Aggie going on.  I suddenly noticed that there was no “Flex-Cam,” or anything else, going on during the breaks except music.  The on-court action was plenty interesting enough.

Lamar took a 2-0 lead as the Aggies again looked confused on court.  They took a 3-1 lead after even more Aggie confusion.  3-2 Lamar, Jules got a kill, but Lamar increased their lead to 5-2 on a kill off the tape.  5-3 Lamar made an out-serve.  5-5, Krysten made a couple of good serves to tie it, but then had an out-serve.  Lamar followed that with an ace and then another out-serve.  11-8 Lamar, Sav made one of her trademark flying kills out of the backcourt.  (That’d make a good poster image.) 

11-9 Lamar, Natalie got an ace.  11-10 Lamar, Ash and Jules combined on a block.  The Aggie reserves finally got into it.  11-11, Ash hit the backline with heat.  Apparently, she was back to being okay.  12-11 Lamar, Nat, all together now, hit an out-serve.  12-12, Cat tied it on a kill.  13-13 Aggies, Sav got a kill.  Nat had a good pancake dig on the point.  Kiley came in to serve.  14-12, Ash with a kill.  15-12, Sav with an overpass dunk.  15-13, yet another Aggie serve into the net.  15-15, the Aggies took a timeout.

16-15 Aggies, Ash hit the far sideline.  17-16 Lamar, they got the block.  Kiley made a great save way off the court on the point.  18-16 Lamar, timeout Aggies.  A remix of Phil Collins’ In the Air Tonight played.  That was pretty cool.  The Aggies started a comeback.  Ash had a tip, Meg had a kill, and Meg and Lia made a block.  21-18 Aggies, after a Lamar attack error.  Timeout Lamar. 

22-19 Aggies, Lamar made an out-serve.  Jordan P came in to serve.  23-19, the Aggies took the point after a long rally.  24-20, Meg had a kill.  24-21, Halle had an out-serve.  24-23, Lamar aced.  24-24, tied after a Lamar kill.  We went to extra points.  25-24 Aggies, Lia got the kill on a long rally.  26-25, a kill by Jules.  Kiley into serve.  26-26, Lamar libero Erin Pequeno made two great digs on this point.  (Don’t say I never cover the other team or notice their good plays.)  Finally, Megan puts an end to it with a kill, 28-26.  The Aggies finally managed to make a comeback in a set.   

Set 4: Aggies 2, Cardinals 1

Savannah and Coach Jordan had an extended chat about strategy before the set.  (I’m assuming they weren’t talking about dinner.  Coach: “How about I take the team over to Chuck E. Cheese if you guys win.”)  Coach Rubio talked to Megan.  Presumably, he was just telling her how great and beautiful she is and how grateful the coaching staff was to have her.  (At least that’s what I would have said.  They might have also been talking strategy.)

2-0 Aggies, they got some great digging on this point, as Sav finished it with a kill.  4-1, Sav’s serving run ended on a net serve.  Ron was able to predict these things before they’d happen by this point.  4-3, DT on the Aggies.  5-3, Meg dropped the hammer for the point.  6-4, Cat with a kill and, 7-5, Jules with a kill.  There was lengthy delay by the refs for some reason.  The play seemed pretty clear cut.  8-5, Sav kill.  Everybody’s in on it.  10-5, Cat with an ace.  Timeout Lamar.

During the break, Ron nudged me.  Mercedes Danrich of Lamar was seated on the floor by the bench with a couple of trainers and assistant coaches with her.  She was there for quite a while, before they transferred her to the training table.  There hadn’t been any obvious injuries on court.  Ron thought that maybe she’d collapsed offcourt, perhaps sick.  It was a troubling distraction.  A few minutes later, a couple of paramedics came in.  They worked with her for the rest of the match.  Eventually, she was sitting up with her head in a towel.  I think she was basically okay and they were just being careful with her.  

Back on court, 11-5 Aggies, Sav got a kill off the tape.  12-5, Cat made a great save on this point, as Sav got another kill.  12-6, Lamar finally won a point.  Cat had a great run on serve.  13-6, Ash went cross-court for the kill.  16-6, Meg and Ash had the block.  16-7, Meg had an out-swing, but that was a good run by Jules on serve.  That was two good service runs in a row. 

17-7 Aggies, Meg and Ash combined on a block.  19-9, Sav did her other trademark, a stutter step, right before hitting a kill.  Jordan G came in to serve and had an ace at 20-9.  Timeout Lamar.  20-10, net serve.  I can see where Coach Jordan is desperately trying to find a dependable sub server among his reserves.  From here, Lia and Cat had kills.  Brigette came in and combined with Jules for a block at 23-13.  She also got a kill off the tape at 24-15.  Analyssa Acosta came in to serve and Katie Birtcil came in with her.  25-17 and 3-1, the Aggies took the set and match as Katie finished it with a kill that deflected high into the stands.  The freshman has racked up another set-winning point (three that I know of).    

