NM State Aggies vs UNM Lobos Women’s Basketball 12-15-18

“Uh, oh,” both Ron and I said as we pulled into the Pan-Am Center parking lot.  There were a bunch of cars there.  Normally, this would be a good thing.  This time though we were concerned that that meant there was going to be a lot of fans for the other team, the New Mexico Lobos.  I’d told Ron about the teams’ meeting last year (12-2-17), where Lobo fans may have outnumbered Aggie fans.  Indeed, we could see Lobo fans exiting their vehicles as we rolled in.  While they did fill the Visitor’s section, thankfully, there were more Aggie fans present today, though (honestly) the Lobo fans may have been louder.

We stopped by the Toys for Tots donation box inside.  Ron came prepared with two sacks of toys.  He already looks like Santa Claus to begin with.  I brought a sleeve of Hot Wheels cars to go with the Barbie I’d brought for the last game (12-11-18).  Inside the box, well, donations were a bit slow.  They’re doing a Teddy Bear Toss and taking more donations for the Men’s game next week, so I’ll expect things to pick up then. 

The souvenir table was set up on the concourse today, as I expected.  I went ahead and bought an Aggie shirt to give to a co-worker for Christmas to make up for the giveaway shirt debacle (11-20-18).  (I ended up keeping the shirt, because no one else wanted it.)  The young woman there very happily completed my transaction.  I felt like I’d made her day.  I also felt $32 lighter for a frickin’ t-shirt, and Mike had better f-ing wear this thing for every Aggie Friday at work from now on.  I also picked up a raspberry tea at the concession to wash that bitter taste out of my mouth.

The Roadrunner Review Band was back playing (I admit they sounded a bit flat).  The Cheerleaders and the basketball team were dressed in throwback uniforms.  The team was in powder blue trim jerseys and shorts that just said “State” on them.  Also there were, not one, but two mascots.  Pistol Pete was there with the original Women’s team mascot, a big crimson Roadrunner.  (The team used to be called the “Roadrunners.”)  I think AD Mario Moccia had said they’d found the costume somewhere and, after a thorough cleaning, decided to use it for this Pan-Am fiftieth anniversary season.  The bird looked good and the suit occupant seemed enthusiastic and was having a good time.  Pete and Roadie (I have no idea what his name is) met with the Kid’s Club to everyone’s satisfaction.  The two mascots interacted well, without any mascot rivalry. 

Mario was there, of course, and met with the Lobos’ coaching staff before the game.  One of their guy assistant coaches looked very sharp in a black suit and red socks.  The Lobos also brought a couple of radio broadcasters seated nearby for the game.  (Ours were doing the TV broadcast.)  Their team came out to a big cheer from their fans.  The team had all sorts of different colored shoes.  It was hard not to notice.  I saw red, black, white, grey, bright pink, and . . . crimson?  As long as we’re doing fashion, Aggie Coach Atkinson was in a sleeveless cream blouse, black slacks, and short crimson boots.  During introductions, I noticed that the Lobos watched the Aggie intro video.  You can’t guess in advance which teams will watch the other teams’ video.

First Quarter

Hey, hey!  I got all the scoring right on the first try (well, second, but I had it right).  Too bad, this was not a game to celebrate.  The game at least started well for the Aggies.  Right off, they hit a couple of quick three’s.  Monique Mills got a steal, which led to a layup by Brooke Salas.  Gia Pack got a steal, which led to Mo getting a free throw.  The Lobos were having trouble getting their shots to fall in.  The north end goal force field seemed to be in effect.  Tom was in his usual seat, now surrounded by Lobo fans, and cheering up a storm. 

Still, the Aggies were playing nervous and were giving up turnovers.  Play itself could have been best described as rough and physical.  Gia made a great pass to Baylee Robinson underneath the basket for a bucket and an 11-5 Aggie lead and the first timeout for the media.  The Aggies then got victimized on a couple of bad calls.  At least the refs resisted calling fouls on all contact, which would have dragged out this game forever, as both teams were playing ferocious defense.  #4 Jayla Everett got a steal on Brooke.  Kalei Atkinson chased her down-court and Jayla rushed the layup and missed it.  Good hustle, Kalei. 

It was 15-10 Aggies after ten minutes, nearly.  There was an awkward end to the first quarter.  There was an inconclusive play with less than a second left on the clock.  .3 seconds were still left after that.  The refs reviewed the play, while both teams prepared for the next quarter.  The Lobos brought little fold-up seats out on to the court to listen to their coach.  That seemed unnecessary, since there were already seats at the bench, but how better to prove your superiority than to not use the visitor’s seats and bring your own.

Second Quarter

Dino Dash!  One of Dinos had all sorts of problems dribbling and actually collapsed at the media table in exhaustion.  As usual, the other contestant declined to dribble and won.  They should try to get the rules straight before the next contest. 

The Aggies offense was stymied to start this quarter.  Dominique Mills, giving up 5” and about 25 lbs to #21 Nike McLure, fought her for a rebound and nearly ended up in a fight.  Meanwhile, Aissatou Fall cycled in to the game for the Aggies.  While she was a bit larger, #44 Jaisa Nunn, another big body, started schooling her down low a couple of times, before Aissatou came out.  

A steal off Brooke and a layup gave the Lobos’ their first lead at 17-18.  Timeout Aggies.  I noticed Mario was at the media table and Men’s Coach Chris Jans was with him.  They were chatting, but Coach Jans was watching the game pretty intently.  I wonder if he has any advice for Coach Atkinson from what he saw, or would that be considered rude? 

An errant Lobo pass down-court nearly took out a cameraman by the basket.  Gia went over to him and asked if he was okay.  The guy barely wavered from getting the shot with the camera though, even with the ball coming at him.  The Aggies made a comeback.  Brooke got two steals and a free throw and a layup of them to make it 22-19.  But, more Aggie turnovers allowed the Lobos to retake the lead, 22-28.  Timeout Aggies with three minutes left.  Jaisa made a tremendous block on Baylee down low, but Kaeli hit a three with under a minute to close the gap to 27-31 Lobos at the half. 

Halftime

A little kid’s hip hop dance troop performed at the half.  Danny came over and chatted.  He didn’t like the Aggies’ prospects today.  He mentioned that he saw the Softball team out practicing, but I’m guessing that wasn’t open to the public. 

Ron got an emergency call from his caretaking job and had to leave, but swore he’d be back.  I sure hoped so, since he was my ride.  The Aggie Men’s Basketball team came in to watch.  I definitely recognized Ivan Aurrecoechea.  He spent most of his time on his phone.  I didn’t see Johnny McCants.  If he’d been there, me and some other fans probably would have gone over for an autograph.

