jcasonvball

That's a Wrap

2011-08-30T11:11:00.000-07:00

It's time to bring the public side of this blog to a close. I've never allowed comments on this blog because I really don't care what others think. I've seen how anonymous posters both over-hype and tear down kids on places like Volleytalk, and I didn't want to get into the mud with Trolls-especially when it comes to my kid.

This has always been a happy-happy-joy-joy approach blog. Since the outset, I've never wanted to offend anybody...even New Mexico State fan. I look on this blog now, and it's clearly become just a shill for UTEP volleyball. Folks can go elsewhere for that. Facebook has exciting links to press releases and event announcements, or you can go to the UTEP Athletics site for two-year old photos and other dated and inaccurate pap.

Whether you were a hacker from Thailand trying to figure out how to raid a bank account through this blog, or you were that coach at William & Mary who told Jacquie you weren't interested, but then visited the site repeatedly the next several weeks, thanks for stopping by. This was a fun thing to do and it leaves me with a nice scrapbook of Jacquie's college recruiting experience.

The X-Factor

2011-08-20T07:42:00.000-07:00

She's Xitlali Herrera from far off Mexico. I dig this video-especially the music.

The Miners will be much more physical this season. I also think the attack will be far less predictable. Solid defense from Victoria and Stephanie means crisp passes that give the setter the chance to do something more than go left. Can't wait to see the Miners run the slide and set the pipe this season.

One Week to Go!

2011-08-20T07:23:00.000-07:00

The Miners will scrimmage today at 4pm in Memorial Gym.

The season starts next Friday night in El Paso. Jacquie tweaked her ankle a few weeks ago. Hopefully, she'll be near 100% for the season opener on Friday night.

Preseason observations from a daughter of very few words:

The refurbished locker room is lush
The Valencia/Figueroa defensive tandem has been outstanding
Newcomer Xitlali Herrera is unstoppable on the slide and puts up a great block
Freshman Talia Jones is the real deal
Jeane Horton may start the season at OH instead of MB
Jacquie has been playing a lot of back row in preseason
Yesterday was picture day and the weather was windy and rainy-perfect hair tossed in every direction made for some cranky Miner Vb divas
All #15 has time for right now is playing ball, ankle rehab, eating, sleeping and Netflix movie marathons

2011 UTEP Volleyball Preseason Schedule

2011-06-10T11:47:00.000-07:00

Looks like a solid preseason schedule for the Miners in 2011. NMSU on the road, Baylor and Mississippi State will all be big matches. Ken's done a great job of scheduling games against three teams that were NCAA tourney qualifiers last year.

First Week
After the demise of the Sun Bowl tournament two years ago, UTEP will again host a season-opening tourney the weekend of Augusta 27. Portland State (NCAA tournament qualifiers in 2010), UT Arlington (who whupped the Miners during last year's preseason), Nicholls State and Southern University are on the schedule.

Second Week
The Miners head to the Empire State the weekend of September 3 to participate in Cornell's tournament. Competition will include Niagara (NCAA tournament qualifiers in 2010), Delaware State, and American University (NCAA tournament qualifiers in 2010).

Third Week
Beaumont, Texas will be the Miners stop the weekend of September 10. Lamar will host UTEP, Baylor and Mississippi State.

Fourth Week
The I-10 rivalry game is on September 13 in Las Cruces. The Aggies dodged playing the Miners twice this spring. Clever little gamesmanship by coach Juggernaut. OH, Stephanie Ziegler, was hobbled with leg injuries, go-to hitters Giddens and Woods were out of eligibility and OH Rocio Gutierrez is now enrolled at UTEP.

The spring season finishes in Orlando the weekend of September 16-17. On Friday night, the Miners will play UCF in the CUSA opener and the winner will play the winner of the Florida International/Jacksonville U. match on Saturday.

New UTEP Recruits for 2011

2011-05-06T12:56:00.000-07:00

Two announced signees and possibly two more to come. The first is Talia Jones, an OH from Phoenix's AZ Storm volleyball club. Here's a YouTube video of her. Not real tall, but she definitely wants the first ball on defense. She's also fearless on the pipe.