Four Aggies were in double figures (Savannah Davision 15, Megan Hart 11, Ashley Anselmo 11, Cat Kelly 13).  Julianna Salanoa had 8.  Obviously, attacking isn’t a problem for the Aggies.  Blocking was also good, going 10 to 3 for the Aggies.  Digs and passes were a lot better today.  It felt like the team had finally gotten into sync by the third set, but those 16 (!) service errors were killing them.  It felt like the whole team had a mental block on consistent serving.  Lamar had 9 aces, so service reception is still an issue.  

Lamar did a great job for Coach Kuester.  Abigale Nash led with 15 kills.  They just got overpowered once the Aggies got their act together.  Much like UTEP’s Coach Wallis, I’m sure she wanted to make a good showing against Coach Jordan.  Both visiting coaches took away another lesson from the master.

Ron was off to work, so no celebratory dinner.  There was smell of pizza in the air from the Dominos across the street just to make it worse.  There were also a few sprinkles, which probably drove away the crowd from Aggie Football.  (My dad said it actually rained.)  Those fans went to the wrong event if they wanted to see an Aggie win.   Aggie Football lost 31-10 to the Aztecs.  At 0-3, the team has not yet debarked from the struggle bus.  Coach Martin said something interesting in the pregame show: “The coach can lose the game, but only the players can win it.”  Something to think about, while I collapse in exhaustion from two weeks of live sports viewing and writing.

Springhill Suites Invitational NMSU vs Grambling Volleyball 9-14-19

Glamorous Lia Mosher

There was about a half-hour break after the previous game.  As I’d only had a cup of yogurt and some grapes in the morning, I decided to get popcorn and a drink at the concessions.  I went to the bathroom first and was confronted with an amusing sight.  A dad was there with his little boy.  The kid had his pants and underwear down around his ankles, while dad was trying to talk through how to use the urinal.  I averted my eyes the whole time and tried not to snicker while using the facilities myself.  They don’t warn you about this kind of stuff when you become a parent.  $10 later at the concessions, I had my raspberry tea and a large popcorn.  I didn’t want a large popcorn, but that was all they were selling. 

The Aggies and the Grambling State Tigers were out on court.  I noticed Kassi Stolz was in a boot.  I don’t think she was wearing that last night.  It’s too bad in any case, because she probably would have played today.  Halle Razo looked down during warm-ups, if not peaked.  If she was sick last night, she still wasn’t doing well.  Halle was the only player suited up to play that didn’t in this game.  (I don’t think Lindsay Blakey and Brielle Sterns are available.)  As it turned out, Coach Jordan was resting Halle out for this match for the next.

The new PA crew forgot to play the Aggie fight song when the team came out in uniform.  There were quick player intros and no Anthem (since they did that for the first game).  Jordan George was again in at libero.  The crowd for the game was reduced from last night (687 today), but still pretty good given the circumstances (poor opponent, football this evening, Saturday afternoon).  I was with Danny and Mike and a couple of other regulars.  Danny chatted with a family of Grambling fans.  They had a cute daughter with them on crutches.  She was also a volleyball player.  (It’s such a rough sport.)  One of the line judges chatted with a ballboy on the sidelines before play.  These crews, I think, are regional, so they know the regular attendees at the venues.

Set 1

No offense, but I wasn’t taking a lot of notes for the match because I wasn’t expecting much of one.  I got a bit sloppy honestly.  This was game six of seven for me.  The Aggies went up 2-0 on a block.  It was encouraging to see some good blocking.  5-0 Aggies, Julianna Salanoa got an overpass slam.  6-1, Cat Kelly’s serving run ended on a net ball.  7-1, Ashley Anselmo went crosscourt for a kill.  8-1, another Aggie block.  11-1, Cat made a back court off her back foot kill that hit the Grambling back line.  12-3, Grambling made a kill through Aggie blocking.  I didn’t get the player number.  Both teams were wearing white tops with black shorts.  I could see Grambling’s numbers more clearly this time, unlike yesterday, but I still wasn’t paying enough attention.

14-3 Aggies, Savannah Davision, who’d already had a couple of kills, got a point on serve.  She came back to the line smiling, a rare occurrence for her on court, but she did serve out on the next point.  19-6, Cat and Jules combined for a block.  Brigette Lowe and Autumn Gentry came in.  20-6, Analyssa Acosta came in to serve to a round of applause.  Oh, it was good to see her out on court.  At 21-7, Grambling took a timeout. 

Brie Mortensen

22-8 Aggie, Brigette got a kill.  Good for her.  Freshman Brie Mortensen came into serve.  She’s a setter and I think she’ll be the starter someday.  She’s got that look in her eye of a really serious player, like Sav.  22-9, Brie made a good set here, but beautiful Megan Hart netted this one.  23-10, Jordan Pleasants came in to serve and freshman Katie Birtcil came in with her.  24-11, Zoe Abeyta came in to serve.  The reserves gave her a big cheer.  The Aggies took Set 1, 25-11.  Sav racked up several kills in the set and Megan got a couple.  The stats on the scoreboard were again not keeping up with player changes and weren’t reliable.  I’m exasperated with this.

