NM State Aggies vs FIU Panthers Soccer 10-12-23

 

Our Seniors 

Another Aggie Soccer match, another day off.  I basically did nothing while waiting for the game other than going to 5 Guys for a hamburger.  Legend Burger in the mall is better, but it was windy outside and 5 Guys has better fries.  I’d been craving some good fries for like two weeks.  The meal was just okay.  My life wasn’t enlightened. 

 

Last night was good sports-wise.  The Diamondbacks disposed of the Dodgers and the Phillies beat the Braves.  (I’d be missing their closeout game tonight.  The Phillies won 3-1.)  My picks are looking pretty good.  Aggie Football beat Sam Houston, 27-13.  It’d be a more impressive win except it was 27-0 at the half and Sam Houston is new to D1 and hasn’t won a game against another D1 team.  Regardless, it’s a win. 

 

At the soccer field, the first thing I saw was a mom chasing a toddler around the sidelines.  So cute.  There were some girls in military uniform at the gate.  They were a high school Color Guard, who’d present the flags for the Anthem.  They looked sharp.  It was a nice night.  There was a cool breeze blowing and a beautiful sunset.  No merch tent tonight.  Too bad since there was a great crowd of over 800.  This included Aggie Volleyball and also somebody brought in a cute bulldog. 

 

On field, the refs were, I admit, handsome young men.  They were chatting in a friendly manner in front of the stands.  I noticed two of the Aggie girls were in casts (and Sydnee Johnson was still in a boot).  I unfortunately recognized one of the girls as Bianca Chacon, the Assist Queen.  That’s a big loss for the team, especially as they were playing the FIU Panthers tonight.  They’re a good team.  They played Liberty to a tie last week.  Coach Baarts had also said in an interview that goalie, Valerie Guha, still wasn’t a 100%, but would be playing.

 

Tonight was Senior Night.  There were six players honored: Bella Garcia, Megan Ormson, Gia Valenti, Hannah Draper, Xitlaly Hernandez, and Loma McNesse.  Bella hasn’t been playing this season, but was still with the team as an assistant.  A balloon with her player number on it accidently got let go.  It floated over the field and then over the football field.  That also happened with one of Xitlaly’s balloons.  Gia came out with Thalia Chaverria’s brother.   

First Half

The crowd was buzzing.  The girls were upbeat.  (There were no tears for the Senior Ceremony, only smiles.)  The Band sounded good.  The Aggies started energetic and got off the first attack.  FIU looked pretty good.  Off a downfield kick, they got a corner, but the attack was kicked out.  40’ left in the half, unfortunately the Aggies turned it over by their net.  Two good passes led to an easy goal right in front of the net by Kim Schneider.  1-0 FIU.  This quieted the crowd.

 

FIU got a couple more corners.  One was off a breakaway attack and a near defensive foul in the Aggie box.  Megan took a shot that went way high.  28’ Ariana Leamons took a great shot at the top shelf.  Panther goalie, Ithaisa Vinoly, made a great fist save to knock it over the net.  The Aggies got in another attack right after, but Vinoly fell on the ball away from the net. 

 

The Aggies and Panthers traded a couple of free kicks halfway through the period.  25’ Xitlaly tackled an attacker on a breakaway.  The ref gave her a lecture, but no card.  24’ the Aggies got a free kick on their side of the field.  They got off a couple of blocked shots in the FIU box.  21’ Gia was on a breakaway and got mugged and lost the ball.  On the counter, FIU got a shot off right in front of the Aggie goal that Valerie blocked. 

 

17’ Shila Rasoul and Brealyn Viamille were whistled for roughhousing before a throw-in.  This happened right in front of the stands.  16’ a downfield pass to Loma was broken up and there was an immediate counter.  Val had to dive for a shot in front of the Aggie goal.  13’ FIU had a near midfield free kick.  It was dead on.  Val caught it initially and then it got loose and she had to fall on it. 

 

A tall guy and his wife sat down in front of me.  I lost my footrest and my view of midfield.  There was something like a hydration break.  I’m not sure that was official, since I think only FIU got water.  Coach Baarts took the opportunity to wear out the ref.  The ref also ignored the Panthers’ coach, who had wanted to make a sub. 

 

12’ Ari made a great pass to Loma in the FIU box, but it was blocked.  Loma did get a shot right after.  Vinoly fell on it.  Valerie caught a shot on her end right after.  8’ off an Aggie corner, there was a riot in front of the FIU net.  Gia took a shot that hit the crossbar and went straight down.  Loma followed up the shot with a header that went in.  1-1.  The crowd exploded.  We all felt a little better. 

 

7’ Val made a dive block on a shot.  An FIU corner went out.  That was the last significant action for the half.  Freshman Azalie Floriano subbed in for the Aggies late.  I had not seen her play before.  I got a chuckle while the Band was playing Tank, the theme song from Cowboy Bebop.  Nicely done.  The half ended with a tie.  FIU was up 3 to 1 in Shots on Goal and 4 to 0 in Corners.  The Outlaw Band performed for halftime.  The drumline wasn’t all there tonight for a performance.    

 

Second Half

FIU took a couple of shots to start the half.  40’ the ref called a turnover on the Aggies.  The crowd let off a big boo.  It was good to get them involved (except for the guy next to me, who kept using profanity).  39’ Mya Hammack put a massive hip check on an attacker on the wing.  The crowd loved it.  (That’s my girl!) 

 

37’ FIU took a long free kick.  The ball danced around the front of the Aggie goal before Ari kicked it out.  The Panthers and Aggies traded a couple of shots.  33’ an Aggie popup shot forced Vinoly to backpedal to punch it away.  She fell backward and might have hit her head on the post.  Vinoly was okay and waved off the ref. 

 

The Aggies had a couple more corners.  They had one wide shot.  On the other end, a slow roller went between a defender’s legs, but Val scooped it up.  24’ FIU had a solo breakaway that led to a heavy attack.  It was broken up without a shot. 

