Gameday! Tonight we take on Utah State, 7pm at Las Cruces High. We took them in 3 games on Sept 28th. This should be yet another great game so if you've got nothing better to do - and with the football team out of state today - you have have NO excuse for not cruising by and experiencing a little Aggie Domination.
I know that some folks come by from the Volleytalk message boards and I wanted to address something here rather than over there. I've been messaging back and forth with a couple of the members. Some have been really nice in showing me different websites about volleyball, how the AVCA poll is figured out and so on. Then there are a couple of folks who just don't seem to get it. I know they read here - I need to get this out.
First of all, I understand that the majority of the posters over there are from Hawaii. I know that the current board evolved from another website where (I believe) it was run by Hawaii fans. HOWEVER: It's time to get over our win. It's time to do like your team has done and put it behind you. I don't care if you think your team gave us the game or we only won because you had injured starters or the moon wasn't aligned properly with Venus or whatever. It's over. We won. The majority of you have been very classy in regards to the game. That's a great reflection on your school. I understand the tradition of winning at UH. Congratulations. Now it's our turn. I know its going to be a seriously competitive game on the 12th. Will we win? Man, I hope so but you all are going to be ready for us. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens.
To the rest of the folks who don't believe NMSU belongs in the Top 25, I've got news for you. We belong there because we've got a hell of a team. Not many of your top 25 teams can claim a 25-1 record, can they? Stop whining that we aren't playing hardcore teams. Solid wins against Hawaii and San Diego St this season have done wonders for us. We soundly defeated a competitive Nevada team. So what Nebraska, Penn St or Stanford isn't on our schedule? If we were in their conferences it would be a different story.
So stop harping that we don't belong there. We do - and probably a little higher ranked than where we are. Unless you've been in the stands at every home game and watched this team grow and mature this year, you don't have a leg to stand on when you complain.
(I've changed the settings for the journal, hopefully making it easier for you to post your comments. You don't have to registered to comment. Let me know you're reading along.)
25-1. There aren't a lot of teams in the NCAA that can claim that record. And last night we revenged that one loss by handily defeating Nevada in 3 games. How brutal was it?
Nevada's stats:
TEAM ATTACK PER GAME
Game K E TA Pct
1 10 10 33 .000
2 16 11 48 .104
3 11 12 46 -.022
NMSU?
1 16 6 30 .333
2 13 4 35 .257
3 17 6 42 .262
Overall attack percentage - NMSU .280 vs. Nevada .031
So what does that do the standings? According to Felix Chavez' article in the Sun News today, "The Aggies are now 25-1 overall and 8-1 in Western Athletic Conference play and are alone in first place, a half-game ahead of Hawaii, which takes on Idaho tonight. The Wolf Pack slip to 13-9 and 7-3." Not sure how we are 'half a game' ahead of Hawaii, but I'll take it.
Alice Borden was on fire again with 17 kills while hitting .414. Kim Oguh had 9 kills and Tonya Allen had 7. Jackie Choi added 33 assists to her season. Krystal Torres contributed a match high 15 digs to the overall total of 51.
It was an amazing crowd last night as well. 2542. On a Thursday night. If you were there, thanks for coming but we're not done yet. What's the schedule look like? Saturday, we take on Utah State at 7pm at LCHS. Then we're on the road for Boise St. and Idaho; come back on Nov 8th for LA Tech then...dun dun DUN hit the road for Hawaii.
The good news, if there is any about the season coming to an end is the sheer fact that we'll be back in the Pan Am for Fresno State on Nov 16 and San Jose St on Nov 18. And that's all I've got to say about the season *sniffle* ending.
TAILGATE NEWS: Nice crowd for our tailgate last night. There were about 15 people there. This isn't associated with any group - it's just a bunch of volleyball addicts that get together and share good times. We'll be out at LCHS again this Saturday so please stop by. We're starting at 3pm. We'll show those hardcore football tailgaters how its really done!
If you haven't been to a volleyball game this year - - or ever, I urge you to go tonight. 7pm. Las Cruces High gym. Tickets available at the door.
This is a BIG one. To quote Felix' article in today's Sun News,
"Tonight's match will be a big one when it comes to the WAC standings and for NMSU, it gives them a chance to play a quality team just one month away from postseason play. A win by NMSU gives it some breathing room in its chase to unseat Hawaii as WAC champs. For Nevada, a win will keep them alive as well for a WAC regular season title."
Full article here: www.lcsun-news.com/sports/ci_4551427
We need to have that gym loud and rockin. We need as many butts in seats as possible.
Bring your dinner and a chair and join us at 5pm in the north parking lot for the usual pregame tailgate. We're usually out there from 5 to about 6:30p.
If, for some reason you can't make it, the game will be on KSNM 570 and nmstatesports.com will have live stats.