Set 2: Aggies 1, Tigers 0

The down official handed out some candy to the ballkids.  Danny thought the kids were somehow scamming him.  Katie started this set and got a kill in the first set.  She might be playing regularly now if the team wasn’t so loaded with hitters.  1-1, Grambling took the point.  Jordan G had a good dig, but Sav gave Katie a bad set.  3-2 Tigers, Jordan made a good save, but Grambling got an overpass kill. 

4-3 Tigers, they got a kill through two Aggie blockers.  (I was still missing player numbers for the Tigers.)  Lia Mosher tied it on a kill.  She got a block kill at 6-4.  10-5 Aggies, Savannah may have mishit the ball on serve and got an ace.  She lit off an explicative right after she hit it.  Sav covered her mouth and looked embarrassed.  It was so cute.  (She’ll probably have to run laps or something later.)  10-7, after that, she netted her next serve and then netted a swing. 

12-8 Aggies, Megan nearly dove for a ball.  She stopped herself and nearly twisted her bad knee.  She came off a couple of points later.  The coach was yelling at her after she came off court.  I don’t if it was for not going for the ball or because she tried to.  I’ll say that this was not the match to go all out. 

16-8 Aggies, the Aggies showed some real hustle digging on this point.  They won it on a block.  17-8, Katie had a great kill.  18-8, Natalie Mikels got an ace on serve.  4’9” Brenda Hernandez came in for Sav to the approval of the crowd.  20-8, Brenda got a bump set dig that Jules killed and the reserves went nuts.  Timeout Grambling.  Brie came back in to serve and set Jules for a kill.  Analyssa came in to serve and Brigette was back in.  23-9, Brigette got a kill on a tip. 

Julianna was the only starter in at this point, and then she was then replaced by Lia.  24-14 Aggies, Grambling won the point before their serve.  What is this rule?  I’ve seen it happen three times now.  The Aggies took Set 2, 25-14, on a kill by Lia.  Grambling saved three set points.

Set 3: Aggies 2, Tigers 0

Jordan Pleasants was now in at libero.  All of these libero candidates since last season are suffering because Coach Jordan still remembers how good Ari Sierra was in the position.  Jordan P had a couple of good digs early.  3-2 Aggies, Lia got the kill, but Chasity Nicks on Grambling (I think) got the applause for her brave dive into the scorer’s table for the ball.  Grambling took the lead briefly.  Brigette got a kill that deflected high into the stands that tied the score at 6.  7-6 Aggies, Brig and Jules combined on a block.

Grambling tied it at 7 on a dump shot by Kalee Cadwell (I think).  The Aggies then pulled out ahead.  Brig got another kill at 14-10 Aggies.  There was long rally at 15-10, which Grambling gave up on an attack error.  16-12, Kiley Tonge finally came in for Sav after she’d hit an out-serve.  17-12, Lia got the kill.  Before that winner, she’d whiffed on a swing, but still hit it over with her other hand.  18-12, timeout Grambling.

20-17 Aggies, Cat got a kill while falling away.  It’s almost her signature shot.  It’s amazing she can get power and accuracy on a shot while leaning backward.  21-13, a couple of Grambling players dove for an out-ball and turned it into an Aggie point.  Unfortunately, this was right in front of their Coach Demetria Keys-Johnson.  For the first time, I saw her finally get mad and explode on her players.  

23-17, Jules got a solo block and made it look easy.  Analyssa came into serve.  She was followed by Brenda.  Tall freshman Tessa Fisk was the last Aggie to come in for the game.  She took a few swings before getting her first kill on match point.  The Aggies took the set 25-18 and the match 3-0.  The PA again forgot to play the fight song.  (Maybe he took it off his play list to put in more Taylor Swift songs in Spanish.)  It was an odd end to an Aggie victory.  (Actually, that song even gets played in defeat.)

I’d didn’t get any stats for the match while there and had to get them online.  Savannah Davison led with 11 kills in limited time.  The Aggies also led 47 to 19 in kills.  Julianna Salanoa had 8 blocks.  Given the opponent, it’s hard to say if the Aggies have righted the ship after last night.  They at least seemed upbeat. 

The parking lot was filling up outside for the Aggie Football game that would be starting at the same time as this evening’s volleyball game.  I didn’t have too much trouble leaving.  Since I wouldn’t be having dinner after that game, I went out to Jack-in-the-box to use a $5 Ultimate Cheeseburger meal coupon and got a cup of froyo at Orange Leaf.  I probably overindulged.  I need stop doing that, but it was good.  So, I typed up this recap (my only completed one so far) and waited to go to tonight’s finale game.

Springhill Suites Invitational Lamar vs Portland Volleyball 9-14-19

 

Portland Pilot Shayla Hoeft 

(Albeit wearing a Nevada uniform)

There was a light overcast and some sprinkles as I pulled into the Pan-Am Center parking lot for this morning’s games.  The sun came out briefly, but then disappeared for the day.  There was a visiting fan out on the Pan-Am lawn with a cute wiener dog.  I’d changed shirts for today.  I decided last years’ Springhill Suites giveaway shirt was bad luck and changed to my lucky Aggie Football “Made History” t-shirt.  (It’s not really lucky anymore, though it did work for the WAC Softball Tournament last year 5-12-18, but not entirely.) 

