Confessions of a NMSU Volleyball Addict: November 2007

Friday, November 30, 2007

We have video!!

Check out texassports.tv for the link. It's free!

Thank you UT. I take back all the nasty things I'd said earlier...both online and to various friends :)

PS: TO get you into game mode...

Since we last spoke -

Coach Jordan's contract was re-structured into a 5 year deal. To quote him from the Sun News today, "I have turned down more money elsewhere because I feel like this is home and I don't have the desire to do a rebuilding project elsewhere," Jordan said. "Plus we haven't reached our potential yet".

This was possibly the best news we've gotten in a long time. We knew that it was time for NMSU to take a look at his contract and keep him here so we were a little nervous that someone else might dangle a little bit more dinero to get him to leave. Seeing his loyalty to NMSU and the program, as well as NMSU's dedication to the program and to him, is the best Christmas present ever to a volleyball addict. (I did see Dr Boston at the womens volleyball game vs. UTEP and I thanked him for keeping Mike here. He laughed. I think he knew there might be a revolt if Mike left.)

Today, the team takes on LSU at 3:30pm. There is no video (don't feel bad, Hawaii doesn't have video either) but you can listen to it live on AM 570. If you're out of town, you can listen to the broadcast via Aggie Access at nmstatesports.com. Why no video? Read Sam Wasson's article over at Bleed Crimson for the explaination. Thanks a bunch, UT.

We're having a listen party here at Casa Brooks and I'll do my best to update as I can. If I'm not updating here, I'll be doing it at Crimson Storm for the boys stuck at work.

GO AGGIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Monday, November 26, 2007

Alumni and Friends

We invite you to come “Meet Coach Jordan, Assistants and Players”on Thursday, November 29, 2007 from 5:30pm – 7:30pm at theHoliday Inn AUSTIN-TOWN LAKE Ballroom20 NORTH IH-35, AUSTIN, TX 78701

Light Hor d’ouerves and Cash Bar will be availableShow your support as NMSU Aggies face LSU in the first round of the 2007 NCAA DIVISION I WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIP on Friday November 30, 2007 at 4:30pm in the Gregory Gymnasium

Ticket Prices:General Admission $12.00, Senior Citizens $6.00Reserved Seating $18.00

Winners of the two matches will meet on Saturday at 6:30 p.m.

Enjoy post-match dinner with Alumni and Friends….No-host dinner on Friday, November 30, 2007 at 8:00pm the Brick Oven 1209 Red River St , Austin , TX 78701

PLEASE CALL IN RSVP by Wednesday 5:00pm to 1-866-678-2586 or email us at alumni@nmsu.edu.

(We do need a head count for both Thursday and Friday’s events).

We look forward to seeing you!

Sunday, November 25, 2007

The Lady Aggies will face LSU this Friday, November 30th at 4:30pm, 3:30pm Las Cruces time.

If you have the ability to watch ESPNU, you're in luck. If you don't...uhm...well, we were told tonight that Maria Roth will be in touch to let us know our local options.

The bracket is available here

We'll keep you posted! GO AGGIES!!

Saturday, November 24, 2007

Now that I've had a chance to digest Thanksgving dinner...and the WAC Tournament, a post is in order.

I'm not sure what to say about the tournament except for the fact that, during that championship game, I saw our Lady Aggies play amazingly. I saw them with that desire in their eyes. And, when they won the first game, we thought for sure we'd be walking away with that trophy.

But it wasn't meant to be. As I said in my bleedcrimson.net blog, we fans are extremely proud of this team and this coaching staff - win, lose or draw. We love them all and they make us proud to be Aggie fans.

One thing that I'll always remember are the amazing fans that we met from the other schools. When they sat near us, we cheered for their team and, in return, they came back for the championship match and cheered for our Aggies!

Meeting the team parents was great as well. Amber Simpson's folks were there and in their Aggie finest. (I'll have to find pictures of their getups.) I met Alyssa Gintant's mom and boyfriend - very cool people! We also met Krista Altermatt's folks. I felt so bad for them when Krista went down in the 5th game. (Krista's doing a lot better from what I hear.) Anna Callis' folks were regulars at our tailgates when they were in town and Mr Callis' even got into the costume thang - but quickly removed his blonde mullet wig when Anna saw him and begged her mom to make him not wear it.

All in all - a great event and my hat is off to all the people responsible for organizing it. Fabulous job!

The next big thing on the volleyball calendar is the NCAA Selection Viewing reception tomorrow night at 5:30pm on the 3rd floor of the Fulton Center. Cost is $20 and there might be a chance that if you didn't make reservations, you can still go. All proceeds go to Aggie Volleyball. I'm not going to make a guess on where they're going or who they're playing.