 

I think Volleyball was seated by the net at the north end.  (It was on the far end of the field from me.)  I saw the group dancing around like they were putting a hex on the Panthers.  I thought I saw Morgan Stewart later pick up a loose out-of-bounds ball.  Meanwhile at the rail of the stands, a little girls team had rolled up their posters and was using them to cheer on the Aggies for the rest of the game.

 

19’ Shila took a good pass from Brooke Schultz and had an open shot.  Vinoly caught it straight in the gut.  18’ Loma chased after a loose ball in the FIU box.  Vinoly just got to it before she did. 

17’ FIU got a free kick outside of the Aggie box.  It was broken up.  15’ Mya was carded for a trip, which gave the Panthers another free kick near the box.  It was a designed play with a misdirection that got a shot off next to the net that went wide.  It nearly worked.  The crowd was actually impressed. 

 

13’ Ari took a wide long shot.  The Aggies were playing rough and knocked down two Panthers within a minute.  9’ an Aggie corner kick ended up on top of the FIU net.  7’ Val fell on a roller.  The ball went right back downfield.  Loma was taken down and a Panther was carded for it.  The free kick near the box resulted in a header that was caught.

 

6’ FIU had another corner, but no shots.  3’ both teams were showing tired legs.  In the last minute, Loma and Shila had a breakaway.  The crowd was standing and cheering as Gia took a pair of shots that were blocked.  Megan took the final shot at the top of the box.  Vinoly fell on it to end the game in a 1-1 draw.

 

Both goalies, Valerie Guha and Ithaisa Vinoly, get a nods tonight for their great play.  It was a defensive struggle on both sides.  Credit to Loma McNeese for getting the clutch equalizer before the half.  (I think she’s been Offensive Player of the Week in C-USA twice.)  That was a bad goal that the Aggies let in.  (Credit to FIU for taking advantage of the opportunity given to them.)  I’ve seen them do that several times this season.  They’ve got to clean up those little mental lapses.  Shots on goal were 6 to 4 Aggies, while FIU had a 6 to 3 advantage in corners. 

 

I admit, even with the draw, I enjoyed the match.  It was pretty lively.  Without that flurry of Aggie attacks at the end and the crowd so into it, I might have left with a different opinion.  I did sort of run into some members of Aggie Volleyball leaving.  I was not feeling charming enough to greet them.  It was an embarrassing time to get all shy.  They’ll need all the encouragement they can get for their match tomorrow night.

NM State Aggies vs UTEP Miners Volleyball 10-4-23

Aleka Darko shows off her winning smile.

I’m exhausted.  Today was more sedate than yesterday, but I didn’t count on the Aggie Volleyball game itself exhausting me.  Mostly it was from running the full gamut of emotions for the match and occasionally jumping out of my seat trying to dig loose balls.  There was no meal out today, but I did go over to watch the Rangers demolish the Rays over at my dad’s apartment again, 7-1.  (The Rangers move on to the next round.)  That game finished in time for me to see the whole thing before heading off to the Pan-Am Center, where the game with the UTEP Miners would start an hour earlier than yesterday at 5:00.

 

The start time was because Aggie Football would be having their game at 7:00 next door.  C-USA’s TV deal has their games early in the week to give them national exposure.  This still doesn’t explain why the Aggies and Miners are playing volleyball early in the week instead of Friday and Saturday.  I don’t think it hurt attendance much at either game.  Volleyball had 1,400 listed, which was a little less than yesterday.  Having three high school girls teams there helped, because otherwise there would have been a lot less.  There was also a good UTEP section.  Football had 11,500, which was less than half capacity, but probably about what you’d expect for a mid-week football game.       

 

I only saw one RV in the football parking lot where I parked and nobody tailgating, which seemed like a bad sign for that game.  I didn’t drink anything while I was at dad’s and came into the game thirsty.  I picked up a large raspberry tea and a pretzel.  I was planning on eating after the game when I got home, but didn’t know how long the game would be.  This turned out to be a good call due to the length of the game and pretzel was good.

 

There were leftover autograph posters up front today, which only made me sad since I missed out on autographs, but I grabbed one anyway.  I also picked up a conference football poster, which looked pretty cool.  (I’ll post these at a later date.)  I felt so smart remembering to bring a rubber band today.  Unfortunately during the match, this guy sitting behind me, whom I’ll call UTEP Dad, was playing with his kid and managed to push down the seat beside me and crush my poster underneath it.  What really pissed me off is this is the second time this has happened to me this season.  (This also happened at a low point in the match.)

 

Looking over the team warming up, libero Darian Markham was sitting in the stands, while the rest of the team was standing.  Later, she was wandering around the sidelines by herself singing to the PA music.  I was a bit concerned about her, but she played great tonight. 

 

Assistant Coach Whitis pulled Kacia Brown out of line for hitting practice to chat with her for a while.  I’ve sort of tagged her as the team leader.  Starr Williams had her long hair down in a braid.  Hopefully, that would help her have better success than yesterday.  I noticed my favorite, Maggie Lightheart, in spite of getting playing time yesterday (and today) was still doing freshman stuff and porting water and equipment.       

 

The Miners were all in pink with white trim and blue shorts.  And I thought it was weird having their libero dressed like that yesterday.  I don’t know.  I used to live in El Paso.  This isn’t very UTEP-y.  Blue and orange looks pretty good to me.   

 

The Cheerleaders weren’t here, since they were at Football.  I was surprised to see Adam Young here broadcasting, since he usually does the football TV broadcast.  Pistol Pete was also here.  (There’s a couple of Pete’s.  The other was surely at football.)  There was a tall, pretty line judge, who was unfortunately wearing a mask.  Speaking of pretty, Grad assistant, Molly Johnson, wasn’t here either.  Did she defect to football, too?  Cute moment during introductions.  Ryleigh Whitekettle, who has the best arm on the team, instead of tossing her souvenir ball high into the stands, she ran over and handed it to a little boy on the sidelines.   

