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.        

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

She pressed her wet naked body against that of her quivering teammate.  “You know you want me,” she whispered in her ear.  “No.  I can’t.  I mustn’t,” she protested,” “But, I . . . I . . .”

Oh, what a time for writer’s block!  I know I promised to devote this blog to hot Aggie Sportswomen fanfiction because of yesterday’s soccer match, but it’s just not happening today.  Maybe some other time.  (And let this be a warning to Aggie teams to not lose, otherwise I might pick this up again.)  Well, may as well recap this volleyball game I went to this morning instead.       

13.  That was my last count of the number of people in attendance for this Friday morning game between the Portland Pilots and the Grambling State Tigers.  There may have been more people working at the Pan-Am Center than fans.  I’d had a good night’s sleep and was in a better mood than yesterday, but getting up early and out of my usual routine left me a little disoriented this morning.  I found my way to Danny, where we had a section to ourselves.

Coach Jordan was there.  He was chatting with the opposing coaches.  I get the impression he’s friends with Grambling Coach Demetria Keys-Johnson, which might be why they’ve been invited here.  She was their only coach with no assistants, even graduate students.  Grambling had two small groups of fans in attendance, but they weren’t sitting together.  Coach Hertel was also here to do some scouting for the Aggies.  For the player introductions, both teams fist-bumped the officials and went over to shake hands with the opposing coach.    

Set 1

I wasn’t sure how to time out events today for my own schedule with a four-hour gap between the first two games.  I will say, after seeing Grambling last year (9-4-18), I was sort of expecting a three-set match.  I want to try and be fair and sensitive to the Grambling players, so I’ll void some obvious observations about them in general, but I’m really biting my tongue here.  Suffice it say, I’d like everyone I see out on court to play well . . . as long as they lose to the Aggies.  (Really.  Beating a bad team isn’t much of an accomplishment.)

Grambling did look better at times during this match than last year, but were still taking some very poor swings and making bad decisions.  They were blocking reasonably well.  Wow, suddenly it was 11-5 Portland.  (I was really out of it.)  On the Aggie Coaches Show, Coach Rubio and Adam Young had tapped Portland as the best team invited (Lamar being the other team).  I’d noticed Shayla Hoeft during warm-ups, who’d won this point on a kill to the back corner.  She was tall, well-built, and pretty in a Julianna Salanoa sort of way.  Shayla also hit hard.  Her and several other girls on the team are from Hawaii, though Shayla didn’t look like an islander.

Once again, there were ball-kid issues and they were using Pan-Am staff instead.  They were short a ball handler for this match, which caused some ball transfer problems.  19-10 Portland, Grambling took a timeout.  Coach Hertel had seen enough and left at this point.  Beautiful Megan Hart from the Aggies came in and sat down at the scorer’s table and delivered coffee to a friend there.  6’5” and glamorous, she makes an entrance everywhere she goes.  Portland took Set 1, 25-11.

Set 2: Portland 1, Grambling 0

Portland’s Katie Barker dunked one for the first point of the second set.  Jayde Harris made a nice hard push tip to make it 2-1 Portland.  4-3 Portland, Grambling made a nice kill through Portland’s blocking.  (I was having trouble catching player numbers on their black uniforms.  Their numbers weren’t standing out.)  5-5, Grambling had some good blocking and got a cross-court kill.  7-5 Portland, Katie dunked on an overpass.  11-7 Portland, Liz Reich had a good kill for the Pilots.  11-8, Grambling got a nice tip over the Portland blockers. 

14-9 Portland, Shayla came in with a flying kill.  19-14 Portland, Grambling went on a run.  20-15, Katie got a nice tip kill.  22-16, Shayla got a tip through two blockers.  23-19 Portland, Grambling went on another run.  24-19, Jayde got a kill, and Portland finished it out, 25-19.

Set 3: Portland 2, Grambling 0

There was a full five-minute halftime.  Grambling went into the visiting locker room.  Portland stayed out on court.  Hey, the Talking Head’s This Must Be the Place played on the PA, one of my favs.  PA Ed went over to chat with Megan.  I think he was miming out one of her shots at one point.  He must be a fan of hers too.

Back to play, 3-1 Grambling, they took a lead in a set and increased it to 5-1.  Portland took a timeout.  It went to 6-1 on a good block, and 7-1 on a kill.  Their reserves were fired up.  7-2, Katie made a two-handed tip to break the run.  7-3, Claire Forrest had a tip for Portland.  8-5, Kassidy Naone had a kill.  She’s one of Portland’s better servers.  I noticed Coach Jordan up in the shadows watching now.