After a nice 3 game win against Fresno State on Thursday, we're at San Jose State Tonight, gametime 8pm in Aggieland.
SJSU is currently 13-8 on the season with away losses to Nevada (in 4), Utah St (in 4), and Idaho (in 4). Their match against Hawaii was a close one at the SJSU Spartan Gym with the Wahini taking them in 3 very close games.
They're strong at home, having reversed their losses to Nevada and Utah St.
WAC STATISTICS: Five San Jose State players rank among conference statistical leaders. Jessie Shull leads the WAC in digs at 5.88 pg and is fifth in service aces at 0.40 pg. Jennifer Senftleben is second in kills at 4.25 pg and third in points at 4.81 pg. Kristina Conrad is third in assists at 11.72 pg. Niki Clement is fifth in hitting percentage at .329 and seventh in blocks at 1.11 pg. Colleen Burkeis sixth in hitting percentage at .323.
As far as the series between these two teams, San Jose State leads the overall series, 9-8, but New Mexico State won all three meetings last season. The Aggies won , 3-0, in Spartan Gym on October 15, 3-1, in Las Cruces on November 5, and 3-1 at the WAC Tournament on November 24.
Check for
live video for the match tonight as
well as live stats.
Looking to tomorrow's match at Fresno state. First of all, you'll find
live stats on their website. WAC TV will also be showing the game for 5.95 and you can find the info
right here .
Now, last year we beat them 3-1 here and 3-0 there. Currently, Fresno is 3-15 on the season after having taken Nevada to 5 games last week. It looks like a young-ish team with 9 freshman, no sophomores, 5 juniors and 3 seniors. Freshman middle hitter Jamie Temperino has been hot lately connecting on 29 kills with 62 team attacks for a percentage of .371. The Bulldogs have tallied 813 kills on the year with 2654 team attacks on a percentage of .118 while the opponents have marked 967 kills on 2476 team attacks on a percentage of .258. Fresno State has played good defense combining for a total of 985 digs while the opponent has registered for 1090 digs. Overall, the Bulldogs are averaging 13.1 kills, 12.2 assists, 15.9 digs and 19.10 points per game. Fresno State opponents are averaging 15.6 kills, 14.4 assists and 17.6 digs per game.
(Info from the Bulldogs
weekly press release/scouting reports)
As far as the Aggies go, they are number 9 in hitting percentage at .299 in the NCAA and Amber is number 11 at .428. Against the WAC, we're 1st in the conference in team hitting percentage (.293), opponent hitting percentage (.106) and service aces (187). Kim Oguh and Amber Simpson are first and second in the league in hitting percentage.
Our poll standing this week is 22 - jumping 3 spots from last week.
Look for a good game tomorrow night with the momentum we got from the Hawaii win still in full swing.
Congratulations to senior Alice Borden, named
WAC Player of the Week.
It's amazing what that Hawaii win has done for us. The confidence boost is pure beauty. Watching the Aggies take UNM in 3 yesterday, I saw a different team. The service from the Aggies, minus only 5 errors, saw 11 aces - 3 from Alice and 3 from Amber. They've come a long way. I noticed the positioning on where the serves landed yesterday - how they do it, I'll never know.
We're off to Fresno State on Thursday and San Jose State on Saturday before coming back to play Nevada. Another big match for us. Time to exact a little revenge.
Before I close out - I've gotten a few questions about the position Krystal Torres plays. It's called the
Libero Position. I've tried to explain it but it's better for you to click on that link which will take you to the NCAA website. (Be patient, sometimes their site hiccups and it might take a try or two to get there.)
What is there to say about last night? 2803 fans packed into Las Cruces High's gym witnessed what will go down as THE game of the year.
What we saw was an NMSU team that was absolutely ready for the challenge. You could see it in their faces as soon as they took the court.
At the pre-game Sideout, Coach said that we'd see a more reserved attitude from him in an attempt to keep them level. We only saw Coach get a 'tiny bit upset' a couple of times.
The game itself is a blur and reminded me of last year's battle. What I did see what an NMSU team making every single play they could - without the errors we'd seen in the past. We saw players stepping up to make plays. We saw the communication working.
We also saw Jordan Bostic with a career high 6 aces and Krystal Torres with a career high 31 digs. We saw only 5 service recieve errors vs. their 13. 78 digs vs their 67.
We also saw some amazing play from the Hawaii team as well. If you follow volleyball at all and are familiar with the Wahini, names like Kaufman, Houston, Mason and others jump out at you. You're watching for what all the hype is about and you're going to see it. For example - Jamie Houston had 26 kills last night. I have to go back and check our stats but I don't think we've had a player in those numbers.
Seriously, it was an amazing team to watch. They brought it but we gave it right back to them.