 

Set 1

Morgan Stewart started for the Aggies.  I assume this was to help on serve and receive.  That wasn’t the only change.  The team went to a 5-1 rotation, instead of their usual 6-2.  That meant Bianca Perez basically did all of the setting (instead of cycling two setters).  She also had to do blocking at the net.  Coach Jordan was not being passive after yesterday’s loss.

 

UTEP started off with the first two points, including an ace.  Mari Sharp got a kill and tip kill early.  Kacia had a solo block.  Bianca was called for a double touch.  This was going to be one of those matches.  Some refs call that more than others.  At 4-3 Aggies, Bella Garcia came in to serve.  That put three “smalls” in the backcourt. 

 

The match stayed tight.  Bianca got worked trying to solo block.  5-4 Aggies, Kacia and Mari successfully blocked.  Mari aced on the next point, but Bianca was called for another DT to side out.  That’s okay.  UTEP kept turning the ball back over with three service errors.  There was a scary moment on Aggie defense.  Mari took a tumble running off court for a dig.  Thankfully, she was okay. 

 

UTEP did take the lead, 10-12, on an overpass kill.  Ryleigh came back with her first kill.  Unlike last night, we were going to have offense tonight.  The Miners increased to a three-point lead, but Ry put up another kill, Kacia and Bianca had another block, and Bianca tied it at 14 with a solo block.  Mari gave the Aggies the lead, 15-14, going into the Media timeout.

 

Mari put in another kill, but was stuffed a couple of points later.  The Miners tied it at 18 on an ace and took the lead on a kill.  Rilen Garcia and Ashley Herman came in.  UTEP tied it at 19 on another service error, but then Rilen was called for a DT.  Coach Jordan slapped the table.  Starr got the Aggies even at 20 firing off a couple of blockers.  Ry was blocked on the next point and the Aggies took a timeout.

 

Ryleigh tied it at 21 with an out-of-system kill.  Morgan then aced for the lead and the Miners took a timeout.  Ry added another kill out of the break, but then blocked to tie it at 23.  Timeout Aggies.  Coach Jordan talked to Bianca individually before talking to the team.  A UTEP foul put the Aggies at set point.  The next point was a long rally.  Ry was blocked early, but the point kept going. 

 

UTEP got a kill to make it 24-25 to give them a set point.  Next point tied it again on a UTEP out swing.  Miner Coach Wallis challenged that there was a touch, but was denied.  Ryleigh cycled out and ran back to the reserves smiling like she just got away with one.  It didn’t end there.  It tied again at 25 and 27.  UTEP had their sixth service error, as Morgan ducked under a serve and it went out.  Finally, Starr ended it 29-27 Aggies with a touch kill.  Whew!

 

Set 2: Aggies 1, Miners 0

There was a mass defection of fans after the first set.  That did take a while.  I’m not sure if they were going to football, since that was probably an hour and a half from now. 

 

UTEP began early with another service error, though they also had an early ace.  Kacia and Starr had kills.  6-4 Aggies, Mari came in from the backcourt with a kill.  Kacia served out on the next point, but Mari came back with another flying kill next.  Starr and Aleka Darko teamed up for a block.  UTEP took a timeout at 9-5 Aggies.

 

The Miners came back with a dump shot and a block on Starr.  Ryleigh got a kill, but another DT gave the Miners back the serve.  Ry got it back on another kill, 11-9.  I could hear the Band performing outside.  Ry’s next swing was called out, but was immediately overturned on review.  The replays were being shown on screen, so the crowd got a say in it. 

 

13-9 Aggies, Kacia with a solo block.  The Miners came back.  They had an ace that ate up Morgan.  She missed a dig on the next point and the coach yelled at her on court.  She listened.  Next point, she ducked under a serve for another UTEP service error.  (She’d perform the “Morgan Maneuver” later in the match for a third time.  Another Aggie player also did it.)  The Miners closed in again as Kacia was solo blocked.  The Aggies took a timeout, but Starr fired out to tie it at 16. 

 

The Miners handed it right back on another service error.  Starr fired out again to tie it at 17.  And then another Miner service error handed the serve right back.  The Aggies went up to a three-point lead on a block by Ry and Aleka, 20-17.  Timeout UTEP.  Bianca had a service error, but Ryleigh picked her up with a pair of kills.  One of them was accompanied by thunder and took out the pretty line judge.  Another UTEP service error brought the Aggies to set point.  Mari won Set 2, 25-22, off a touch kill for the Aggies.

            

Set 3: Aggies 2, Miners 1

Okay even at the time, I was not doing any premature celebrating.  I’ve seen this setup before.  (Err . . . Actually, I can’t find the match I was thinking of.  Have all the Aggie/Miner matches since Coach Wallis took over been five sets?)  In any case, I knew this Miner team under Wallis was nothing if not resilient.  In fact, I actually ran to the bathroom between sets thinking this wasn’t going to be over soon.  I did see the Band performing outside by the east entrance.    

 

This set started tight as the other two.  The Aggies were playing hard.  Ryleigh ran off court to make a save on a play like a libero.  The Aggies didn’t win the point, but she came back smiling.  Ry did get a solo block, along with Aleka, Kacia, and Mari getting kills (2).  There was another Aggie DT call mixed in.

 

5-7 Miners, UTEP served up an ace.  They errored on their next two serves.  Starr got a kill into a block to tie it at 8.  UTEP tied it at 9 with . . . another service error.  Mari tied it at 10 with a tip kill.  UTEP retook the lead on another DT by Bianca.  (The refs didn’t like her.)  Mari tied it at 11 with a solo block.  11-13 Miners, a UTEP ace, which was followed by another service, which was followed a service error by Mari.  12-15 Miners and a Media timeout. 

 

So, both teams were playing a bit tight.  At this point, UTEP definitively stayed ahead.  UTEP actually managed to get in two more aces, but without a follow up serve into the net, which was the difference.  The Aggies did make some more great plays.  At 13-17 Miners, Starr knocked down a player at the net with a swing.  The Miners managed to dig it though, but Kacia finished the point with a kill.  UTEP took the set 18-25.