8-8, Shayla and Claire combined for a block into a campfire of Grambling players.  9-8, Grambling got the lead back on a block.  Kiley Tonge came in to sit with Megan.  They must be good friends.  9-9, Shayla and Claire again on a block.  10-9, Portland got the lead back on a kill by Shayla.  Timeout Grambling.  Their team made two huddles, one with the players on court and the other with the reserves. 

12-9 Portland, Shayla with another kill.  16-9, McKenzie Schwan, a pretty red-head on Portland, went on a good serving run.  She got an ace here.  20-9 Portland, the Tigers took their other timeout.  McKenzie playfully grabbed Emily Demots rear end with both hands during the break.  20-10, Grambling finally broke her serve.  20-11, the Tigers got a point on a touch.  Their reserves were shouting out encouragement. 

21-11 Portland, there were some Grambling parents seated in a section up behind me and Danny.  He’d chatted with them earlier.  Here, they started heckling one of the refs over a missed call.  They gave him the business and it wasn’t like there was any crowd noise to drown them out.  21-12, though the Tigers won the point, their coach sent their captain to argue with the up official.  The down official started talking to the scorer, but nothing happened that I could tell.  24-14, a Portland serve didn’t reach the net.  Maybe some nerves on a set point.  Katie finished it out with a kill.  Portland took it 25-14 and 3-0.       

Well, I might have been better off continuing the fanfiction.  It was nice to see Megan.  It was also nice to meet Shayla Hoeft.  She is a lavish stack of beauty and an exciting player to watch.  (I’m a cheating traitor here, aren’t I?)  She had 13 kills.  The Pilots looked pretty efficient against a poor opponent.  (Boy, am I going to be regretting those words later this evening.)  Looking at the program, I noticed Grambling does have a win.  I have to ask, who did they beat?  That didn’t even take an hour-and-a-half.  I went back home for lunch before this afternoon’s match. 

NM State Aggies vs UTEP Miners Soccer 9-12-19

Dynamic Alexa Barerra

Last night (9-11-19), I just finished writing up and posting everything from the Borderland Invitational.  (Please forgive any grammatical errors over the last three posts.  I was in a rush and only did one proofreading run.)  So that said, I’m not entirely enthused about writing up another seven recaps right after.  Also, the results of this match disappointed me, making this a lot harder to write.  I also had a headache for the whole event, which strangely went away after the match.

I had the day off and basically did nothing with it.  Ron had the day off too and would be going to this rivalry game with the UTEP Miners with me.  Unfortunately, he arrived late to pick me up and I missed out on the giveaway t-shirts.  That’s okay.  I got one last week and already have a bunch.  There was a crowd around the courtesy table, but we didn’t stop since the referees were already being introduced on field.  I missed out on getting a program and some water until later. 

Right upon walking into the grandstand, there was the beautiful Megan Hart and Kiley Tonge (also very attractive) from the Aggie Volleyball team.  There might have been more, but they were the only ones I saw.  I was a bit startled, but quickly gave them a smile, a wave, and a thumbs up.  I got tentative wave back.  They were caught off guard as well.  The rest of the crowd was a bit sparse.  I was expecting better for a rivalry match, even with the 4:00 Thursday start time.  Much like the other matches this season, it seemed like half the crowd was for the other team.  Tom was there, however and was in full voice cheering for the Aggies.  Ron was thrilled.  The visiting fans were amused.

Before the match, there was a t-shirt toss.  Emerson was there.  She looked hot in her t-shirt and little shorts, and also because it was unpleasantly hot temperature-wise.  She ran past me to hand a giveaway shirt to someone at the top of the stands.  Danny, who was also there, later asked me why I didn’t stop her for one.  Please, I don’t want Megan to see me talking to another attractive woman and get jealous.  Not to mention, Emerson was probably already furious that I’d interacted with Megan.  This is so uncomfortable.  (I’m unmotivated to keep writing this recap.  I’m just trying to have some fun here.)

By the start of the match, Ron was already facedown in his phone playing some kind of addictive farming/resource gathering game.  He was constantly checking on it for the rest of the afternoon and evening.  And I thought my hobbies were a waste of time.     

First Half

UTEP was easy to spot on field in bright orange.  Their keeper was in an even brighter yellow.  The Aggies were in their whites.  Goalie Dmitri Fong was in black long sleeves as usual.  She must have a high tolerance for heat.  (Hopefully, she didn’t see me around Megan or Emerson.  This is getting so awkward.)  On that matter, they were again short on kids at the field, so Aggie Sports Marketing was out shagging balls.  Emerson was on the far side of the field, probably not having fun. 

42’ left in the half, Hannah Leitner went down in a hard collision near the stands.  You could hear that one.  Ouch.  The Miners got off the first attack at 41’.  Dmitri stopped a close shot.  The Aggies came right back.  40’ Hannah took a shot from the center of the UTEP box.  The Miner fans were pretty vocal, especially one lady behind me that was already getting on my nerves.  39’ Hannah took shot on the wing, one-on-one with a defender.  It went just over the goal.