Third Quarter

The Aggies kept it close to start the second half.  #21 Nike McLure came out of the game after a collision in the lane with Aggie Nike, Adenike Aderinto.  It was two big bodies crashing.  Brooke was everywhere pulling down rebounds.  #23 Jaedyn de la Cerda hit the first Lobo three of the game with seven minutes left in the quarter.  Prince answered with a couple of baskets to make it 38-37 Aggies.  On one, Brooke out-rebounded and tore the ball away from Jaisa (giving up about four inches in height and maybe 30 lbs in weight) and tossed it to Prince for a layup.

Stabresa McDaniel came in during the quarter.  From the Aggie Coach’s Show, I found out she hadn’t played in two years when she came in for her first game here last week.  Very impressive comeback.  Nike McLure came back in.  About the first thing she did was knock Brooke down flat in the lane.  She even hit the back of her head on the floor.  She got up apparently feeling okay; I don’t know how.  Lobo fans boo’d the foul call on the play. 

That probably wasn’t the pivotal play in the game, but what happened next was.  Jaedyn dropped in another three and followed that up with a layup.  Suddenly, it was 40-48 Lobos.  Timeout Aggies.  Out of the timeout, Jaedyn got a steal and another layup.  Even worse, Didi Echols was injured trying to break up the play.  She let out a couple of sharp cries, as the Aggies’ pretty little blonde trainer ran over to her.  Didi couldn’t even make it across the court and had to go to the Lobos’ table to get worked on.  By the time the horn sounded for the quarter, the Lobos were in control at 40-51. 

          

Fourth Quarter

Roadie the Roadrunner came back out, but this would not help the Aggies.  Ron returned, which made me feel a lot better.  He told me that Volleyball Coach Mike Jordan was sitting up above.  This was a big game.  Ron declined to talk to him, and unfortunately he’d left before I got a chance to congratulate him on a great season.  Across the court, Didi was now on crutches.  That was definitely not a good sign.

Since switching to the south goal, the Lobo shots were now falling in, while the force field was reactivated on the north end and the Aggies couldn’t buy a bucket.  The worst of it was that they were getting lots of offensive rebounds and second chances, but the ball still wouldn’t go in.  Some fan in the crowd kept yelling, “Shoot it!” like we were watching an Aggie soccer match.  (Read any of my soccer entries for an explanation.)  Turnovers were still an Aggie problem as well.  Meanwhile, it had gotten quiet enough in the arena with fans leaving early, that you could really hear Lobo Coach Mike Bradbury screaming at his girls like they were losing by double digits.

Brooke finally picked up her first foul for slapping down Nike McLure in the lane, probably some payback.  Brooke picked up her second knocking down Jaedyn driving the lane.  Jaedyn did come up smiling.  Lastly, Brooke picked up her third, stuffing Nike on a shot and knocking her down.  Nike is taller and bigger, but not necessarily tougher.  Coach Bradbury started taking his stars out, one-by-one, and they all got a round of applause from their fans.  Our disappointing final: Aggies 50, Lobos 75.        

The Aggies played 11 of 12 players on their roster and 10 scored.  However, only Brooke Salas scored in double digits (24).  Meanwhile, four of the seven Lobos who scored, did so in double digits.  Jaedyn de la Cerda led them with 21.  Late in the game when the outcome wasn’t really in doubt, I’m pretty sure her and Brooke were fighting to be top scorer in the game.  Compared to last year, I was impressed that the Aggies held the Lobos to four three-pointers, none in the first half, though the Aggies didn’t do any better shooting them. 

From the paper the next day, I learned how bad the Aggie turnovers were: 28, which led to 27 points and 17 fast break points.  The coach attributed it partly to the Lobos’ defense and partly to the Aggies not taking care of the ball.  The article also said that Gia Pack had been nursing a tweaked knee for the last two games.  This explains why she wasn’t shooting a lot.  She had over 20 in the last game against the Lobos.  This might have been a different game with her at 100%.

Autographs

I shamefully admit, I was a bit gun-shy about going down to get autographs.  I didn’t want to embarrass myself standing in line with a bunch of 10-year old girls, like I did with Volleyball (9-29-18) and Soccer (9-9-18) this semester.  Even worse, I was afraid of getting attached to anymore student-athletes.  I’m still hurting over my dear Aileen Galicia’s last game (10-27-18).  Ron talked me into it and pushed me down there anyway.

At least I wasn’t the only adult in line.  Assistant Coach McAdams was in line with his family as his girls were getting autographs.  (There were still plenty of little girls in line.)  I do see them out at other Aggie sports events.  I said, “Hi, Coach,” and he thanked me for coming out to the game.  That was nice of him. 

First up was Brooke Salas herself.  It didn’t go well last time I got her autograph (1-7-17).  This time Brooke was as pleasant and charming as she looks like she should be.  I congratulated her on a great a game, which was a bit awkward, as she did have a great game, but the rest of the team didn’t. 

Brooke was the one person I really wanted to say something to.  I more-or-less fumbled it, but told her that Coach Trakh would be proud of her showing so much leadership this year, especially at the Abilene Christian game (11-20-18) where she was coaching from the bench.  (During this game, she was also directing plays from the court.)  I think she understood what I was trying to say.  She said was just trying to help the team however she could.  Brooke also thanked me for coming out to game.  Aww.

I did not get to tell Kalei Atkinson that she’s probably my favorite on the team, apart from Brooke, but I did get a smile from her.  Dominique and Monique Mills are very pretty.  One of them has highlights in her hair, so maybe you can tell them apart when they’re not wearing their numbers (but I forgot which one).  I asked Aaliyah Prince if she’d gotten taller since last year, because I was pretty sure she was.  She laughed and said, “No.”  (I also meant to tell her how impressed I’d been with her this year.  Oops.)  Missing from our autographs is Didi (Rodrea) Echols.  She must have been doing pretty badly with her injury.  Given that there’s three or four girls out already, that’s troubling for the team.

Lastly, I said, “Hi,” to Adam Young who was last in line at the media table, not for autographs, just packing up after the TV broadcast.  I asked him if he called all of the WAC Volleyball Tournament games.  He did.  That’s great for him.  I had another question and I was kicking myself that I couldn’t remember what it was.  He told me to e-mail it to him if remembered (which I did in the bathroom five minutes later). 

Ron and I might have been the last fans to leave the building.  A charter bus left the parking lot as we came out.  Ron said, that was how most of those Lobo fans came here.  No wonder there were so many.  We had an excellent pizza at Zefferio’s and frozen yogurt at Orange Leaf, because ice cream is for winners . . . times when you’re smarting from a bad defeat.  Then we made a trip to the mall for some Christmas shopping.  Why not?  #Retail therapy.  Actually, we felt much better after a good meal and hanging out with a Christmas shopping crowd. 

Well, no more in-person games until next year.  We’ll try to get by.  Just a little recordkeeping here on that issue.  By my quick count, I’ve been to 25 Aggie sporting events this semester.  Technically, two of them didn’t involve the Aggies, but were at the Pan-Am.  I missed half of a soccer match, but I’m not counting four exhibition games I went to.  I missed one women’s basketball game, but that would have required me to buy a men’s ticket.  I roughly calculated that I needed to go to 28 games to make my Aggie Country Pass pay off.  I’ve still got four more weekend basketball games and the entire softball and baseball seasons left.  Yeah, that pass is a good deal.  