 

Set 4: Aggies 2, Miners 1

Ashley started this set.  UTEP started off with a setter dump for a kill.  Ashley contributed right after by tooling a block for a kill.  2-2 was a long rally.  Ryleigh ended it with a touch kill.  UTEP tied it at 3 with service error.  Rilen came in at setter and got in setter dump of her own.  Being a shorter player, you wouldn’t have seen that coming from her.  UTEP tried to kick the ball back over to save it.  (That’s legal.) 

 

A couple of out swings by the Aggies gave the Miners the lead.  At 4-8 Miners, the Aggies took a timeout.  From there, the Aggies were not competitive in the set.  They could never get a run going of more a couple of points.  UTEP had two more aces and two more service errors.  The Aggies had one ace, but three errors of their own.  UTEP took the set by the same score as the last, 18-25.

 

Set 5: Aggies 2, Miners 2

The Aggie players huddled at their end of the court.  The UTEP players danced to the PA music.  I was exhausted.  Being here by myself, I was having unregulated emotional swings.  I might not have looked like it, but I was all turmoil on the inside.  The crowd was likewise murdered.  I was sort of halfway expecting the comeback.  If the rest of crowd was looking to a quick victory, it must have been devastating.

 

Ryleigh was blocked on the first point.  Starr got a kill off a block on the next.  The UTEP players lobbied their coach to challenge.  I think he had two to give, but Coach Wallis shook his head on it.  Maggie came in to serve.  Coach Jordan must like the freshman to put her in for the first time in the match in such a big spot.  She made an off court save on the point and UTEP swung out to make it 2-1 Aggies.

 

Mari increased the lead to 3-1 with a kill.  3-3 Ry missed on a swing to tie it.  4-3 Aggies, Mari got the lead back with a kill.  5-3 Aggies, UTEP hit out.  This time Coach Wallis challenged, but was denied.  Mari made a block that went out to give UTEP another point.  UTEP then hit out.  Coach Wallis again considered challenging, but didn’t.  UTEP tied it at 6.  Bianca got the lead back with a one-handed dump shot.  Starr tooled a block to make it 8-6 Aggies, as the teams flipped ends.

 

Mari had a service error and then UTEP tied it at 8 with a block.  Timeout Aggies.  One of the high school girls teams started swaying and singing to Sweet Caroline.  9-8 Aggies was a super nervous point for both teams with a fire drill on both sides of the net.  The Aggies basically outlasted the Miners on errors. 

 

10-8 Aggies, Aleka and Starr teamed up for a block.  The crowd found new energy and erupted.  Timeout UTEP.  Another girls team started up a “Let’s go Aggies!” chant.  UTEP came back with a big kill.  Starr answered back with a touch kill.  Her and Ry were in together, which is rare.  11-10 Aggies, Bianca served out, but Aleka smacked down an overpass on the next point.  Three points from victory, Mari took over.  She made a kill and followed up with a solo block that set the crowd howling.  Mari finished it with a kill on a touch.  Aggies win 15-12 and 3-2! 

 

The Aggie reserves charged the court.  The team loosely huddled after the match all smiles.  Coach Jordan came over said something quick and then gave Mari a big bear hug.  The team cheered.  One of the girls teams charged the court and Mari went over to greet them and got ton of adulation.  On the other side of the net, Coach Wallis huddled his team together for a long talk.  They were still huddled when I left a couple of minutes later.   

 

The stat of the match is easy.  UTEP had 9 aces and 19 service errors!  I thought having 12 last night with only 4 aces was bad.  The Miners didn’t just hand the victory to the Aggies, they served it up on a silver platter.  They did play well and hard with four players with double digit kills.

 

The Aggies led 16 to 14 in blocks.  Compared to last night, that was a huge improvement.  Our star, Mari Sharp led everyone with 19 kills, Ryleigh Whittlekettle had 15, and Starr Williams had 11.  Those three had almost all of the kills.  Bianca Perez had a rough game, but had a lot on her shoulders doing almost all of the setting and having to block.  She finished with 38 assists and 2 blocks. 

 

I could hear the cheers at football as I was leaving.  That game had started a half hour ago, which is why these games shouldn’t have been cross scheduled.  I was drained and there was no thought of staying, except in the parking lot.  I had to wait about 15 minutes to leave with traffic being restricted.

 

At home, I turned on the radio and immediately heard Diego Pavia toss a 49-yard bomb for a touchdown for an Aggie lead.  I kept listening while I had dinner.  From what I could hear, the crowd that was there was at least enthusiastic and stuck around till the end to see a 34-17 over FIU (and to watch fireworks after).  The team pulled away in the fourth.  Diego finished with over 250 yards passing with 2 passing TD’s and 1 rushing touchdown.  There were nearly 200 yards rushing for the team.  It was another good win for Aggie Nation tonight.  

NM State Aggies vs UTEP Miners Volleyball 10-3-23

Mari looking Sharp on the schedule poster.

It’s finally happened.  I’m phoning this one in.  I’ve had a long day, not a hard one, just long.  I’d prefer not to dwell on this game, frankly.  The day started off well.  I had a great burger at Legend Burger.  I went over to dad’s apartment and watched afternoon playoff baseball.  The Rangers beat the Rays, 4-0.  I was happy (though I also like the Rays).

 

Right after the baseball game, I went back home and left for Aggie Volleyball an hour later.  I sort of wished I’d taken a nap.  This was going to be the Aggies’ first conference meeting against UTEP in volleyball.  So, it’s still a rivalry game, but somehow a bit diminished, since they could be meeting up to three times a season.  At least the teams will for sure to see each other every season.

 

A great crowd showed up of over 1,500 and there was a buzz in the air.  An unidentified high school girls volleyball team sat in on the north end of the court.  There was a section of Miner fans and a few scattered in the crowd.  I noticed injured setter, Peyton Castillo, sitting by herself on the bench.  She looked forlorn and beautiful there, as she wistfully watched the team warm up.  Coach Jordan walked by and gave her a fist bump.  (Perhaps later in the match, he’d be wistfully watching her and wishing she was setting for him.)  He also chatted with Barbara “Mother” Hubbard on the sidelines.    