37’ Jody Hernandez took a wild high shot that went over the fence behind the goal.  The ball came right back over the fence.  I think I might have seen some football players walking by there.  At least Emerson didn’t have to go running after it.  36’ Corey Kizer found Shea O’Connor in front of the net.  Shea’s shot went just over.  This led to an Aggie corner kick, but no shot on goal.               

UTEP came back on the attack.  35’ the Miners took a corner shot that went high over the goal.  33’ a UTEP player flopped and got a free kick outside the Aggie box.  Dmitri caught a pretty impressive long shot.  30’ Dmitri stopped a roller.  28’ a good shot by Jackie Soto from the top of the box that was just high.  (I didn’t get her number.  I was hearing a parent behind me call her out.  I found out there’s another Jackie on the team who plays the same position, but I think I got the right one.)  I could hear an hysterical woman screaming across the field.  Oh, it was the first year Miner coach, Kathryn Balogun.  I’d watched an interview with her a couple of weeks ago.  She seemed much more reasonable then.

26’ Shea was fouled at the top of the UTEP box.  The shot off the free kick went wide.  This led to an Aggie corner.  25’ there was a foul on Shea inside the Miner box.  She converted the penalty kick past keeper Emily Parrott.  1-0 Aggies, and that’s what you get for leaning on Shea too much.  I’m pretty sure they singled her out in the game plan.

23’ Emily and Dmitri both picked up shots with players coming up on them.  21’ Jackie (?) took another high shot outside the Aggie box.  20’ hydration break.  By this time the hot sun had mostly gone down behind the stands.  Ron had left to take a call, so I was holding his big umbrella.  I took it down as I got tired of it pulling at my hair.  Back to play, 17’ a UTEP player turned and shot like the crowd always wants.  Dmitri caught it.  On the other end, Emily smothered an attack. 

14’ Eli Gonzalez was subbed in for the Aggies.  Here she made a nice steal.  13’ UTEP got a corner after knocking down an Aggie defender.  11’ Corey made a good defensive stand in the Aggie box.  Dmitri would catch another shot.  9’ UTEP made shot across the Aggie goal, but didn’t have anyone on the other side for the pass.  8’ a ball bounced into the stands and rebounded right back onto the field.  7’ Dmitri fell on the ball in front of an attacker.  She then immediately caught a wing shot right after.  If you don’t like me writing about the Aggie’s attractive goalie all the time, feel free to keep the ball in the opposing team’s end more.    

Tom was shouting out the names of Aggie players to encourage and getting them wrong.  He’d correct himself and keep shouting.  3’ Hannah took a fall and was probably pushed.  No call.  And we went to the half.  The Aggies were up 1-0 with 3 shots on goal and 3 corners, and the Miners with 1 corner and 3 shots on goal.

Halftime

Emerson and the marketing staff had a couple of kids out at midfield for a kicking contest.  Working with the kids for contests seems to be part of the job Emerson likes.  (She’s mostly frowning for the rest of it.)  Representatives of the NMSU Office of Equality (or something like that) stood in front of the stands and called every guy there a rapist (basically).  But then they tossed out some t-shirts, so it was okay.  The PA recognized the Aggie Baseball team, who took up one of the support stands.  They’re not allowed to hang out on the field anymore. 

I went to the courtesy table to get a program and refill of water.  (Ron had briefly come back, gave me a cup of water, and then left again.)  The Office of Equality was set up there distributing condoms for the males who pledged to not rape anyone.  Here’s where it looks like I’m doing some of my trademark “wacky” humor.  That is not the case here.  I’m sure they’d insist that wasn’t what they were doing, but that’s what was going on.  This is beyond parody.

Second Half

Ron returned and settled in for this half after pretty much missing the whole first half, including the goal.  I felt bad that he’d taken the day off to take some phone calls and play a mobile game outside in the heat.  He’d run into an officer from my work somewhere in the crowd.  I was curious why he was there, but I never saw him. 

44’ right off the bat, Dmitri had to push out an attack.  41’ Moe Sais for UTEP took a high shot that just missed the corner of the goal.  (Again, I didn’t write down a player number.  I was going with what I was hearing from Miner fans.)  39’ I think Hannah took yet another dive on the far side of the field after getting pushed.  38’ she was tackled down, which was whistled for a free kick, which was stopped by Emily.  Shea and UTEP’s Lauren Crenshaw got very aggressive with each other in positioning at the top of the box before the kick. 

36’ a UTEP corner went right past the Aggie net as a Miner missed a high kick.  35’ Aggie defender Lece Aviles made a good strip and steal.  Jess McDow also made a steal, but neither could get an attack going.  34’ Hannah was pushed down again.  I’m starting to think it was personal.  33’ Jody made a centering pass that just missed Alexa Barerra in front of the Miner goal.  31’ spitting out a mouthful of grass, Hannah came out for Eli. 