Inside, I found Danny at his usual seat.  He was looking at his phone and had Goldie Hawn’s bio up on it.  That reminded me that Foul Play was on TV tonight.  I hadn’t seen that movie in years.  I told him my “flu theory” about last night’s game.  He told me there were a bunch of people sick at the What-a-burger he’d went to last night.  There was also a TB outbreak at an El Paso high school where he’d been at a tournament last week.  I was sitting somewhat nervously next to Danny for the rest of the game. 

Across the court, there was some drama.  Aggie fan Tom found some people in his usual seat.  He promptly shoo’ed them away.  The crowd for this game was listed at 392, which was much larger than the other non-Aggie games of the invitational.  I’m guessing most of that crowd arrived early for the Aggie game up next.  PA Ed was not there, as he’d be working the football game later.  I recognized the voice as the Softball PA and finally got to see him.  He did a good job for his first time calling volleyball.  The music playlist had changed and was now featuring a bunch of Taylor Swift, including some remakes in Spanish.  Gag.

Looking at the teams on court, the Portland Pilots seemed to have a size and height advantage, while the Lamar Cardinals seemed more athletic.  The Portland girl that twisted her ankle yesterday was on the bench with it wrapped, but was able to walk.  She did not look happy. 

Lamar Cardinal Annika Slovak

I had two favorites; one on each team.  Shayla Hoeft for the Pilots had her very curly blonde hair with dark roots pinned up beautifully.  With her dark eye shadow, she had a Goth Victorian look.  (Be still my heart.)  Like Julianna Salanoa on the Aggies, Shayla has an incredible body built to heroic proportions, but she’s very graceful.  On the other side, Lamar setter Annika Slovak had the best hair for the invitational.  Her style was a long straight blonde with dark highlights.  It had an incredible shiny, lustrous quality.  Her hair just shimmered on court.  Not to mention, Annika has a very pretty face.      

Set 1

Both teams seemed a bit sluggish to start, except for the Lamar reserves, which started off in sync with their cheering.  Lamar went up 4-1 early, as they hit the back line a couple of times.  Lamar briefly went up 6-1 when the up official overruled a net violation.  He then changed his mind after a conversation and made it 5-2.  Danny recognized this official and was not surprised by a controversial call.

The Pilots kept it close, but Lamar got a dump kill at 6-4.  Portland closed to 6-5, as Claire Forrest hummed in a kill.  Lamar kept up their lead on an ace by Kaitlyn Gil.  11-6, Dannisha House got a kill to the reserves’ chorus of “D’s House!”  At 12-6 Lamar, Portland took a timeout.  12-7, Portland had an ace by Kassidy Naone.  They can still serve well even when not playing the Aggies.  12-9, Shayla made one of her trademark slide kills. 

13-9 Lamar, Portland was called for a foul.  The player questioned the up official.  15-9, House put in an ace for the Cardinals.  17-11, Pilot Emma Scanlan made another great pancake dig here, but wasn’t able to get the dump shot afterward.  18-11 Lamar, timeout Portland.  19-11, a Pilot shot went out.  The Lamar reserves shouted, “O-u-t!  Out!  See ya!”  19-24, a long rally went to Portland. 

Some Grambling players came in to watch the match.  21-17 Lamar, another long rally that Lamar won on another dump shot.  21-19, Shayla got a kill.  21-20, Portland aced, but netted it on the next serve.  22-22, the Pilots tied it on a Cardinals’ attack error.  23-23, Shayla pounded one to tie it again.  Lamar would take a close Set 1, 25-23.  That was an entertaining set of volleyball.  The set ended on another questioned call.  The up and down officials conferred afterward.    

Set 2: Cardinals 1, Pilots 0

Aggie Sports Marketing staffer Nicole came by and chatted with Danny.  She was happy with the new PA’s performance.  I still didn’t get his name.  I’ve heard it a couple times, but it went by too quick.  Lamar started off this set with another dump shot kill.  The Cardinals tied it on a Portland out-serve, after the Pilots had gotten a couple of good kills.  Lamar took a 6-2 lead as their short serves seemed to be confusing the Pilots (just like the Pilots’ short serves were confusing the Aggies yesterday). 

6-3 Lamar, Shayla got a facial kill.  7-5, Portland was making a comeback, but served out on this point.  9-6, Shayla got a kill.  She’d had a couple of shots into the net before.  I have to mention that the girls on both teams were cleaning the court about every other point.  It wasn’t that warm inside, but they were really working up a sweat.  9-9, Kassidy aced to tie it.  The serve hit the Lamar libero, who was trying to dodge it.  10-10, Shayla hammered a kill at a defender’s feet.  13-13 tied again. 

14-13, Portland took the lead on a block.  Lamar took a timeout.  15-14 Portland, Lamar got a point on a free ball.  Coach Jordan had come in by this point and was watching.  20-18, McKenzie Bennett on Lamar had ace to keep it close.  22-19, Lamar won this point on another disputed call, but Portland pulled away to win it, 25-20. 