 

Morgan Stewart was back.  I think that might confirm my thinking in the last match that she was out sick (like me).  Starr Williams had her lengthy hair tied for this match.  (Maybe she should undo it given the results.)  Molly Johnson, our lovely grad assistant was briefly pressed into service as a ball girl, before she was relieved.  The Miners were wearing their interesting detached arm sleeves, like the last time I’d seen them.  Their 5’3” libero, Alyssa Sianez, was dressed in pink.  Bold choice.

 

Set 1

Basically, it all went right for the Aggies in the first set, which felt kind of cruel later.  They had four aces by four different players and only one error.  Mari Sharp, Kacia Brown, Ryleigh Whitekettle, Starr, and Aleka Darko all had kills.  The Aggies were blocking UTEP well.  In the huddle, the girls were enthusiastic.  Peyton was hopping in to join them.  The Aggies took it 25-12 and made it look easy.

 

Yes, I did take my usual play-by-play notes.  I’ll highlight a couple of interesting points.  6-4 Aggies, Rilen Garcia made a great offcourt save.  Mari managed get it back over the net.  Kacia finished the point with a kill.  This got a “Boom!” out of PA Ed.  7-5 Aggies, Alecka had a kill off a beauty of a set by Rilen.  21-11 Aggies, Starr let a pop up ball by the net drop harmlessly out.  23-11 Aggies, Aleka with an overpass kill.  24-12 Aggies, Mari fired into two blockers and still got the kill.

 

Set 2: Aggies 1, Miners 0

UTEP Coach Wallis made some adjustments.  UTEP got out to an early lead and never let it go.  Suddenly, the Aggies couldn’t get past Miner blocking.  The Aggies were no longer serving well, though they were serving in.  UTEP weren’t acing (in fact, they kept erroring), but the Aggies were suddenly having trouble receiving and digging.  The Miners took it easy, 14-25. 

 

4-5 Miners was about as close as it got after the set started.  The Coach challenged a touch and got it overruled.  6-10 Miners, a setter dump shot.  That was working for the Miners tonight.  11-14 Miners, the Aggies lost the point on a double touch.  During the point, the ball actually sat on top of the net for a moment.  12-16 Miners, Kacia was blocked on the point.  The coach took a timeout.  It was interesting in that he only talked to the team for about 30 seconds. 

 

Before the set, the main donors who financed the new playing surface were honored on court.  Thank you.  That was an upgrade.  During one break, the Cheerleaders were tossing the black and white baseball hats to the crowd.  One of them ended up in the hands of a ballgirl.  She held it for a little bit before finally tossing it to the crowd.

 

Set 3: Aggies 1, Miners 1

The teams changed ends again.  The Aggies huddled together without the coaches.  I’m not sure who was doing the talking, probably Kacia.  One of the high school girls worked it to Dance Cam earning hoots from her teammates.  Ashley Herman, who had started the first two sets, started on the bench here.  She resumed her role of fist bumping the coaches and high-fiving everyone before the set started. 

 

The Miners jumped out to a 0-4 lead, which included another setter dump shot.  The coach called a quick timeout.  He talked to setter Bianca Perez separately.  (Several players got talked to separately in these two sets.)  There were some heavy duty volleyball fans behind me.  They highlighted the setting specifically as being a problem tonight.  The Aggies would tie the score three times, at 7, 8, and 9.  8-8 Mari made a great play on a free ball to save the point and Ashley finished it with a kill.  9-9 Starr hammered one.

 

Unfortunately, the Aggies could not get ahead.  They soon went behind 10-15 UTEP.  The Aggies were looking dejected on court.  Honestly, Miner service errors single-handedly kept the Aggies in it.  I counted five.  Late in the set and down 16-22, Maggie Lightheart and Alex Connaster came in.  The team responded and got it to 20-22, but that point was overturned to make it 19-23 Miners. 

 

Ryleigh tried to come in, but the coach sent her back.  21-23 Miners, Alex and Maggie teamed up for a block and got the crowd into it.  22-24 Miners, Alex had a kill.  At 23-24, UTEP took a timeout.  Maggie had been on serve here and was all smiles in the huddle.  However, the Miners would take it 23-25 with a kill.

 

Set 4: Miners 2, Aggies 1

The Aggie player huddle featured Mari and Kacia doing the talking.  The UTEP players were dancing to the PA music.  There was a beautiful blonde on the team in a leg cast.  She was still dancing and smiling.  (I couldn’t identify her.) 

 

Again, the set was close.  Ashley had a couple of early kills.  The Miners took the lead at 3-4.  Starr and Mari each had a couple of kills to keep it close.  Ryleigh could not get it going and was blocked at 8-10.  Then UTEP had their final service error and with a kill by Kacia it was tied at 10.  

 

Unfortunately, UTEP pulled ahead to 10-12 on an ace where Kacia and Darian Markham collided.  Ash and Starr got kills, but a block on Starr took us to the Media timeout, 12-15 Miners.  Maggie came in and had an acrobatic kill that dropped into the corner at 13-16.  Anji Vishwanathan came in as the Aggies went down by 6.  She almost got credited with a kill, but was called for a lift (?). 

 

Morgan finally came into the game.  Mari and Ry took the shots.  Each got a kill and were blocked.  Mari and Ash teamed up for a block to get it to 17-23.  Timeout UTEP.  They were still loose, as an assistant coach was on camera for Bongo Cam.  18-23 Miners, Ryleigh came up with a solo block.  She then got a kill on the next point, but it was challenged and overturned. 

 

That brought us to Match Point #1.  The coach was pissed and so were the fans with that call.  Ash held it off with a kill.  Miner Kaya Weaver seemed to finish it on an overpass kill, but that was waved off on a net violation.  She’d end it with a kill on the next point anyway.  Miners take the set 20-25 and the match 1-3.