NM State Aggies vs Denver U Pioneers Women's Basketball 12-11-18

Here was my last vacation day of the year.  It had been an interesting day (but not worth relating) before Ron came and we again had dinner at McAlisters before the game.  It was really good and I was really hungry.  We skipped dessert.  Ron wanted to get to the Pan-Am Center early since I’d told him about the free hat giveaway.  There turned out to be a good crowd tonight, so I guess it was a good thing we showed up an hour early.  It’s a nice hat, though I didn’t really need a fourth Aggie hat. 

Next to the courtesy table was a collection box for Toys for Tots.  I’d bought a Barbie doll at the mall today for this.  It was very pretty.  I admit I was a little reluctant to part with it.  As for other the donations in the box . . . let’s just say I was the first, but hopefully not the last, because that would be very sad.  There will be three more opportunities for donations at upcoming Aggie games.  Ron said he’d try to chip in something for Saturday’s game.

The visitors were warming up on court.  Denver U was wearing crimson.  They started off doing some kind of dance/stretch first.  The girls looked big and tall.  Ron ID’ed one girl as having a great shot.  Lucky for the Aggies tonight, she didn’t play.  They had three good-looking assistant coaches with them.  They were snappy dressers with very high heels.    

The Roadrunner Review band looked a bit different tonight wearing giveaway Aggie shirts and hats.  They even sounded a bit different.  Well, that was because the band was off for winter break.  Tonight’s band was later announced as the Centennial High School band.  They did a good job and seemed to be having a good time, especially the tuba players, who were rocking. 

The Aggie girls entered without an announcement.  I was a bit worried PA Ed was down with a cold.  If he was, he performed well through it.  The band played the girls in.  An odd fashion choice was shown by the Mills sisters.  Dominique was wearing white leggings under her shorts.  Monique was wearing a white legging, but just on one leg.  Our Coach Atkinson fashion segment finds her wearing tight cobalt blue pants, a loose white blouse, and short tan boots tonight.  I noticed a spectacular little blonde with wavy locks working for the team.  I hadn’t seen her before.  Very nice.

The Cheerleaders came in a bit later.  They don’t get a winter break.  This was the prettier squad.  They had an injury.  One of the girls was sitting in the stands with a broken leg.  She had a pretty friend with silver hair next to her.  (Ooh, I like that silver hair look.)  Okay, enough girl-watching for now.  Let’s watch girls playing basketball.

First Quarter

I got close.  I only missed one basket on the scorecard and had to correct it later.  The Aggies started off poorly.  They picked up two fouls.  Brooke Salas got one of those fouls, dribbled the ball off her foot for a turnover, and missed a layup.  That was all in the first minute.  DU got out to a small lead.  Monique Mills got the first Aggie points with a steal and a layup, 2-5 DU. 

Three Aggies cycled in; Brooke came out.  I told you the Pioneers were big and tall, right?  Didi Echols took a massive charge and fell down like a two-by-four, straight and flat.  She was okay afterward.  Stabresa McDaniel, let’s call her Bre, made her first appearance for the Aggies this season.  She’s a graduate student, so she played elsewhere for four years.  Bre promptly got a bucket.  It was 10-11 DU at the first media timeout.

#23 Madison Nelson for the Pioneers seemed to shine as their best player.  Late in the quarter, she got a shot clock buzzer-beater and then a layup right after, making it 12-17, and forced an Aggie timeout.  Mo would make a halfcourt shot right before the end of the quarter, but it was ruled to be after the buzzer.  She came away smiling anyway.  14-17 DU after ten minutes.

Second Quarter

It’s Dino Dash time!  Tonight it was two girls decked out in the inflatable T-Rex suits.  One of them fell badly behind.  Instead of trying to catch up, she attempted to fight her friend to stop her from scoring a second bucket and winning.  Yes, two girls in dino suits engaged prehistoric melee out in the Cyclops.  It was classic.  Bravo!

I think Brooke had two fouls at this point and ended up sitting out the whole quarter.  She cheered up a storm on the bench though.  Bre suddenly came out early and limping at the start of play, perhaps she got stepped on.  She went right to the trainer’s table, but would come back in a little later.  She’d get a rebound and find Aaliyah Prince down court for a layup and a 26-25 Aggie lead.  Timeout DU.  There was a Cheerleader t-shirt toss in the break.  One of the guys handed a shirt to a little boy at courtside.  One of the girls ran all the way up to the top of the stairs to hand one to a gentleman there.  Service with a smile.

Madison apparently took a hard shot from Adenike Aderinto.  She stayed in and missed both free throws and came out immediately after and went to the trainer’s table.  Play got really messy for both teams in the last couple of minutes of the half.  Gia Pack fouled a Pioneer player, who may have left with a bloody nose.  The Aggies were down by five at the half, 27-32, but at least they were winning the fights.

Third Quarter

A hip hop dance group of young girls performed at halftime.  It felt like a short intermission and the girls were back out playing.  The Pioneers came out firing and increased their lead, 27-36, after one minute of play.  Brooke was in starting and the sparked the Aggies.  She tore away a rebound from a DU player and went underhand for a layup.  She then hit a three to make it 36-38.  Gia hit a jumper for her first points of the game to tie it at 38.

Brooke blocked a three, but then lost the steal, which was converted for points, 40-43 DU.  Kalei Atkinson was in and got a block, but the Pioneers increased their lead to 8 on a killer three by Madison late in the quarter.  The crowd was quiet enough that you could hear the coaches shouting instructions.  44-52 DU after three quarters.

Fourth Quarter

Pistol Pete (who’d been keeping a low profile during the game) and the Cheerleaders were out on court trying to do a group dance to the music.  Keep working on that routine guys.  Both teams started the quarter with some tenacious defense.  48-52 Prince came up with a steal and a layup.  50-54, Prince had her back turned as the inbounds pass came to her.  She somehow managed to corral it before the opposition got it.  It was a nice little comedy break.

53-65 Prince made a beauty of a pass to Dominique under the basket for a layup.  Kalei got another block.  We’re not done with Prince highlights.  59-60 she grabbed a steal and made a layup in the backcourt.  Dominique (I’m having trouble typing out that name, I need a nickname) followed that with a block and a steal, which she converted into two made free throws and a 61-60 Aggie lead. 

Kalei came up with yet another block on the next possession.  The crowd was fully into it now.  DU retook the lead with under a minute on a backdoor layup by #15 Courtney Smith, 61-62.  Brooke made a baby hook in the lane, 63-62.  63-64 another backdoor layup by Courtney.  Back down the court, Gia drew a foul and converted on both shots, 65-64 with 30 seconds left.