Set 3: Cardinals 1, Pilots 1

Some terrible rap music played during the half.  A pair of probably high school volleyball girls that were there with their dad, were grooving to it.  The crowd was still small enough to pick out individuals pretty easily.  Portland went out to a 2-0 lead.  Kellie Hughes hit an ace off the tape.  The Cardinals broke the run at 4-1.  They made a good block at 5-3.  6-5, Lamar closed up as Shayla whiffed on a swing.  7-5, Lamar put a serve into the net.

Emma aced for the Pilots at 9-5.  This team could serve well.  They ran up to an 11-5 lead.  Lamar netted a serve at 7-5.  13-7, Portland did the same.  On the sidelines, a couple of the Lamar girls were bundled up and one was using the exercise bike there.  On court, they were still cleaning sweat off the court constantly.  15-9, Claire won the rally on this point for the Pilots.  Both groups of reserves were screaming during the point. 

16-9 Portland, a Pilot kill went right into a Cardinal defender.  The Portland reserves made a bridge and danced under it.  17-9 Portland, Lamar took a timeout.  19-10, Portland made an out-serve.  During the break between points, the Lamar assistant coach shouted, “You ladies need to get excited if you want to win!”  I hope that advice wasn’t too technical for them.  I hope actual coaching is more involved than this.  Their coach and former Aggie player, Michelle Kuester, was much more calm and measured during Lamar’s matches.  23-12, the Cardinals looked confused as one of their digs dropped in untouched.  24-13, Shayla with a tip.  The Pilots cruised to a 25-14 Set 3 win.

Set 4: Pilots 2, Cardinals 1

People started arriving for the Aggie game.  The Aggie girls were also here watching.  The Cardinals had just about left the building as they went down 7-1 to start this set.  The Lamar bench started clapping and chanting “No!” during the serving run.  11-2, Katie Barker aced here for the Pilots.  11-4, after a long rally, Portland lost it on a double touch call. 

There were helicopter sounds outside.  I thought I’d heard AD Mario Moccia say that there’d be helicopter rides at the fan fest at the football, but I didn’t believe him.  14-7, the teams traded net balls.  15-7, Shayla got a dump kill.  18-8, Liz Reich made a dunk.  21-10, redhead McKenzie Schwan came in to serve.  (Redheads on the court will get attention.)  24-11, Shayla with another kill.  The Pilots finished off the set, 25-11, and the match, 3-1. 

Portland looked good with three players having double-digit kills.  Liz Reich led with 11, Shayla Hoeft had 15, and Claire Forrest had 10.   Lamar played well in Set 1 and up to the end of Set 2, but it felt like they were out of gas for the rest of the match.  Worse for them, they’re going to have to play the Aggies this evening.  The Lamar reserves never gave up though and cheered the whole way.         

Thankfully the next match, the Aggies versus Grambling, would be coming right up.  I didn’t think I could take another drive back-and-forth from home.  (Sorry if I phoned this one in.  This was actually the last recap I wrote for the invitational.)   

Springhill Suites Invitational NMSU vs Portland Volleyball 9-13-19

“I . . . I can’t resist you!  I’m yours!”  She flung herself into the arms of her teammate.  Almost instantly, the two volleyball girls’ sexy bodies were intertwined with one another.  They knew that at any moment the coach could walk in on them and dismiss them both from the team, but their unbearable mutual lust must slaked.

I warned you!  I said that any more Aggie losses would result in more badly written erotic fanfiction on this blog.  If there’s a next time, I’ll be naming the girls using poorly disguised pseudonyms! 

Or not.  After two days, four games, a hard Aggie Soccer lost, and tonight’s Aggie Volleyball loss (oh, spoilers), I have to do something to make writing this tragedy fun.  So far, all I have after attending four games is four uncompleted game recaps and hurt feelings.  I’m hoping finishing these recaps will cathartic . . . someday.  Like the earlier matches, at least it was over quick (further spoilers).  Let’s do the autopsy and CSI the cause of death (as written by an incredibly inept medical investigator).

The sky was prematurely crying as I went down the street to the Pan-Am Center for the third time today (the third time).  At least this time, Ron was driving me, instead of me driving myself.  It was only sprinkling though.  Ron had bad news at the start.  He didn’t have the night off and would have to leave right after the match.  This meant there’d be no greasy fast food afterward to assuage my broken heart.  (Cold cereal at home was no substitute.)  I was pretty tired from waking up early and shuttling back-and-forth and trying to write, but perked up when I got to the arena. 

We’d gotten there early.  It was pretty empty, but would fill in to 847 total attendance.  The Cheerleaders and Pistol Pete were here.  It was a different group than last time.   Emerson was working this game.  Though she has a prominent position working with PA Ed, she seems profoundly unhappy with it.  The pretty former Aggie assistant was still here.  She was holding her baby and rocking him.  Finally, some teen girls had been brought in to work as ballgirls.  I can’t believe how much they left this necessary part of the game up to chance in previous games (and for soccer for that matter).  What would they do if nobody was available to press into service? 

At the scorer’s table, beautiful (even in impending defeat) Megan Hart was with a player from the Portland Pilots.  I think it was the captains meeting to flip for who served first.  So, Megan as a senior and the best player on the team, is the captain, sort of.  We’ll get to that later.  I’d found out earlier from Danny that Megan was the MVP of the Borderland Invitational.  So, that’s three pieces of MVP tourney hardware since the end of last season.  I’m not the only person who thinks she’s awesome.