Read all about it:
NMSU's wrap up:
http://www.nmstatesports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=9552&SPID=584&DB_OEM_ID=1900&ATCLID=651619Sun News wrap up:
http://www.lcsun-news.com/sports/ci_4492187 with a few great shots of the team and Coach
Happy Friday the 13th!
First of all, if you didn't see the Las Cruces Sun News this morning, you missed a great article by sports editor Geoff Grammer on the popularity of Aggie Volleyball http://www.lcsun-news.com/sports/ci_4485203
Next - in case anyone happens to surf by after seeing the article, I wanted to say welcome. This is a 'fan blog'. I'm not associated with NMSU in any capacity other than being a fan. (Although I *am* looking for employ...oh nevermind. Not the right time to do that.)
Anyhow, what I try to do here is preview each match then do a wrap up the day after. I'm no pro but I'm learning as much as I can from different websites and fan message boards. A great resource, if you're interested, is over at the NCAA website. Do a search on Volleyball and you should find a page that will have the rulebook for you to download.
We're less than 11 hours away from the game of the year. The team is ready to go. The fans are ready to go. I just hope the roof on the Las Cruces High Gym is secured.
(I've been corrected on a couple of points - the updates are bolded.)
And the Hawaii match keeps getting interesting.
Last night, the Wahini played LA Tech, and of course, won in 3. However, in the last game, Hawaii standout and right side starter Jessica Keefe went up to kill the last point and came down. And fell to the floor having injured her knee.
She's had 2 surgeries on this knee in the past and now she is listed as doubtful for tomorrow's match. According to the
Honolulu Advertiser, they are trying to fly in
junior reserve Caroline Blood. Hawaii has already lost 2 starters this year to injuries.
(According to volleytalk, Caroline Blood left last night and will meet up with the team in El Paso.)
This team was tired, having only arrived 6 hours prior to game time. Perhaps that's what did it. Maybe now officials will take a look at travel restrictions and make it a little easier for teams to travel earlier. It was a 12 hour trip for them. From what I've read, they had difficulties getting flights scheduled so that they could arrive earlier.
New update, courtesy of an avid volleyball fan screenname blikeke who visits the Crimson Storm website:Injured starter Jessica Keefe a MB and presently the right side hitter will be replaced by Freshman Amber Kaufman.
Amber came to Hawai'i ranked 25th in the country.She is presently 3rd on the depth chart at MB and 2nd at the right side behind Keefe and she also can play the left side as she did briefly against La Tech. Amber has done very well so far in her 14 appearances with 31 kills 17 blocks and hitting .418 but she is also still learning the game at the D1 level. For a freshman she doesn't get rattled easily and all I can say is any girl who has tattoos on the inside of her lips scares me. She will also be on the Hawai'i track team. She is a highly ranked high jumper who had the 6th highest high jump in the country last year and has cleared 6' feet in pratice.
5'9 back up setter Cayle Thurlby also plays the right side and back row and might share some playing time on the right with Amber.
Caroline Blood that they talked about flying in is a precaution not a replacement for Keefe, she's a junior reserve not a redshirt. She has seen limited action but has surprised everyone in what little playing time she has seen so far.Hawaii has other options in replacing Keefe including moving left side hitter Sahara Mason to the right and Kaufman to the left. Right now no one knows what we will see.
The team left La Tech early this morning after a good nights sleep and will stay in El Paso using UTEP facilities. They will drive to Las Cruces a few hours before the match.
They are presently on a schedule in which they play 7 matches in 11 days crossing 5 time zones twice.
What a week this has been and will be.
First off, we saw our Lady Aggies get back into the Top 25. I scratched my head when I saw that. We lose to Nevada - a team that's been nowhere near the list - and we drop off to #26. We come home, beat UTEP in 4, fly over to Louisiana, beat LA Tech in 4 and then Monday we're #25. o.O?
I asked some of the knowledgable fans over at the
Volleytalk message board about this. Their answer was a simple one - it was by default. Granted, we only got 42 votes and #24 Oklahoma got 157. Number 26 got 31. I still haven't gotten into the who's playing whom/who won stuff as far as the teams in the poll. I have enough problem keeping up with our stats!
Having said that, it's still nice to read the headlines on the Hawaii game. It's still 2 nationally ranked teams playing here in Cruces on Friday. And what a game it will be.
Before I get into that, let me do a quick recap of the Northern AZ game last night. First off, we got them in 3 which was a nice relief. One of their players, however, had us amazed. #3 - Babcock. That girl got more air on her jump serves and more power than anyone I've ever seen. Her kill ability was amazing as well. She had 9 kills but 11 errors. She had 2 service aces but 4 service errors. Yeah, she's powerful but she wasn't able to control that power.