Enough of those backdoor passes, Brooke fouled out stopping Courtney from getting another easy bucket.  Thankfully, it wasn’t shooting foul.  The Aggies managed to get a tie up before DU could get another shot and retook possession.  16 seconds left, DU returned the favor and trapped Gia on the inbounds and got the ball back. 

The Pioneers took maybe three panicked shots, but the Aggie defense won’t let them have a clean look and got the ball back.  Dominique was fouled and made one of her free throws for a two-point lead.  With a couple of seconds left, #22 Samantha Romanowski heaved a halfcourt shot that hit the rim.  Time expired.  Your final: Aggies 66, Pioneers 64.  Whew!

That was a heck of a game, but nearly a crushing defeat.  The Pioneers had four players in double figures though the Aggie defense actually played pretty well.  [Edit: Very well, DU was third in the nation in three-point percentage at over 40%.]  Brooke Salas led all scorers with 15.  She seemed to have found her touch in this game.  I’d like to see what she’d do for an entire game, so she needs to stop getting in foul trouble (though that final foul was a good one).  Gia Pack didn’t score until the second half and kind of disappeared, but boy were those two late free throws clutch.  Stabresa McDaniel played really well in her first game with 12 points.  Dominique Mills did well with 11.  Aaliyah Prince was again a sparkplug on defense and offense with 11 points.  Kalei Atkinson was ferocious on defense. 

The Aggies had one made three-pointer tonight.  They didn’t even try very many.  Thankfully, they played a team that only made three themselves.  That is not going to cut it against the Lobos on Saturday.  Brooke and Gia are going to need to go off for a win there.  Though I still count four injured players, I think everyone who is able to play is finally eligible and has gotten in.  It’s a matter of getting everyone working together.  They’ve still got plenty of games before conference play to gel.     

PA Ed asked for a round of applause for the Centennial High School band after the game, which they received.  Ron and I went to PQ Treats for “Tornado Tuesday,” because “Ice cream is for winners!”  (I may have to change the name of this blog to that.)  Mine, while made quickly and with a flourish, upset my stomach.  Hey, let’s save the indigestion for Saturday if the Aggies lose to the Lobos.  This was a great game to end my vacation for the year on.  

Sports Journal December 8-9, 2018

12-8-18

Babylon 5 was way too interesting, so I missed the first half of the Wyoming Cowgirls versus the Idaho Vandals in Women’s College Basketball on Stadium.  I was interested in seeing the game there in Laramie, since the Aggie girls had played there at the end of last season (3-15-18).  Wyoming plays in the so-called “Dome of Doom.”  From an outside shot, it is an impressive facility.  Inside, the seats on the sidelines were set at an odd fanning arc.  The arena is probably also used for rodeos. 

There was a pretty good crowd there and they saw a good game.  Wyoming would win 64-61.  Idaho missed a last second three to tie it.  The Vandals have a couple of girls known for their three-point shooting, nicknamed “The Splash Sisters.”  One WY girl scored her 1,000-th point.  Play was stopped after that score, but only to bandage up her hand, as she was injured on the play.  I didn’t like their band when I heard them last year.  Here, I only heard them once, but they were pretty good.  Practice makes perfect.  And we have a controversy.  I noticed Wyoming’s costumed cartoon cowboy mascot on the sidelines.  Their announcer identified him as “Pistol Pete.”

Gasp.  How dare they!  Pete is ours, you miserable piles of cow-crap!  Well, I never.  

I didn’t compose myself until hours later (after a few martinis and a long bubble bath).  This was just in time to hear the Aggie Men take on the, #2 in the nation, Kansas Jayhawks.  Tellingly, Coach Jans didn’t want to talk about this game right after his victory over the Lobos earlier this week (12-4-18).  He wanted to enjoy that moment.  The Aggies were already winners just by showing up, to the tune of $90,000.  AD Mario Moccia does not like scheduling these guarantee games, but they keep the athletics department floating.

First Half

The Aggies came out a bit nervous.  KU took an early lead, but the Aggies started catching up to 14-10 at the first timeout thanks to a Jojo Zamora three.  Jojo hit another three to get it to 21-20.  Timeout KU.  The Aggies then took the lead on an Ivan Aurrecoechea layup.  Later, there would be a shot clock violation on the Aggies, as they inbounded the ball with two seconds on the shot clock and didn’t get a shot off.  Jack Nixon said he could hear Coach Jans through his headphones.  “What were you doing!”  Johnny McCants got it going late in the half.  He tied it at 24 on a jumper.  He tied it again on a one-handed jam at 26.  Even the large Jayhawks crowd there had a reaction.  McCants then had another jam to finish the half and give the Aggies the lead, 28-26. 

Second Half

Dad called me during halftime.  I think we were all pretty excited at this point.  The Aggies came out hot for the second half.  Jojo had another three.  AJ Harris added one of his own for a 40-33 lead and a KU timeout.  It was nearly a full house for the game (about 18,000), but they didn’t start getting loud until the Jayhawks closed it to 41-37.  Shunn Buchanan hit a three to quiet them temporarily, but a steal and a jam got the fans right back into it at 46-42.    

Jojo added another three to make it 51-44 with about ten minutes left in the game.  The Jayhawks mounted a comeback to 51-49.  Timeout Aggies as the crowd was going wild.   KU tied it at 53 with five minutes left.  Aggies went down three with just under a minute left.  It was 62-60 after a free throw, but with seconds left, the Aggies had to begin intentionally fouling.  The Jayhawks converted on one free throw, but that was enough.  63-60 KU was the final.  Much like the earlier Women’s game, the Aggies missed two three’s before the buzzer.  I guess I got some foreshadowing there. 

Apart from points off turnovers and perhaps an overreliance on three’s, free throws were another downfall.  Both teams were atrocious, but the Aggies missed too many that could have kept them in the lead.  Jojo Zamora and Ivan Aurrecoechea were the Aggies’ top scorers.  Johnny McCants had 12 points as a career best.  Afterward, the coach was filled with disappointed mixed feelings, much like the team and Aggie fans.  He was proud of their effort against a very good team, but coming this close to winning a game of this magnitude was an opportunity that won’t come again this season, unless they make it to the NCAA Tournament.  It’s good to know that this team can maybe compete with anybody, but a win would have made that feeling more certain.

12-9-18

There were two Women’s College Basketball games on today.  Unfortunately, they were both on at the same time.  First up on Stadium was a matchup between the Colorado State Rams versus the Arizona State Sun Devils.  (It was first, because I forgot about the other game.)  The game was in Fort Collins.  The on-court graphics were really good-looking with a pair of large ram horns on each side.  It sounded like a good crowd there, who were pretty vocal. 

ASU came into town shorthanded with only eight players.  That didn’t hamper them at all as they shot the lights out.  They basically doubled up the CSU score after every quarter.  I noticed the ASU players were cycled in four at a time, I guess to keep them fresh as a group.  On the bench, when their team had a free throw, the girls would cross their legs and then cross them the other way on the next throw in unison.  It was funny to watch on TV. 