Coach Jordan came in and chatted with the Cheerleaders’ coach.  They’re friends.  He’s a friendly guy, just not with his girls while they’re playing for him.  There was radio for this game with Adam Young.  He mentioned before the start of the game that the Aggies were third in the nation in blocking.  It was good he was on, since there were no player stats on the scoreboard for the game.  There was a live Anthem singer by a local music teacher.  She was really good.

Set 1

The match started on a bad foot for the Pilots (don’t shoot me for that pun).  One of their players badly twisted her ankle during the warmups.  She spent the match laid up on the bench, but seemed in good spirits (probably due to events on the court).  I didn’t see the injury, maybe it happened when I went to the bathroom.  I missed the player’s name over the radio for the crowd noise. 

The first point was a long rally that ended on an Aggie double touch.  Portland went up 2-0 on four-touches by the Aggies.  There was a great pancake dig by the Pilots on the point and ended on a four-touches call on the Aggies.  3-0 Portland, another four-touches on the Aggies.  The Aggies got a point back as Julianna Salanoa hammered a shot straight down into the floor.  3-2 Portland, Cat Kelly served up an ace.  5-3, Jules made a way long out-serve.  7-4, Krysten Garrison made a net serve. 

8-6 Portland, the Aggies got back into it with a kill by Cat and a four-touch call on the Pilots at 8-7.  9-7, after another pancake dig by the Pilots, the Aggies made an attack error.  10-7, the original call was out on Portland, but was overruled a touch.  Coach Jordan was angry and sent Savannah Davison over to argue with the up official.  See that’s the thing that the team captain usually does.  Sav is on-court a lot more than Megan, so I’d assumed she was the captain.  I’m still not sure, not that it matters.

10-9 Portland, Cat had a solo block.  11-10, a double touch on the Pilots.  13-11, here was a long rally.  There were lots of fire drills at the net, but Sav ended it with a kill.  13-12, Megan got her first kill.  15-14, Lia Mosher was in on a block.  16-15, Megan had a kill.  16-16, the Aggies finally tied it on an overpass kill by Lia.  Unfortunately, this was as close as it got.  The Aggies could not string together three-straight points to take the lead.   

17-16 Portland, attractive Shayla Hoeft, who I’d noticed in the Pilot’s previous match, had a tip kill to retake the lead.  19-16, the Pilots had an ace here, but out-served on the next point.  20-17 Portland, timeout Aggies.  Katie Birtcil came in.  22-17, Jules had a whiff on a bad set, timeout Aggies.  23-17, another Portland ace.  The Pilots took Set 1, 25-19.  Cat had 2 kills on set points, but a pancake dig by Kellie Hughes set up the set-winner for Portland.  Those great digs earlier in the set really hurt the Aggies.   

Set 2: Pilots 1, Aggies 0

The Portland reserves danced to Outkast’s Hey, Ya!, while me and Ron sat stunned by the set loss.  Kellie came up to serve first for the Pilots and hit an ace on the line.  2-2, Ashley Anselmo evened it with a block.  3-2 Portland, it was another questionable out call.  Sav was sent to argue again.  4-2, Grace Zilbert served up an ace for the Pilots.  5-2, she aced again.  Halle was really struggling to dig Grace’s serves.  Kiley Tonge came in defensively for her.  6-2, another ace.  Grace was serving curveballs over the net.  They’d come over the net and dive into the midcourt.  7-2, the Aggies made two saves on the point, but the Pilots got a touch kill.

7-3 Portland, Meg got a kill to finally end the nightmare serving run.  8-5, Lia got an overpass kill.  8-6, Ash and Meg combined on a block.  8-7, Lia got a block kill.  9-8, a Pilot out-serve.  11-8, Shayla got another cross-court kill for Portland.  11-10, Jules got a kill.  On the next point, there was a joust at the net.  The Aggies won the point initially, but refs couldn’t agree on a call.  The fans started clapping during the deliberation.  They decided to replay the point.  The Aggies took it anyway (“Ball don’t lie”), 11-11, on a kill by Ashley.  Cat made a great off-court save on the point.

12-11, Aggies took the lead.  13-11, Cat and Jules blocked out Shayla.  14-12, Cat buried a kill.  Portland came back at 14-14, but served out on the next point, 15-14.  This went into a media timeout.  Grace came out to serve and had two aces, one of which hit Cat and tied it at 17.  Timeout Aggies. 

18-17 Portland, Meg had an attack error.  19-17, Sav hit one out.  19-18, Meg and Sav came back with a block.  19-19, Portland called for a net violation.  20-19 Portland, Krysten served into the net.  20-20, Sav with the kill.  22-20 Portland, Emma Scanlan had two aces for the Pilots.  Ouch.  23-21, Cat had a kill.  Brigette Lowe came in.  24-21, Halle had an out-serve.  Portland took Set 2, 25-22. 