Couple of sidenotes - the Lady Aggie Tailgaters have decided to step up and support womens basketball. Obviously, its a little colder these days so I'm not sure how the tailgates will work. Click on the website then check out the message boards for more information. Feel free to sign up for the board as well.

Also, while you're at the website, check out our photo album. There are a lot of pictures in there of the tailgates and the games. If you have any photos you'd like to share, there is information on the message board to do that.

GO AGGIES!! ONTO THE NCAA'S!

Saturday, November 17, 2007

There is only one thing to say about tonight's match.

BE THERE.

I'm serious now. We have a fantastic opportunity to support our Lady Aggies tonight at the Pan Am as they play Hawaii for the WAC Championship. I've said it before - the WAC tournament won't be back in Las Cruces for ... what ... 10 years?

You have to be there.

We're tailgating at 4:30 or so - more details over at our website If you'd like to, you can bring a toy for the Toys for Kids Motorcycle Run. Some of our members are riding tomorrow and we thought it would be a neat idea to collect for the program. It's not a requirement to come, however.

We'll see you tonight at the Pan Am!

Friday, November 16, 2007

To say the least, it's been a whirlwind the last 2 days here in Aggie Volleyball Land.

The WAC Tournament started out with the banquet on Wednesday night at the Farm and Ranch Heritage museum. What a wonderful event it was. The ladies looked great, the food was wonderful and the room was packed. There were over 150 Aggie supporters on hand.

The season awards were handed out and some of our Aggies were rewarded for great play. Kim Oguh, Amber Simpson, Krystal Torres and Lindsey Yon made the first team, Krista Altermatt made 2nd team. Brynja Rodgers made the All Freshman Team.

Yesterday saw a TON of volleyball action. Being the addict that I am, I was at the Pan Am for the first game at 9:30am. Aside from a little break before the 5pm game, the Pan Am was my home.

We got to meet a lot of fans from the other schools - great fans, all of them. We cheered for Louisana Tech (since some player parents were sitting in back of us), Idaho State (since it didn't seem like anyone was there for them) and then San Jose State (again, since player parents were sitting all around). Each team played great and with a lot of heart.

The big upset was San Jose State beating Utah State in 5.

At 7:30, our Aggies FINALLY got onto the court to take on Fresno State. I spoke with the mom of one of the players who told me that the team had stayed in Las Cruces after their match against us on Sunday. It was over in 3 and we finally got to see Whitney Woods on the court. She got her first kill as well and that brought out a huge smile from Coach Jordan. The girls played great as usual!

One highlight for me was getting to meet Coach Jordan's parents!

So, for tonight, Hawaii will take on Nevada at 5pm; the Lady Aggies meet San Jose State at 7:30pm.

With all of this volleyball overload, I'm sure I'll be going through withdrawl come Sunday morning!

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

So much to talk about it!

Sunday was Senior Night and it was such a great day!

We started the tailgate at 2pm and had a wonderful crowd show up to join in the fun. The volleyball net was set up with official Tailgater Rules (there is nothing such as too many hits, double hits and so on), the food was amazing and - well - just a great time was had by all.

The Lady Aggies quickly dispatched of their opponent Fresno State 30-20, 30-18, 30-16. The seniors played amazingly. We even saw Jordan Bostic at outside hitter and she had 3 kills. Krystal Torres was stellar. She went on a 12 point run in game 2 with 3 aces.

The ceremony for Senior Night was...emotional. We honored 4 great student athletes - Jordan Bostic, Kim Oguh, Briana Akrie and Anna Callis. You can see photos at the tailgaters photo album

We had a Side Out afterwards - our last one of the season - and it was packed. We tailgaters made 4 huge cards for each senior and got as many people to sign it as possible. We gave them to them afterwards.

But it ain't over yet, folks!!

We've got the WAC Tournament starting on Thursday. Here's the schedule:

Quarters - Thursday Nov. 15th
Match 1 - Boise St(8) and La. Tech(9) 9:30
Match 2 - Nevada (4) vs. Idaho (5) Noon
Match 3 - Hawaii (1) vs winner of Match 1 2:30
Match 4 - Utah St(3) vs SanJose St (6) 5:00
Match 5 - NMSU (2) vs Fresno St(7) 7:30

Semifinals - Friday Nov. 16th
Match 6 - Winners of Match 2 and 3 5:00pm
Match 7 - Winners of Match 4 and 5 7:30pm

Final - Saturday Nov. 17th
7pm

Tickets are available at the Pan Am Box Office. With the defeat of Hawaii this past weekend, it's going to be a very competitive and intense tournament.