The final was 70-39 ASU.  The game took a tidy hour-and-a-half.  The CSU announcer took it in stride and said the Sun Devils out-played the Rams in every aspect of the game.  He also said that this was probably the hardest game on the Ram’s schedule.  I think they’re pretty good in the Mountain West, so they weren’t concerned about dropping this out-of-conference game.  A couple of the Rams girls were tall and cute, but I wasn’t listening enough to identify them, because . . .

About halfway through the first quarter, I remembered that the UTEP Miner ladies were playing the Portland State Vikings.  I turned down the TV sound and turned on the radio.  It was already 30-19 Vikings at that point.  It didn’t get any better for Miners as the game went on.  UTEP star, Zuzanna Puc, came out of the game in the third quarter for unspecified reasons.  My girl Katerina Zec had a couple of highlights in the game, but that was about it.  89-61 Vikings was the final. 

After the game, Coach Baker apologized to the fans there and said they should get a refund.  The team is now 2-7.  There was no update on Zuzy from him.  He either didn’t know or didn’t want to say.  There was a very nice interlude at halftime when young singer, Isis Gonzalez, sang a cappella to the crowd.  It was lovely.  Brandon Cohn stopped his halftime show a couple of times to let everyone hear her.

Flipping around on TV afterward, I stopped cold on CBS.  It was a Gamers’ Choice Awards show for video games.  There was that Ninja guy and some other gamers that I’m now somehow recognizing.  Pokimane won some award.  I’ve watched her a couple of times.  It was set in a large lounge with a DJ.  There were a couple of professional hosts for it, who were fairly funny. 

Now what’s odd is that this is the second video games award show I’ve seen this week.  Thursday on Twitch, they hosted an awards show in a facility that would rival the Oscars.  My girl Dizzykitten (I apparently have a lot of “my girls”) simulcasted the event, while doing commentary.  The amphitheater was huge and full.  There was an orchestra and a chorus.  The main difference was that nobody there was wearing a suit or a dress.  Indeed, the gamer-of-the-year was some kid who was a furry . . . in costume at the awards show . . . and he made some jerkoff political comment during his speech.  It was not Twitch’s finest moment.  (“Furry,” the geek “F” word.  It’s just embarrassing for everyone involved.) 

Meanwhile, I noticed there was a Stadium2 stream by the Stadium network.  They were showing a couple of guys running a video game stream and e-sports commentary.  I even noticed Cheddar Sports, who I thought was a sports betting operation, has a stream that’s doing a nightly e-sports news and analysis show.  It’s taking over.  

Sports Journal December 1-4, 2018

12-1-18

I had two college basketball games on tap today.  There were plenty of interesting conference championship football games on today.  I listened to a bit of the Big 12 game on the radio while exercising.  It sounded interesting, but I think the Sun Bowl is about the only college football game I usually sit down and watch or listen to (except for Aggies games). 

First up was another Women’s game and another USC game, this time playing UNLV.  I don’t know how they’ve come up twice for me this season (11-25-18), especially since I haven’t seen them before.  Coach Trakh looked sharp in a dark grey suit and a black turtleneck.  Assistant Coach Blanche Alvarson’s shapely rear end was prominently displayed on screen during the Anthem.  (Hey, I’m just reporting on what I saw.)  Lovely Assistant Coach Ashley Ford was also there.  That was unfortunately about all I saw of them. 

The coverage on Stadium picked up the UNLV feed and showed the Rebels’ team intro video.  The Cox Pavilion is a large gym/small arena.  It’s not where the Men’s Basketball team plays.  The court had a silhouette of the Vegas skyline on it and was still marked out for volleyball.  There was a banner on a back wall for the NIT Volleyball Tournament.  Large posters of the volleyball and basketball players were hanging on the wall over the stands. 

During intros, I latched on to #21 on the Rebels, Katie Powell.  She was hard to miss, about 6” taller than her tallest teammates.  Katie also sported long grey/silver hair and was pretty on top of it.  She got the first UNLV points with a three-pointer.  The Rebels had an early lead thanks to lots of USC turnovers.  When the pace went up tempo, USC kept scoring and took a brief lead, but it was 21-21 after ten minutes.  During the quarter, one of the announcers, maybe a student, referred to a block by the Rebels as “disgusting.”  I’d work on that phrasing before their next game.

There were some technical problems with the broadcast.  At the start of the second quarter, the network coverage dropped altogether for a few minutes.  The pregame for the Aggie Men’s Basketball game came on about that time anyway.  I turned down the TV sound to listen to it.  When the broadcast resumed, I saw Katie go down on the court after a rough play in the lane.  She had to come out and later returned to the bench wearing a boot.  My interest in the game kind of waned.  USC hit a deep three at the buzzer to tie the score at the half at 42.

During halftime, there was half-court shooting contest.  I think I saw one go in.  Actually, I’m not sure it was a contest as I didn’t see any prizes awarded.  There was a good crowd there.  The cameras panned around them.  They were a colorful group.  There were quite a few young people having a good time there.

In the third, USC poured it on.  They were leading 73-57 after another buzzer-beating three before the quarter ended.  The UNLV coach got a technical in the quarter.  She looked in shock after the call.  In the fourth, UNLV hit a couple of three’s, but couldn’t get it closer.  86-72 USC was the final.  They are 8-0.  Good job, Coach Trakh.  Audio and scoring line issues came up pretty bad by the end of the broadcast, but I was into the Aggie game by that time.

Aggie AD Mario Moccia was not thrilled about playing Washington State in football next year, but managed to twist their arms into agreeing to a home-and-home with their basketball team.  According to the paper, the Aggies were expected to win tonight, though the Cougars are from a Power 5 conference.  Senior Eli Chuha was still out though.  Mario was hoping for a good student section.  They were going to be doing $1,000 giveaways for the students at the games this season.

Jack Nixon gave some out-of-town scores in the pregame.  Elsewhere in the WAC, the UMKC Roos were playing the Perdue-Fort Wayne Mastodons.  Roos verus Mastodons . . . Majestic.  Less amusing was the score from Albuquerque, 83-56 Lobos over the Aggies in Women’s Basketball.  They’ve been spanked there for a second year in a row.  Gia Pack had a great game with 26 points.  Brooke Salas had a double-double, but only 11 points.  I think she’s got to start scoring more.  I hate to put more pressure on her.  I’m sure she already knows what she needs to do.  The Lobos are a very good-shooting team, but I hope the Aggies can put up some better defense against everyone else.  Maybe the Lobos’ Women’s coach can get promoted to take over the Men after Paul Weir is shown the door after next season.   

In the first half, the Aggies got off to a good start, 13-2, after seven minutes of play.  The crowd sounded good and they were into it.  The team was rebounding well as was their pressure defense.  After hitting a couple of three’s, the Aggies were up 22-7.  Johnny McCants picked up two fouls.  Jabari Rice got two after getting a flagrant foul.  The Cougars went on a run around the nine-minute mark.  At 26-21 Aggies, Ivan Aurrecoechea (I’m getting close to being able to pronounce his last name) hit a jumper to end the run.  Washington State was double-teaming him during the game.  Shunn Buchanan got a steal and passed to Jojo Zamra for a layup, and CJ Bobbitt hit a three on the last possession to get the lead to 33-25 Aggies at the half. 