Set 3: Pilots 2, Aggies 0

Halle didn’t appear to have it tonight.  Coach Jordan replaced her at libero with Jordan George.  Portland scored the first two points of the set, one off another ace.  2-1 Portland, Cat had a block.  Savannah evened it at 2 with a kill into the corner.  Jules evened it at 3 with a kill.  Sav tied it again at 4 with a kill.  Brigette came back in. 

The Aggies took the lead, 5-4, on another kill by Savannah.  Megan kept the lead with a kill at 6-5.  Portland went up 8-6 with another ace.  The Aggies tied it, 8-8, with Jordan G serving.  The Pilots went back up 10-9, until Brigette and Jules came up with a block.  10-10, Jules with a kill to tie it.  12-12, Sav tied it with a kill.  14-13, Portland up again, but out-served.  There was a media timeout at 15-13 Portland.

Brigette had a solo block with Portland up 17-15.  Meg had a kill at 18-16 Portland.  18-17, Brigette had a kill.  19-17, Jordan had an out-serve.  20-18, Cat made a kill down the line.  20-19, Ash and Jules had a block.  20-20, Cat got a kill to tie it.  However, the Pilots came back, 22-20.  Katie came in.  23-20, Jordan had an off-court save.  Sav had two more digs, but Katie hit a shot out.  23-21, Jules got an ugly-looking kill here and another kill at 24-22.  However, Portland took the set, 25-22, and the match, 3-0. 

Brigette Lowe

I noticed afterward that Coach Jordan didn’t take a timeout during that third set.  There might have been some psychology going on there.  In the postgame interview, he blamed bad passing.  I’d have blamed bad service receiving.  In any case, the team wasn’t sharp.  The only bright spot in the evening for me was running into Brigette on the way out.  She’d come right up into the stands to see her parents (?).  Since I’d already talked to her once and she’s so friendly-looking, I gave her a quick congrats for playing tonight.  Brig was all smiles.            

Portland had 12 aces.  They didn’t even do that against Grambling.  The Pilots were led by Liz Reich with 13 kills and Shayla Hoeft with 12.  Even with those one-shot points, Portland really had to work for it in every set.  The Aggies were up 11 to 4 in blocks, but the rest of the stats were about even.  Savannah Davison paced the Aggies with 11 kills, with Cat Kelly (9) and Megan Hart (6) following.  It was hard for Aggie firepower to show up with all those aces.  I’ll single out Cat for her swings, blocks, and defensive work tonight.  Brigette Lowe played well off the bench. 

After I’d cried myself to sleep that night, I suddenly remembered something Coach Jordan had said in the pregame show.  He’d mentioned that the flu had gone through the team.  Perhaps some of the girls had been sick out there or had just gotten over it.  In any case, some players probably didn’t practice during the week.  This might all account for their lack of energy and unfocused play. 

I remember (and can’t forget) that loss against Bakersfield (10-29-16), where the three main stars of the Aggies were sick, but still playing.  They were okay for a set, but could only go through the motions for the rest of the match.  No amount of yelling by the coaches could get them going.  Portland is a good team, but not a-beat the Aggies on their home court in straight sets like UCLA-team, not without some extenuating circumstances.  I’d almost like to see them comeback for a rematch next year, but Shayla’s a senior, so never mind. 

This revelation made me feel a little better.  UTEP had also lost a couple of matches this weekend to unimpressive opponents.  I wonder if this happened to them to.  Figure out which visiting team brought the bug in and don’t invite back next year.  There also had to be a letdown for the Miners and the Aggies after their fierce match last week.  The Miners had played three five-set matches and lost two.  The Aggies had their consecutive winning-set-streak snapped and were basically punched in the nose by their former assistant coach, who knew their weaknesses very well. 

Whatever the problem was tonight, the Aggies have two more matches left this weekend to figure it out. 

Springhill Suites Invitational Grambling vs Lamar Volleyball 9-13-19

I’d prepared for the contingency of hanging around the university after the first game this morning.  I even had an ipad with me and was going to look for Wi-Fi, probably starting with McDonalds.  However, because the first game was so short, I ended up going home instead for lunch and I started typing up the recap.  I got a little actually written.  Time came, I took back off.  As if I wasn’t disoriented enough, now I had déjà vu.  I noticed it was raining over by Picacho Peak driving over.  By the time I’d gotten to the Pan-Am Center, it looked like a wall of water heading our way.  If a storm was coming, I’d rather be at the Pan-Am anyway. 

I met back up with Danny.  There were a few more people there than this morning.  (Aggie Marketing’s Nicole told Danny later that there were 33 for this game.)  Aggie Softball was acting as ballgirls, specifically Keala Brown, Jeanelle Medina, and an unidentified girl.  She may have been a new freshman.  She looked like she might be able to hit with some power.  Danny said that some Pan-Am staff was acting as assistant coaches for some Grambling State Tigers players practicing.  (Again, Grambling’s staff just consists of the head coach.) 

The Lamar Cardinals had four assistants, though only one was listed on the program.  In particular, one of them was very pretty with long, silky dark hair, a slim figure, and a great smile, Amy Hollowell.  During the introductions, PA Ed announced that their coach was a former Aggie player, Michelle Kuester.  Their team looked pretty good. 