 

Our stat of the match is UTEP 4 aces to 12 service errors!  No.  Actually, our stat is UTEP winning 15 to 6 in blocks!  (Yikes on both of those stats!  And the Aggies are good at blocking.)  The Aggies had 5 aces and only 4 service errors.  Unfortunately, four of those aces were in the first set.  Aggie serving didn’t matter after that. 

 

Ryleigh Whitekettle and Starr Williams both had negative hitting percentages for the match.  The Miners nullified both of the Aggies’ heavy hitters.  Oddly, neither side had much in the way of kills, especially for a four-set match with two sets close.  Mari Sharp led everyone with 13 kills.  Ashley Herman had 8 kills.  Kaya Weaver was the only Miner in double digits with 12 kills.  Aggie setters Bianca Perez and Rilen Garcia only had 17 assists each.

 

UTEP was a bit subdued after the win.  They’re going to have to play again tomorrow, so it wasn’t a good idea to gloat.  Coach Jordan made a brief statement to the team and then dismissed them.  Honestly, I think the Aggies have more talent, but they were out-coached tonight.  Coach Wallis made a winning adjustment and wasn’t given anything to really worry about after that.  Coach Jordan made a lot of lineup changes after the second set, but couldn’t find the magic of that first set. 

 

I made the loser play of the night.  I got home and dropped my keys right after I’d parked my truck.  It took me five minutes poking around the cabin like a drunk to find them.  (In fairness, they got behind the seat and were buried under junk.)  At some point, it stopped being funny.  What a way to end the night!  Here’s to a better tomorrow.    

Baseball Pre-Postseason Report 2023

Everything worked out as I predicted.  In the AL East, the Yankees ran away with it and the Rays were exposed as frauds.  The Indians won the AL Central for their outgoing manager, Tito Francona.  The Astros had no trouble winning the AL West.  In the NL, the obvious choices of the Braves, Phillies, and Mets made the playoffs, while the Cardinals and the Padres easily won their divisions.

 

Oh, what’s this?  You’re fact-checking me?  Please.  I am errorless.  Just a glance at the playoff standings shows that . . . well . . . Ehh! . . . Let me get some white-out for this post.  So actually, the AL division winners were the Orioles, Twins, Astros and the wildcards were the Rays, Rangers, Jays.  For the NL, the Braves, Brewers, Dodgers won their divisions, and the Phillies, Marlins, Diamondbacks took the wild card slots. 

 

It was a season of disappointments and a few pleasant surprises.  Some teams are on both lists.  The teams that aren’t on either list, didn’t matter.

 

Our Disappointments

The Rays: These guys blew everyone away in the opening month of the season, but came back down to earth.  Pitching injuries and the loss of Wander Franco to scandal hobbled the team and allowed the Orioles to pass them.  They’re real good, but should have been the AL favorites.

 

The Yankees: Who could have guessed sinking an enormous amount of money into two players and neglecting the rest of the team could have backfired like this?  (Not me, apparently.)  Not to mention they had previously sunk a whole bunch of money into star players that now currently suck.  Management needs to get their heads screwed on straight and realize that there is no “Salary” component in the Baseball Pythagorean win/loss formula.

 

The entire AL Central: Oh, how I’d love to see the Tigers and Royals return to greatness.  So much for that.  I basically hate this division.  Saying they’re collectively a “disappointment” is a misnomer, since there were no expectations.  The Twins have won the right to be dismissed early from the playoffs again.  Carlos Correa’s third choice in terms of teams he picked in free agency has paid off.

 

The Angels: They make this list every year.  If they’d just lose Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani, they could be right there with the AL Central in terms of non-potential and we could all just forget about them.  Losing Trout and Ohtani will not make this franchise better, especially since they’ll get nothing for them (when they could have).  Losing Arte Moreno as an owner will.

 

The Mariners: You could see this one coming.  (Well, I did.)  But given how hard they played in the second half and just missing out on winning the AL West or a Wildcard still kinda hurts.  I can’t even fault management, since they did actually improve the team at the trade deadline.

 

The Rangers: Given the amount of money and talent on this team, they should have won the AL West going away.  Then again, as I said above, that doesn’t guarantee success.  Nobody believed in this team at the beginning of the season.  However, there’s more in the next section.

 

The Mets: It’s almost a new category of failure.  They not only over spent, they blew the thing up at the trade deadline.  At least the failure was admitted to.  And then they fired Buck Showalter after the season.  If you thought he was the problem, why did you wait until after you blew up the team?  You could have gotten rid of him first and seen if it made a difference.  (They may be making room for Shohei and Craig Counsell.)

  

The Padres: Then there are those that live in denial.  They could have traded at the deadline and made the team better in the near future.  They failed.  They could have even added significantly to the team and decided not to.  Instead, the team made a run there at the end just to rub it in. 

 

Management and the players have both been blamed, but nobody’s really figured out who capped this team.  Do GM AJ Preller or Manager Bob Melvin need to go or perhaps both of them?  Will trading Juan Soto be addition by subtraction (along with some other players)?  Do they need to add a clubhouse leader?  If nobody knows who’s truly at fault, random firings aren’t going to improve the situation.

  

The Cubs: They spent and were competitive, but they’re the Cubs.

 

The Reds: They looked good out of nowhere, but then flamed out.  Elly de la Cruz’s first season and Joey Votto’s final season weren’t enough to drag them into the postseason.  It management will add to this team, they may have a future.

 

The Pirates: They briefly thrilled the baseball world at the beginning of the season, but also faded.  At least they didn’t finish last in the NL Central.  Next year, we should get Oneal Cruz vs Elly de la Cruz battling it out over who owns the last name, “Cruz.”  (I’m looking forward to this.)

 

The Cardinals: Last place in the NL Central was reserved for these guys.  Apparently, Yadier Molina was the only thing holding their pitching staff together, because without him, they were nothing.  This team still has some bright spots, but they’re all on offense.

 

The Dodgers: They overcame quite a few injuries this season and the DBacks to win the NL West.  Why are they on this list?  Because they’ll be disappointing in the playoffs.