To start the second half, the Cougars tied it shooting three’s.  At 43-40 Aggies, Cougar star, Robert Franks, picked up his fourth foul and had to come out.  Another Cougar missed two free throws, thus the crowd roared.  That’s free Chik-fil-a for everyone in the stands.  The Cougars would keep it close, but the Aggies were making them pay for fouling them by dropping in their free throws.  But, the Cougars came back again and got it to 53-52 on a Franks’ three with five minutes left. 

60-56 Aggies, Buchanan hit a big three to put the Aggies up by four.  62-56, Terrell Brown made two free throws.  64-56, AJ Harris was briefly injured under the basket.  Bobbitt took his free throws and made them with under 2:00 minutes left.  I think the team made about 8 or 10 free throws in-a-row.  Were these guys really the Aggies?  67-58, AJ Harris was back in and hit a three.  The Cougars answered with a three two seconds later.  McCants forced a jump ball with 17 seconds left and got possession back to the Aggies.  Buchanan got a steal to finish it off.  69-63 Aggies win. 

21 free throws made.  I can hardly believe it.  Three Aggies finished in double figures: CJ Bobbitt (15), Terrell Brown (14), and AJ Harris (12).  The Cougars never led in the game.  This was a great win.  Okay, after I read the paper from Saturday morning and a columnist said beforehand that the Aggies should win this game, it was a bit less impressive, but I was still happy to hear it. 

12-4-18

After a big win on Saturday, the stakes only went up on Tuesday night.  Tonight was the return half of the Rio Grande Rivalry series between the Aggies and the Lobos in Men’s Basketball.  The Aggies did all they could for karma and to boost attendance by handing out snacks and merchandise to their fellow students for Finals Week.  It worked.  The student section was full, along with the rest of the lower bowl of the Pan-Am Center.

I started off the coverage by listening to the radio as I was busy working.  Eli Chuha was back for this game.  The Aggie team would be fully healthy for the first time this season.  I could tell without being told when the Lobos had come out on court.  The boos were deafening.  In the pregame, AD Mario Moccia said he was amazed by color commentator and former Aggie player, Justin Hawkins’, low blood pressure, even before a big game.  Hawk said he could go out right now and score 20.  I love it.     

First Half

We were warned that the Lobos would be using a full court press and trapping for the entire game.  They did, but the Aggies were the ones with the stiff defense.  An Aggie fan tradition is to stand at the start of the game until the opposition scores.  They were standing for about 15 minutes tonight (real time, not game time), until the first media timeout.  In that time, the Aggies had a 10-0 lead, four blocked shots, and the Lobos had accumulated a bunch of fouls. 

Ivan Aurrecoechea (you’d better believe I’m using cut-and-paste on that name) already had 10 points nine minutes into the game.  By late in the half, the Aggies were still in lockdown and Ivan was actually outscoring the Lobos by himself.  It was 50-22 Aggies at the half.  Ivan had 17.  Jojo Zamora had 16.  The Lobos had four players with two fouls each and another had one with three.  The Aggies were rebounding well holding a 29 to 10 advantage.  Even Jack Nixon couldn’t help sounding happy doing the game call.

Halftime

During my lunch time, I switched over to the video coverage on Twitch.  (I wonder if I’ll be saying that more in the future when watching sports over the Internet.)  There were over 500 people watching, but the chatroom was pretty quiet.  A Lobo fan posted this about his team’s shooting:

my dad told put a bucket of chicken on the basket and they wont miss

(Put a box of Raising Canes on the basket and I won’t miss either.)  It was hard not to notice that Jack and Adam Young, who was doing the play-by-play on the video, were pronouncing Ivan’s last name in a widely different fashion.  Now, I have no idea how it’s pronounced. 

Second Half

I can guess what Coach Chris Jans told his team at halftime.  “Remember how you guys were leading by 19 there at the Pit last month (11-17-18)?  Remember how that game ended?  You just barely won that one!”  The Aggies heard him.  Zamora hit a three to start the half, Ivan got a layup, and Jojo then hit another three.  That was their first three possessions.  The Lobos just had one three in the middle of that. 

We have this from another Lobo in the chatroom:

Hard to have any after losing 4 (almost 5) straight to a team from Las Cruces. Brutal

Zamora hit another three to make it 63-28.  An Aggie went flying in to the Sundancers on a play at the baseline (sorry, I wasn’t quick enough to catch who it was).  The girls were okay and smiling afterward.  The color commentator coach said on the replay, “Look at how tough those Aggie cheerleaders are!”

70-35 Shunn Buchanan hit Johnny McCants on a lob.  The crowd got up for that one.  79-41 Ivan jammed one on a fast break with 11 minutes left in the half.  Let’s check the chatroom again.

Isn't showing murder against Twitch TOS?

When I went to a game at NMSU there was a dead bat inside the stadium. Can't even clean up the stadium before the game. I hope they all get rabies

With about five minutes left and up 90-56, the Aggies put their bench in.  Jabari Rice got a three to hit 100 for a 40-point lead.  The final would be 100-65 Aggies.  This 35-point victory was the largest ever by the Aggies over the Lobos.  Somehow their traitor coach, Paul Weir, managed to keep his cool for the whole game.  Coach Jans, on the other hand, is now 8-0 in NMSU rivalry games.  He went to the student section and gave them a roar.  What’s chat have to say?

         

Chris Jans tries to crowd surf in the student section and they drop his fat a

caitasim: ss

caitasim: I'm a Notre Dame fan. I've never even been to a NMSU game tbh I don't even know where it is. I just wanted to troll some people

The poster then invited viewers to go watch his stream.  Almost appreciated his honesty.  Almost.  Here’s your stats for the game: the Aggies finished up 50 to 28 in rebounds, and shot 50% to the Lobo’s under 30%.  Jojo Zamora led all scorers with 27 and went 6 for 6 on three’s.  Ivan Aurrecoechea had 23, and Eli Chuha had a good comeback with 13 points.  Lastly, I think I saw that pretty assistant girl from volleyball last year working by the bench.  Who is she?

NM State Volleyball Recap 2018 Postseason

Continued from the Regular Season recap.

WAC Tournament

11-23-18 vs UMKC Roos

I’m embarrassed to recap this tournament, since I didn’t see or hear any of it.  Frankly, I’m not paying ESPN two-cents for anything, much less their streaming service.  I admit that this does hit me where I live though. 