During player introductions, the dad of Lamar’s Abigale Nash held up a giant poster of her on the sidelines.  It got a laugh out of her.  Grambling again fist-bumped with the refs.  There was some confusion going over to the Lamar bench, as they weren’t sure who the coach was to shake hands with.  (I wasn’t either at first.)  I should mention the Grambling players have a pretty impressive pregame cheer.

Set 1

Aggie Coach Jordan was again up in the shadows in the south grandstand watching.  Grambling started off with a lead, 3-2.  On this point, Mercedes Danrich on Lamar got a kill.  She looked impressive in practice.  She’s tall and lean could catch some big air jumping.  (I only question her hairstyle.)  Lamar took the lead at 5-4.  Grambling did a sideout chant.  9-7 Lamar, Malaysia (nice name) Murdock got a tip kill on a short set.  9-8 Lamar, Grambling got a good tip on this point.  (I missed the player number, sorry.)  12-9 Lamar, here we had our first long rally of the day.  Lamar took it on a Grambling attack error. 

14-10 Lamar, Mercedes made a strong kill.  16-13, Dannisha House got a kill.  The Lamar reserves sang out, “D’s house!”  (With that last name, she’s in the right sport, either this or basketball.)  18-14 Lamar, Grambling got a good kill here and I missed getting the player number again.  (I want to give the Tiger players some love.)  19-16 Lamar, Grambling got back in it on a couple of questionable out calls on the Cardinals.  21-17 Lamar, Linzy Woods made a kill here for Grambling at 21-17 Lamar. 

Grambling took a timeout.  Another slim pretty girl with long dark hair and a great smile came in.  (It’s a good day for brunettes.)  She went over to chat with the Softball girls, who had been relieved of ballgirl duties by the Marketing staff.  I hope this girl just joined the team.  I’d like to see more of her.  House finished the set off with a kill, 25-18 Lamar.

Set 2: Lamar 1, Grambling 0

The Lamar reserve girls were posing and dancing to Sorry, Not Sorry in the break.  Grambling went up to start again, 4-1.  5-3 Grambling, Chasity Nicks made a good dig on a hard hit Cardinal ball.  Unfortunately, she then made a poor choice on a backcourt attack to give Lamar the point.  6-6, Lamar tied it on a Grambling attack error.  Grambling retook the lead 7-6 on a block.  7-7, Abigale came in and tied it for Lamar with a flying kill.  Lamar retook the lead on a hard kill by Malaysia.  Timeout Grambling.

Sage Rivers entered the game for Grambling State with best name of the Invitational (just beating out Malaysia).  17-13 Lamar, Annika Slovak, the pretty Lamar setter, had a kill.  One of the Lamar reserves conducted the other girls in a cheer.  18-13, another long point ended with Grambling firing into the net.  19-14, House call, as Dannisha put one into the middle of the court unblocked.  20-14, Abigale with an overpass kill.  21-14, I think Kaitlyn Gil got a kill here.  The reserves did a “Happy Birthday” cheer. 

One of the Aggie Men’s Basketball team walked by, though neither Danny nor I could identify him by his number.  He was probably on his way to the attached practice facility.  He was a very large fellow.  22-13 Lamar, Abigale got another kill.  The reserves shouted, “That’s nasty!”  23-18, Grambling got their last point on a block.  Lamar finished it out 25-18.

Set 3: Lamar 2, Grambling 0

During the half, a couple more guys from the Men’s Basketball team came in and hi-fived Coach Jordan at the top of the grandstand.  The Grambling team went to the locker room, but their coach stayed on court.  The Lamar girls did the Macarena and salsa’d to Jump In the Line.  Abigale tried to lap dance the good-looking dark-haired assistant coach.  She wasn’t having any of it and kicked Abbey off.

2-2, Grambling had a good kill here.  4-2 Grambling increased their lead with a dunk block.  Oh, I noticed in the “crowd” that former pretty blonde Aggie Volleyball assistant came in with her baby.  Mercedes, standing at the net, smiled and waved at her right before a point.  Well, that’s an interesting acquaintance.  She called over to her during a break.  5-4 Lamar, a Cardinal swing went out, but hit a Grambling player on the foot as she pulled up to let it go.  7-4 Lamar, timeout Grambling.

A group of Aggie Softball players and what seemed like another Women’s team entered the arena.  The “crowd” was doubled.  In the break, the Lamar assistant coaches doubled over laughing about something.  They were even hiding their faces behind their clipboards.  14-7 Lamar, (apparently skipping several uninteresting points) Kaitlyn got another kill and more “Happy Birthday” wishes.  18-8, Lamar had a kill hard enough that the receiver tried to catch it, instead of digging it.  25-11 and 3-0 Lamar won the set and match.

Abigale Nash led the Cardinals with 13 kills, Kaitlyn Gil had 11, and Dannisha House had 9.  They looked pretty good, but it was hard to tell, given the opponent.  Grambling has some good players.  The problem is that they have too many bad ones.  The Softball girls made a circle and tried their hand at volleyball digging after the match.  I went home and waited for the Aggie match in the evening, little suspecting the shock to come.