Saturday - for the Final, NMSU is pulling out all the stops. You can find out all of the information over at the NMstatesports.com website Seriously, you don't want to miss this amazing opportunity to see all the teams in the WAC play...and to see our Lady Aggies bring home the title!

Last but not least, the Tailgaters have decided to step into the 21st century. We now have a website! I invite you to stop by! Our next tailgate will be Saturday before the championship game. Remember - this game starts at 7pm. I'm not sure where we'll be set up - just look for the blue canopy!

Friday, November 09, 2007

Before I start, I thought I'd try something. I've decided to enable anonymous postings again...we'll see what happens. I know some of you would like to comment but since you don't have an account, you don't. With the WAC tournament next week, I'd love to hear from all of you.

Now - about last night's game. Wow is all I can say. The Lady Aggies won it 3-1 but not without some excitement. As mentioned, the game was free on LaTechtv.com. The camera angle wasn't the best - it was almost level with the court - so it was a little hard to see all the calls. To me, there were a lot of bad calls. And that's what made game 2 so wild. Both were playing point for point so when we got to 30-29, La Tech's favor, I thought we'd see it go a little longer.

All of a sudden, the announcer (who wasn't half bad - very knowledgeable) says that Coach Jordan got a yellow card. Nothing to out of the normal - we've seen him blow up quite a few times. Then BOOM - red card. Because we couldn't see the bench from the camera angle, I couldn't see how angry Coach was. I guess he was vocal enough to garner a red card - which game La Tech the game. (Red card means, among other things, lost point.) The game ended, the teams left the court and Coach walked across to talk to the head judge. We've never seen him get ejected - EVER and were a little nervous during 'half time'. Thankfully, we saw him on the sidelines for game 3.

I don't know what happened but, suffice to say, he was beyond angry. Maybe we'll get the story on Sunday after Senior Night.

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

The Lady Aggies play their last regular season road game tomorrow night in Ruston when they take on Louisiana Tech. The game will be free online at LaTechtv.com and gametime is 6pm Las Cruces time.

From nmstatesports.com -

"This will be the eighth meeting between NMSU and the Lady Techsters with the Aggies leading the series 6-1. NMSU lost the first meeting to the Techsters Sept. 21, 1996 in Fort Worth, Texas, but have won six straight since then. In the last meeting the Aggies swept Louisiana Tech (30-18, 30-20, 30-17) at the Pan American Center in Las Cruces, N.M., Oct. 11 for their second consecutive sweep. Head coach Mike Jordan was happy with how the Aggies blocked and with the play of sophomore Kelli Goodan against La. Tech. NMSU had 11 total team blocks, while Goodan was able to get seven kills."

Monday, November 05, 2007

I'm going to cross my fingers that Blogger has fixed whatever has been wrong.

Just a little bit a news today -

If you'd like to go to the WAC Banquet on Nov 14, you need to get your tickets by tomorrow. It's an event you don't wanna miss!

The Lady Aggies wrap up their road trip tomorrow with their match at Louisiana Tech. I'll post later with video/live stats info.

Again, this Sunday is the last game of the year...details on all the 'haps' can be found in my last post. Stop by and enjoy the fun!

Thursday, November 01, 2007

GAME NEWS:
Tonight the Lady Aggies take on Boise State. Play by Play on AM 570 and live stats at nmstatesports.com. They'll take on Idaho on Saturday and then Louisiana Tech on November 8th.

SENIOR NIGHT:
Senior Night will be November 11th when we take on Fresno State. This is a fun but emotional evening. We'll be saying goodbye to 4 seniors this year - Anna Callis, Briana Akrie, Kim Oguh and Jordan Bostic. If you've never been, please make plans to go.

The Tailgaters will be hosting a H U G E end of the year blowout tailgate and we'd love everyone to come by and say hi. We'll have the volleyball net set up, lots of munchies and mucho fun. Look for the blue canopy set up in the grass on the north side of the Pan Am.

NEXT: WAC Tourny News
*The WAC Volleyball Banquet will be held on November 14th at the Farm and Ranch Museum. This is an amazing event where the season awards are handed out. Each team is highlighted in a season video. The cost is $20 per person and you can get your tickets by calling Jenny Castillo at 646-4126. The deadline is November 6th. Yes, there's a Lady Aggie Basketball game that night but we need to show the WAC and the visiting teams that we support our team!

*The bracket hasn't been released yet but we do know that the Lady Aggies will be playing at 730pm on November 15th. The host team always plays late. We don't know who we'll be playing yet.

Confessions of a NMSU Volleyball Addict