For their first match in the semi-finals, the Aggies beat UMKC 3-1.  UMKC had six aces in first set, but the Aggies got it together after that.  Megan Hart, Savannah Davison, and Ashley Anselmo had double-digit kills.  Tatyana Battle made two incredible saves on one point and made the NCAA Volleyball Twitter feed highlights.  They’d face Utah Valley in the championship, who blew away top seed UTRGV 3-0.  I thought that Utah Valley was a good team, but I wonder what happened to the Vaqueros.  Adam Young was doing the call for the WAC and ESPN 3.  It looked like a good crowd there in Bakersfield even with the home team eliminated. 

11-24-18 vs Utah Valley Wolverines

A day after the Saturday night match on Sunday evening, it finally occurred to me that the local TV news would likely be covering the Aggies in a championship game.  If I’d thought of that Saturday night (and could tear myself away from a good episode of Babylon 5), I think the match would have been over by the time the sports news came on, and I could have gotten the story on three different stations.  On Sunday, I was lucky that one of stations repeated the results.  I was not so lucky that it was a low reception station.

I flipped over right as the Sports was starting on KVIA.  A wave of nervous anticipation suddenly swept over me.  After the first story, they were doing the volleyball story.  I was holding my breath.  I didn’t have any sound, but could make out the digitally scrambled images.  There in the titles I could see, “Aggies win,” and an image of the girls in sunglasses posing with the trophy.  I exhaled.  That moment was way too nerve-wracking, especially with the bad reception.  I watched again during the late night news and they showed the girls at their NCAA bracket watch party.  At that point, I was definitely sure they’d won.  I wish I could have heard the interviews with Coach Jordan and Tatyana Battle.

I got the paper from my parents the next day with a recap.  It was really detailed about the championship match with the Utah Valley Wolverines.  They probably figured nobody saw it because it was on ESPN pay-Internet.  The Aggies dropped the first set, won the second in extra points, and then won next two to take the match 3-1. 

Halle Razzo and Briana Ainsworth were mentioned for going on long serving runs.  Tatyana Battle, Savannah Davision, and Megan Hart all came up with big kills.  Brigette Lowe hit the championship-winning shot.  Taty and Sav made the all-tournament team.  Megan Hart was the tournament MVP (and she’s beautiful, of course).  She had 13 kills and 10 blocks in the championship game. 

I don’t know I would have gone to the watch party if I’d known about it ahead of time.  I would have been nervous about going.  I’m not a booster; I just go to the games.  But this time, I don’t know if I could have resisted giving everyone congratulations in person.  If a situation like this comes up again, I’ll think seriously about going. 

NCAA Tournament

11-29-18 vs Oregon Ducks

I was on pins and needles for about a half-hour as KRUX radio was still broadcasting music past the announced start time of the coverage.  Thankfully, a DJ came on and said that the match was delayed, as Baylor and Hawaii’s match were running long and going into a fifth set.  (Baylor won.)

 

In the pregame, Adam Young interviewed AD Mario Moccia.  Mario sat next to Randy Johnson at the airport there.  Johnson’s daughter, Willow, plays for Oregon.  She’s also a lefty like her old man.  An ex-NFL player’s daughter plays on the Ducks too.  Adam and Mario were both seriously jealous of Oregon’s new arena there ($250M-worth of jealous).  With the tournament seeding, Oregon was ranked #15 in nation. 

Mario offhandedly mentioned that Tatyana Battle was playing with a broken foot.  I keep hearing this every so often, but I’ve seen no evidence of it.  She’s been awesome basically all season.  Taty’s often smiling, so she doesn’t seem to be in terrible pain.  I don’t know how she’s playing so well and being so graceful with a broken foot. 

I was hearing the Aggie fight song in the background.  Was the Aggie band there?  In spite of the excellent facilities, Adam was broadcasting the game seated behind backline, three levels up.  He estimated a great crowd there between three and four thousand.

 

Though at work, I was able to listen to whole match.  I had stuff to do away from my desk, but still had plenty to do there, as I’m still trying to catch up from taking some days off this month.  I e-mailed Ron at the start of the match.  He followed along using statcast.  I never got it to come up for me.  One last note, Adam mentioned that a couple other WAC Volleyball teams were playing in lower level tournaments, including Cal Baptist.  UTRGV rejected an automatic bid to a tournament for winning the regular season.  I’m sure their players were pleased by that.  (I guess the Aggies did that last year as they won the regular season and didn’t go anywhere either.)

Set 1

The link to the PAC-12 video feed started working right as the match started.  Unfortunately, it was a pay-service, so all I got was a four-minute preview.  Nice camera work.  The court was indeed beautiful with a golden silhouette of a forest superimposed on it.  Brigette Lowe was starting and she looked uncharacteristically very serious.  Julianna Salanoa hammered a kill on the first swing of the match.  She’s from the Northwest area.  She had family and friends there in the crowd.  That’s about all of the video I got to see.

The Aggies took an early lead.  At 9-4 Aggies, Oregon took a timeout.  The Ducks went on a run to get it within one.  The Aggies looked good on several points.  Savannah Davison got a solo block, Jules made an overpass kill, and Natalie Mikels got a dump kill, but Ducks came back to take the lead 13-15.  Timeout Aggies.  Kiley Tonge and Krysten Garrison came in late.  Garrison was actually working as the setter.  By 22-24, the Aggies had fought off four set points.  Oregon took a timeout.  Sav had an out serve coming out of the timeout and the Ducks took it 22-25.  Julianna had five kills in the set.

Set 2: Ducks 1, Aggies 0

This set stayed close.  Jules kept racking up the kills.  Oregon went up by three, but the Aggies would tie it at 13.  The Aggies took the lead, 15-14, before the media timeout. Tatyana Battle served up an ace to put the Aggies up 3.  She served another to increase it to four.  Timeout Oregon.  Out of that, Taty put in another ace, 18-14.  Megan Hart got a kill to make it 20-15.  Ashley Anselmo got a kill after several rejections earlier.  Jules brought it to set point with kill #11, 24-16.  The Aggies closed it out, 25-18.

Set 3: Aggies 1, Ducks 1

Oregon went up four early.  Nat got another dump kill at 9-11 Ducks.  During the match, the Oregon setter actually made a few attacks.  It was something about the system they use that allowed it.  I hadn’t seen anyone use that before.  It was 11-15 Ducks at the media timeout.  13-18 an Oregon ace prompted an Aggie timeout.  The Aggies did start mounting a comeback.  Sav got an ace at 15-20.  Tatyana began asserting herself and started getting kills late, but the Ducks took it 21-25.

Set 4: Ducks 2, Aggies 1

Garrison started the set.  Nat began it with an ace, 1-0 Aggies.  The Aggies went up three, but the Ducks went on a four-point run with Willow Johnson on serve to make it 6-8. Timeout Aggies.  Cat Kelly was brought in for the first time.  I’m glad she was able play today.  Willow and Oregon continued on.  6-13 Oregon, timeout Aggies again.  Willow finished her run with an ace before the Aggies finally sided out.  That was an 11-point run.  The Oregon crowd gave her a standing ovation.