30’ a pass to Lauren just missed in front of an unguarded Dmitri.  29’ Alexa pulled up with a cramp or pulled a hammy by the stands.  The ref asked if she was okay.  She said she was.  During the pause, Alexa and a Miner player shared a laugh.  27’ the Aggies made some good passing, but couldn’t get the ball downfield.  26’ Corey took a wide shot on goal.  A big dragon-shaped cloud passed by in the sky.  My mind may have been drifting here. 

23’ Jess was called for a foul.  The baseball team was unhappy with the call.  22’ UTEP corner, Dmitri punched it out.  20’ Shea made a breakaway on a pass by Jody.  It was broken up.  19’ hydration break.  15’ a good pass from Anna Jimmerson caught Jojo Ngongo running down the middle of the Aggie box for an easy goal.  Dmitri had little chance on that one.  1-1.  

The game started getting chippie at this point.  Coach Baarts was yelling.  13’ Dmitri fell on a shot off a good pass and kick.  9’ Katie Martinez leveled Miner Kam Fisher, who was quite a bit smaller.  Kam yelled at her, but Katie only shrugged.  8’ a UTEP attack was broken up right in front of the Aggie net.  6’ a shot over the Aggie goal.  4’ Dmitri caught a bouncer.  A couple of high shots followed.  2’ Lauren took a crossing shot at the Aggie goal that was just high.  1’ a yellow card was issued to UTEP, but I couldn’t tell who.  There was a free kick outside the Miner box.  Shea took a last second header, but were headed for overtime again.

First Overtime

I’m really starting to hate those words.  It means I’m about to waste ten minutes sitting out in the sun.  The refs wanted this over too.  They started before the clock was set.  8’ Alexa made a crossing pass across the UTEP net, but no one was on the other side.  5’ Alexa was tripped in the UTEP box, but no call.  Shea took a shot that was caught.  Tom was still yelling.  He’s indeflagable.  4’ Jody took a shot high and wide and then fell flat to the ground afterward.  3’ Shea took out Emerson.  Well, what’s her problem with Emerson?  Oh wait, Emerson Kidd on UTEP.  Otherwise, this would have been quite scandalous.  Emerson went down to her knees, but there was no call.  Shea made an attack that was broken up.

Second Overtime

What did we just waste ten minutes for?  Again (8-25-19) ?  And Again (9-8-19)?  Can’t we just do one overtime with three less players for each team and then do penalty kicks if necessary more or less like hockey?  We’d get a winner and it’d take less time.  Why am I not just watching hockey?

The Aggies stayed on the attack.  8’ an Aggie corner.  Then the Miners came back.  5’ Alexa blocked an attack in the box by Bella Benavides.  3’ heartbreak.  There was a scrum in front of the Aggie net.  I was watching the whole play, but it was very confused.  I had to hear it from a UTEP fan right after, read it from the website the next day, and heard an interview with Coach Baarts the day after that.  Jojo Ngongo was credited with the goal and celebrated afterward, but an unnamed Aggie player deflected it in.  Danny said that Dmitri ran off the field immediately after the score. Coach Baarts was not angry and just said that these things happen in those kind of situations.  UTEP won 2-1. 

The Aggie defense held up well, along with Dmitri’s goalkeeping (5 saves on 22 shots).  However, without more offense, wins are going to be very hard to come by.  UTEP had a 7 to 3 advantage in shots on goal.  I hate to think we’re going to have to wait another year to see a team fielded with some more offense.  Worse, I was really hoping the Aggies would win this one.  I wanted to turn around to that annoying UTEP lady behind me and tell her to “Suck on that and my big Aggie ****, you Miner *****!” 

After the match, Megan, Emerson, and Dmitri all got into a hair-pulling catfight.  “Ladies, ladies, please.  Show restraint,” I said while furiously taking pictures.  No.  Actually, I was pretty depressed afterward.  Even a good meal with a free Chick-fil-a sandwich didn’t help.  (Their new mac and cheese is as good as they say.  The ice cream there did make me feel a bit better.) 

I missed everything I was interested in on TV that night.  Fox was randomly showing a baseball game on Thursday instead of Saturday, but I tuned in just after the final out.  Ranger baseball was not on the radio.  I’d missed seeing my little party girls on Chic Music.  The replay was preempted on their alternate station by a Mexican League baseball game. The Juarez Indios won 6-0 over Delicias.  Okay, that’s it.  I can’t take the losing.  I’m done writing Aggie Sports recaps.  Next post, I start writing fanfiction about the women of Aggie Sports: Episode 1, A Naughty Night in the Volleyball Locker Room.