 

The Giants: I’m not sure who thought the Giants were really going to be competitive this season.  (Judge and Correa certainly thought they weren’t going anywhere.)  But the snap firing of miscreant manager Gabe Kapler seems to indicate they thought they should have been winning this season.

 

The Rockies: Congratulations on your first 100-loss season!  After all those bad teams, this was the one that finally broke through. 

 

Pleasant Surprises

The Rays: They weren’t a fraud and even after losing a bunch of pitching and Wander Franco, they did not fade or give up.

 

The Orioles: After they took over the AL East lead from the Rays, they never looked back.  Even when the Rays tied them, they withstood it.  Management didn’t really add anything at the trade deadline, but apparently they didn’t need to.  Their Triple-A team just won their championship.  It all looks good, but they lost their ace closer, Felix Bautista.  We wish them the best.

 

The Rangers: Given how many starting pitchers, even great starting pitchers, they lost over the season, a terrible bullpen with over 30 blown saves, and the frankly low expectations, this team did pretty well to hold it together and make it to the playoffs with two good teams nipping at their heels.  (How did you guys lose out to a team, the Astros, who had a losing record at home!)  Did they overachieve or underachieve? 

 

The Braves: Like the Inquisition, nobody expects a super team.  Ronald Acuna Jr. accomplished baseball’s first 40 homer/70 stolen base season.  Even if the Mets had performed this season, they likely still would have been blown away.  Experts are questioning their pitching staff, though.

 

The Marlins: I thought they had real talent.  They did.  Good on them.

 

The Diamondbacks: This was the only team to give the Dodgers a run for the West this season.  They’re a scrappy bunch with some great pitching. 

 

Oh, I have to make more predictions.  I know I’m going to miss most of the playoff games.  That’s a lock.  For the AL, I’ll go with the Astros and Orioles.  (If the bracketing was different, my choices would change.)  For the NL (I’m going to surprise you), the Phillies and Diamondbacks.  In the World Series, I’m in for the Phillies over the O’s.  Yes, Bryce Harper, the child of destiny, will be the MVP. 

Baseball Journal September 2023

MLB.TV kind of stopped doing daily free games during the month.  The Rangers’ radio coverage started becoming spotty with the start of Football season.  The El Paso Chihuahuas continued to slide into oblivion.  I didn’t have a lot to report on as the regular season ended. 

 

8-29-23

Admittedly, I’ve gotten a bit lazy covering baseball stories lately.  There was a potentially interesting development in the post-trade deadline player market.  This was the last day of the season that teams could cut players and make them available to other teams.  It’s more complicated than that (I’m writing this a month after it happened), but any team willing to take on a released player’s salary could have them without a trade.

 

The Angels took advantage of this and unloaded everyone they traded for to give Shohei Ohtani a chance to compete for the postseason.  (Of course, him and Mike Trout were injured by this point.)  The Yankees also cut loose Harrison Bader.  He was good there when he was healthy, but couldn’t stay that way. 

 

Some Player Union Reps were disturbed by this mass dumping that done purely for salary purposes.  Get used to it.  Later in the season, teams want that waiver trade deadline that was done away with and this is how they’re getting it back.       

 

9-2-23

I was watching the MILB Showcase game on Stadium between the Triple-A Norfolk Tides versus the Worchester Red Sox to see Joey Ortiz.  In the seventh, the coverage kept showing the WooSox mascot, an anthropomorphic steam whistle.  He was going to be doing something between innings and was in the tunnel, but he was constantly in the shot in the background of the batter.  He was having a good time interacting with the fans, so they kept focusing on him in between pitches.  [By the way, the Tides would go on to win the Triple-A Championship.  The Orioles have a lot of talent sitting in Triple-A.]

 

9-8-23

Daniel Johnson had some magic tonight as he hit a walk off laser beam home run in the ninth with two outs for the Chihuahuas.  Great to see DJ doing well. 

 

Not so magical were the Rangers tonight.  I watched the scoreboard with increasing apprehension as they lost to the A’s.  Not a big deal except for losing three to the Astros at home this week and all three losses were nearly by double digits.  Worse, with the football season starting, I can’t even listen to them on the radio on weekends anymore.  They’re fading fast.

 

9-15-23

Daniel Johnson is still putting on a show.  He hit a three-run homer in the eighth to tie the score.  (The Isotopes still won the game.  Sigh.)  Single-A call up Jose Sanabria impressed with his first hit, a steal, scoring a run on an infield single, and playing well on defense. 

 

The Rangers have now lost three ace pitchers this season with Max Scherzer going down.  Well, stick a fork in them . . . Wait, they’ve just won six in a row, including a three-game sweep against the Blue Jays, whom they were chasing.  Is this going to be like the Rays?  They’ve lost pitchers all year long and lost Wander Franco to scandal and are now only one game back of the Orioles for the AL East lead.   

 

9-15-23

Rangers’ winning streak ended in Cleveland.  An oddity of the game was backup catcher, Austin Hedges, becoming the pitcher in the bottom of the eighth with the Indians up 12-0.  Hedges had a scoreless inning pitched, but in the top of the ninth, the light-hitting player drove in two runs.  With the advent of the universal DH, these were two rare runs driven in by a pitcher (not named Shohei Ohtani).  The game was so out of hand, I actually missed all of this, but heard about it in the postgame show. That was interesting in itself, as the guys were way too giddy and had communications issues between them.  Weirdness.  Also, the Rays beat the O’s again.  The AL East lead is tied.

 

9-16-23

Shohei Ohtani has been shut down for the season.  His arm injury was keeping him from pitching, but his oblique injury was what sidelined him completely.  Shohei also cleaned out his locker before the announcement.  I’m not betting on the Angels re-signing him in the offseason.  I’m not betting on Mike Trout still being an Angel next year if the rumors are true.  Owner Arte Moreno should be forced to sell the franchise for wasting all the best years of the two best players in baseball for their generation. 