Briana Ainsworth dove into the media table trying for a save at 7-18.  The senior was going all out.  The coach probably could have used another timeout.  I’ve seen coaches use their challenges as timeouts (11-18-18).  Either the opportunity never presented itself, or the coach didn’t think of it, or (more likely) things were too far gone to bother.  9-23 Jordan Pleasants came in to serve.  10-23 Analyssa Acosta came in.  The circumstances weren’t good, but I was very happy for her to finally get into another game.  11-24 Jules got her final kill.  11-25 and 3-1 Oregon was the final.

There wasn’t an interview with Coach Jordan afterward.  Adam said he didn’t want the coach to bother to visiting him “in the nosebleeds.”  Julianna Salanoa was the Aggie standout with 15 kills.  Next year, we’re bringing her family and friends in for every game.  Tatyana Battle came on late with 14 kills.  Savannah Davison had 11 and Megan Hart had 7.  I think one of the Ducks had 18 kills to lead everyone, but without statcast, it was too much trouble to track down her name.

Summary

Sum up the whole season?  This is kind of intimidating. 

We’ll start with the coach, Mike Jordan.  First, he’s done a great job of recruiting and training players.  Second, after losing five seniors last season and a couple of early injuries this season, the coach always seemed to be scrambling to put out a lineup.  Last season was certainly good training for that, as multiple injuries had hobbled the team.  Having the conference player of the year (KC Tohm) and the libero of year (Ari Sierra) helped to lead those Aggies to a regular season championship. 

This time though, he didn’t have those stars, but what Coach Jordan did have this time was quality depth in the front line.  With ten five-set matches, they needed that.  This advantage became a hydra for other teams:  stop one girl, two more sprang up to replace her.  This really showed itself early in the win against Arizona (9-8-18).  Coach Jordan became Coach Maddon from his beloved Cubs and went mad scientist with his lineup, confusing the heck out of the Wildcats.  That sort of became the pattern for the season, though it became much more orderly later on.  The coach would change out players to ride whoever was working best in that day’s match.  All the girls have different styles, but there was little drop off in the quality of play.  By the end of the season, they’d had enough experience to all be excellent options. 

 

For the players individually, we’ll start with the seniors.  Captain Tatyana Battle had star talent and showed it at times, but she was injured for most of the season (though she never showed it).  So, Taty only led the team in kills and digs, but at full strength she might have been like Ragni Knudsen from UTRGV, conference MVP.  Taty was always the main option for big points, but this Aggie team actually didn’t need their whole offense going through one player.  They had plenty of great options, but Taty was capable of taking over.  (Go back and look at the regular season recap.  She’s mentioned several times.)    

Setter Briana Ainsworth split time with Natalie Mickels to great effect.  The both of them did well in assists and serving.  Bri had some memorable serving runs.  Then there’s Bri’s wonderful smile.  You can’t put a game stat on it, but it’s real for the fans and her teammates.  Both her and Taty, obviously very serious about volleyball, seemed to have a light-hearted attitude.  I have no idea how their practices went, but I’d think these two set the tone for this team. 

Next year, this team should again have an embarrassing number of great players.  They all had their shining moments.  The Aggies have seven girls (in my opinion) capable of getting double-digit kills and making blocks in any match.  They’ll lose Tatyana, but will hopefully get Lia Mosher and Brielle Sterns back.  They also had several servers capable of getting aces on a regular basis.  

The one shaky area of the team was libero.  Ari Sierra spoiled us for two seasons.  In spite of having several defensive players on the team, nobody was being groomed for the position during that time.  The coach tried several options before Halle Razo won the job, but it did take some growing.  Next season, Halle should start off as a good libero and improve from there.  (She was also good on serve.)  I get the impression that Kiley Tonge will be seeing more time next season from what I saw by the end of this season. 

As I mentioned before, Natalie Mikels was great this season as setter.  Her serve was just lethal at times.  Freshman Krysten Garrison was used as a hitter and a setter in spots this year.  Given how many hitters and blockers this team has, she might be the other setter next year.

Let’s talk hitters and blockers.  Savannah Davison was a revelation this season.  I’d seen her in the Scrimmage last year (8-19-17) and she looked good, but was injured for the rest of the season.  She was ready this year.  From the get-go, Sav was out playing nearly every point.  The coach had a lot of confidence in her.  She looked really good, but would have those “freshman moments” from this being her first season playing.  It’s worth noting that two seasons ago, Tatyana was considered a “defensive liability.”  Look how she turned out.

Sav’s low point was that UTRGV match here (10-27-18).  She might have been about to lose her starting spot to Cat Kelly, who looked ready to play more, but Cat fell very ill before the next match.  To Savannah’s credit, she came back a better, more focused player.  I wonder if she’ll be the captain next year.  I also wonder about her serving.  She generally got better as the season went along, but was replaced pretty regularly.  She also used three different styles to serve.  It’s an area to work on if she’s going to be captain.

As far as other blockers and hitters go, oh my goodness, this team is loaded.  I hope Cat Kelly will be okay next season, because Sav and Cat (sounds like a TV show) together on court on a regular basis would be a tremendous combination.  Cat could really kill it.  I only saw her serve once and she looked okay.  She’ll need to work on that if she’s playing more.  Julianna Salanoa is turning into the star she looks like with that powerful build.  Not to mention, Jules has a great winning smile.  Opposing teams couldn’t ignore Ashley Anselmo, as she was a steady supporting force.  Brigette Lowe really shined at the WAC Tournament.  It was the culmination of her getting more regular playing time.

The team lost two middle blockers, Lia Mosher and Brielle Sterns, at the beginning of the season.  Both of them looked good last year, so hopefully they’ll pick up where they left off next year.  Freshman Lindsay Blakey seemed really tentative attacking, but when she was in and took a full swing, she looked good.  You can’t teach height and Lindsay’s got that. 

What this left in the middle was Megan Hart.  Basically, combining her with any of the hitters was a good combination.  Her kills so often seemed big and demoralizing for the other team.  It was just majestic watching her slap them down, like she was bitch-slapping the other team along with the ball.  She was really good on serve too, though she was getting taken out for it quite a bit later in the season.  The coach perhaps wanted to keep her out of the back row?  (I don’t know how volleyball rotation, positioning, and substitutions work.)  I’d keep her away from positions where she might be diving for balls on the floor too (to protect that bad knee).   And (everyone together now for one last time this season), she’s beautiful.   

The strength of the team in depth is also a bit of problem.  Finding playing time for all these talented players was a juggling act this season.  The good news is that they were kept fresh and got game experience, but they probably weren’t being brought to their peak potential.  Some of these girls could be stars on other WAC teams.  If someone asserts themselves as a star next year on this team, the lineup may not have as many substitutions during games.

Overall, I had a great time this season.  It was thrilling and the girls are easy to root for.  I’ll hopefully be over that UTRGV loss by next season.  That’s the drawback about being passionate about a sports team.  As the coach said to the crowd at Senior Day, “You guys are spoiled.”  That’s totally correct.  See you next year.