There was a Sideout gathering after the game and I got a chance to talk to Coach. In the past, I've called in the Game 2 jinx. He cleared that up for me really fast. It isn't a jinx - and I think he didn't like that I called it that. :) It's that, in his words, he's using that 2nd game to readjust play, try some new things out as well as different players and options. Makes perfect sense to me. You don't want to do stuff like that in the 1st game. So, Coach, if you read this blog, I apologize for calling the the Game 2 jinx. I'll never do it again.
So now - onto Hawaii. The Wahini are #11 right now and are 12-4 on the season. They're the ones with the heavy schedule, having played teams like Pepperdine - they won both, Florida - lost in 3, UCLA - lost in 3, Stanford - lost in 3 and Cal Poly - lost in 5 and won in 5. They're on a winning streak of 7 but on a serious road trip. They're in Louisiana to take on LA Tech tonight I believe and then they fly out here tomorrow to rest up and take us on.
What is there to say about playing Hawaii? This is a team that will challenge us and make us player harder and stronger. I know that they've been prepping for this game all year. They're ready to play their hearts out.
Personally, I can't wait for this match. I enjoy watching Hawaii play - its a whole different level of play than other teams that have come in. It brings out the absolute best in our team. It's gonna be good.
So - if you haven't gotten your tickets, get them yesterday. LCHS only seats about 2800 people. If you're in the Sideout Club, there's a pre-match gathering at 5:30 in the commons room. That'll give us a chance to get our seats. Coach will give us a preview of strategy plus one of the refs is going to come in and talk to us about their job - hand signals, calls and so on. Should be fun.
Consider this my UTEP wrap-up and LA Tech preview.
UTEP:
I got a little blasted out of the water over at my home away from, Crimson Storm because of my comments about this game. A look at the stats from the game, you'd think it was a solid night for the team. The stats are amazing. But they only tell one side of the story.
The team I watched on Wednesday wasn't the team I'd been watching in the past. Their confidence seemed shaken. The Nevada loss did a bit of damage.
I watch a different game I've discovered. I don't just watch the play on the court. I watch Mike, Debby and Ashley (the coaches). I watch who Mike gets after. If he gets after Jordan Bostic - as he did on Wednesday, then I know that player is struggling. If he gets after Jackie Choi, then the team is struggling.
I listen to Coach when the team is in front of us. The one comment I remember from this game, "If you keep missing your assignments, then you're out." He kept moving Jordan from her spot and letting Brie or Krystal take over. Suffice to say, Jordan didn't have a good game 2. But you'd never know from the stats.
Someone commented at CS that they hoped the teamed hadn't peaked too early. To be 18-1 right now is an amazing feat. Did they peak too early? Were they concentrating too much on getting into the Top 25? I don't think so. I think the Nevada game shook them and they couldn't get their head into the match against UTEP. I told our friends as the game started, "Well, we should be out of here by 8pm. 3 game sweep." I never expected 4 games against UTEP of all teams.
I'll never make that comment again.
I wholeheartedly believe in this team. I believe that this is the best team NMSU has ever had. I believe that they are going to take Hawaii to 5 games. I believe that, when Nevada comes to our house, we'll take them down. I believe that the fans will come out of the woodwork and support this team.
I guess the moral to the story is this: Every team is allowed to be off the game.
As one of the characters on my all time favorite TV show says, "What's next?"
(Reference to President Bartlet on "The West Wing" in case you didn't know.)
What's next it Louisiana Tech. The Lady Aggies (18-1) take on LA Tech (5-13) in Ruston, LA. WACTV will be broadcasting the game - $5.95, starting at 6pm our time. Live stats are also available at
www.latechsports.com/volleyball.php There is a link on that page for "Listen Live" but I have no clue what that linked page is all about.
Predictions? Forget about it. I'm staying away from them.
Well now.
I'm not going to spend this posting going over stats. Things were even, for the most part, in the Nevada match.
I'm not going to go over all the shoulda/coulda/woulda's, either. I'll just let
Coach's quote to the Sun News stand.
"Give credit to Nevada they made plays when they had to," he said. "It was disappointing to see us not execute and hand points away late in the games. You can't do it."
Yeah I'm disappointed that they have their first loss of the season - a loss, by the way that
dropped them out of the Top 25. They are currently 26th.
It's hard to say how they played since there were only live stats available. It makes it hard to know exactly what was going on.
All I know is this - UTEP comes to town on Wednesday, 7pm at LCHS. We beat UTEP in their tournament earlier this year. There had better be full stands Wednesday to let the team know we support them. I'm sure Coach has had his words with them and I'm sure that they're kicking themselves for the last game.
Let's hope they can leave it behind them and get onto the task at hand.
Plus, I think a little revenge for Saturday's football game is in order.
Details to follow if we can get folks together for the tailgate. If not, just be there in your Crimson and White...and a well rested voice.