 

Actually, I’m wondering who’s going to want Shohei.  No matter how much Baseball beat writers hype up his free agency, Shohei is a huge risk at this point to commit the kind of the money his agent will be looking for.  He’s likely going to be on the shelf most of next season as a pitcher.  Logically, he should take a short-term, somewhat modest deal, and bet himself to get the big contract after he’s proved he’s healthy.  Keep dreaming.  It’ll be 10 years, $600M and probably result in complete franchise destruction for any team not named the Dodgers or the Yankees.  (I’m looking at you, San Francisco.) 

 

Unfortunately, the result of the two-way experiment is going to make a byword of Shohei’s name.  “Nah kid, you ain’t gonna hit no more.  We just want you to pitch.  We don’t want to Shohei you.”  This has already happened with Hunter Greene on the Reds.  I’m not saying the Unicorn isn’t going to come back to form after recovering from his injuries, but enjoy whatever you’re going to get from Shohei Ohtani in the future and don’t look for a third coming (Babe Ruth being the first). 

       

9-20-23

This is a story I can’t quite wrap my head around.  The Tampa Bay Rays got a new stadium in St. Petersburg.  Wait.  Isn’t this the reason given for their poor attendance? They’re not actually located in Tampa Bay and fans have to drive across this long bridge to get to games?  (There’s reportedly a sign on the bridge telling motorists to make sure they’re got enough fuel to cross it.)  This is also going to be built next to the current stadium and is just going to be another domed stadium without a retractable roof?  I just don’t understand this.   

 

With the A’s more-or-less committed to moving to Las Vegas, that does fix the worst stadium situations in the league and open the door to MLB expansion.  Those two teams’ stadium problems were the only thing holding that up.  But, now I’m hearing about other teams crabbing about their stadiums.

 

I’d already heard about the Royals wanting a new downtown stadium after Kaufman Stadium had been refurbished before their two recent World Series appearances.  Suddenly, the White Sox want to move.  Their recently remodeled stadium (whatever the name currently is) isn’t good enough.  The Brewers are citing structural concerns with their retractable roof.  The Orioles ownership, in the midst of packing their classic ballpark from finally having a winning season, also wants a county-paid-for remodeling, or they’ll move.  I want to say I also heard something about the Diamondbacks and Chase Field.  Why not? 

 

There seem to be two drivers here: demand and opportunity.  There are cities wanting a franchise, like Nashville and Salt Lake City.  They’d probably prefer a new one, but there are other cities that would lose out and gladly take somebody’s castoff.  So there’s demand.  The opportunity is the success of Atlanta’s Battery District next to their new stadium.  The new stadium in Tampa Bay plans to include a residential district with it.  In Arlington, there’s a whole entertainment district that was built with the new ballpark.  The revenue from the real estate around the ballpark can make these publicly-financed stadiums a lot more palatable to the citizens.         

 

9-23-23

After coming home happy from Aggie Volleyball, I managed to catch the bottom of the ninth with the El Paso Chihuahuas playing at the Sugarland Space Cowboys.  The pups were up a run and three batters later, they’d lost.  This was their seventh loss in a row, a team record.  Also Tim Hagerty hasn’t been calling the games this week.  I wonder if he’s out sick.  [I sent him an e-mail.  Tim was being honored by Vermont State University.]  The Chihuahuas did win their last game of the season the next day.  The broadcast ended with a heartfelt prerecorded message from Tim.  He spoke about the season highlights and thanked the fans.

 

 

9-27-23

I almost missed it and I was so pissed at myself.  MLB.TV has been a bit stingy on showing free games for the last two months.  Tonight, there was a relevant game on and I didn’t tune in until the seventh.  The game was the Cubs and the Braves.  Chicago is fighting for a Wildcard slot. 

 

I’d seen a clip from last night’s game, where Seiya Suzuki dropped a flyball, which led to the Braves winning.  In this game, I saw the Cubs make two bad errors, which let the Braves back into the game.  Usually, the Cubs only have this kind of self-inflicted drama in home games, but this was in Atlanta.  The Cubs did not roll over though, until they ended up losing in the tenth.  That was after Ronald Acuna Jr. stole his second base of the game and was then driven in as the winning run.  I did miss that steal, which was historic.  Acuna became the first MLB player with a 40 homer/70 stolen base season.  That’s what I get for stepping out the room for 30 seconds. 

 

Also, the Padres managed not to set an MLB record by finally winning an extra innings game tonight.  They had been 0-12 this season up to this point.  Meanwhile, Nathan Eovaldi has made it back into the Rangers’ rotation.  He’s not 100%, but can still pitch.  Max Scherzer is rehabbing in hopes of making it on to the team for the postseason.  The Rangers need to win two games of their last four to win the AL West (along with several other scenarios, but this is the easiest one).

 

9-29-23

The Giants suddenly fired Gabe Kapler today as manager.  Admittedly, he was personally the reason why I haven’t been rooting the Giants the last couple of years.  His proud Anthem knee-taking made it impossible for me to root for them.  That said, it was hardly his fault that the team didn’t land Aaron Judge or Carlos Correa.  He also didn’t let the team languish in the offseason or at the trade deadline.  This was a deflection by Farhan Zaidi and Giants’ management.  Rehire Kapler and then fire him for the right reason.       

 

10-1-23

I got to listen to the Rangers on Thursday.  The announcers sounded so confident, as any combination of two wins/two Astros losses would give the Rangers the AL West.  They took a one-run lead into the ninth against the Mariners.  Aroldis Chapman put the next three M’s batters on base.  Relief pitching managed to get two outs, but finally gave up two runs on a double and they lost. 

 

Friday, the Rangers lost 8-0.  They did come back and win on Saturday, which I got to watch Saturday night.  On Sunday, I went over to see dad and watch the NASCAR race and watch some of the Cowboys game.  By doing so, I passed on the final free day on MLB.TV.  On the other hand, at least I didn’t have to listen to the Rangers lose 1-0.  (I did hear the very end of the radio postgame.)  They lost three of four to a team they’d swept last week.  Meanwhile, the Astros won four in a row against a DBacks team that was playing for something.  And that’s how the Rangers lost the AL West.  (In fairness, the Mariners were also playing to get in, but didn’t.)