The second is an OH transfer from Eastern Washington University named Esther Warren. She's a Fort Worth, Texas kid who Ken recruited last year. I might understand a part of why she might have left. Jacquie sent Eastern Washington's head coach, Miles Kydd, an email in the early spring of her junior year. In his response, Miles wanted to know was who else was unsigned at that time on her Spiral club team. Sure Miles, Jacquie would be happy to do your scouting for you...AssHat.

There will also be a walk-on DS from El Paso joining the team next year. Another possible is an OH from Mexico. No idea as to names at this time.

Jacquie's Conference USA Commissioner's Medal

2011-05-05T08:10:00.000-07:00

Sweeter than something a third-world dictator might wear.

NMSU Spring Tournament Photos

2011-04-23T08:05:00.000-07:00

Rich Chavez has a most excellent gallery of photos from the April 9 tournament. Here is a link to the UTEP section: http://www.richchavez.com/portfolio/gallery.html

Spring Ball, April 9, 2011 at NMSU

2011-04-16T15:39:00.000-07:00

The Miners split with New Mexico, Western New Mexico and Texas Tech. Got whacked by UA.

Here is a clip from game one vs. the Lobos.

Saturday's Matchups

2011-04-06T14:51:00.000-07:00

The other day, Angela posted the match ups for this Saturday on the UTEP Vball Facebook page. Here they are:

9am New Mexico
10am Western New Mexico
Noon Texas Tech
1pm U of A

Would rather save Western New Mexico until the end of the day, but it is Spring. So no Miners/Aggies tilt this spring. I hope the I-10 Series is on again this fall. Love to be there when the Miners start winning some of these contests.

Big Weekend on the Horizon

2011-04-04T07:06:00.001-07:00

The Miners head up I-10 to play a spring tourney at the big 4-H Club on Saturday. We'll be there in blue and orange, surrounded by a sea of Golden Girls and Grumpy Old Men in burgundy. Scheduled to appear:

Miners
Aggies
Lobos
UA Wildcats

There may be other schools at this tournament as well. Couldn't find anything on the Aggies web site, and the UTEP Volleyball web site was last updated in November. Should be an alert about summer camps any day now. This will probably be the only fresh vball content until August.

Springtime Miners Vball

2011-03-21T14:39:00.000-07:00

The Miners are heading to Tucson this Saturday, March 29 to join a vball gaggle. Teams scheduled to appear include...
1. Arizona
2. Arizona State University (2 teams)
3. Northern Arizona University
4. University of New Mexico
5. New Mexico State University
6. University of Texas El Paso
7. Grand Canyon University
8. Yavapai Junior College
9. Embry-Riddle

April 9, the Miners travel to the Big 4-H for a deja vu tourney that will include UA and New Mexico, and maybe other schools that haven't been announced yet

April 16 finds the Miner in Albuquerque to complete the spring trifecta with the Lobos

Jacquie completed her shoulder rehab and was cleared to play on the last day of practice before spring break. She'll have this week to get into some playing shape before the trip to Tucson.

Melissa Toth has left the team and will be looking to transfer after the semester. Best of luck to Melissa on finding the right fit for the rest of your college career.

If MT Joyce is moving to MB, this leaves the Miners thin on the left side with only Bridget Logan and Taylor Nix on the spring roster.

Looking forward to July and seeing Madison Morris and Ashley Peak join to the squad.

A Foreshadowing of the 2011 Miners?

2011-01-03T18:19:00.000-08:00

The Miners and Aggies from September, 2010. With the exception of Patty Jarmoc, everybody on the floor in this sequence is a first-season Miner.

Jacquie's First Kill

2011-01-02T11:40:00.000-08:00

August 27, 2010 versus Delaware State. Second rotation, first set on the right side. Renee and I had a bet. I said her first kill would be nothing but floor. She said it would be a tool. Check it out and see who was right.

This just in...

2010-10-07T06:34:00.000-07:00

Jacquie dislocated her shoulder yesterday afternoon. How she did it will be revealed after I tease you with this multiple choice quiz:

Question: So how did Jax dislocate her shoulder?
1. Hitting the Sport Court while making an epic dig in practice
2. Diving into a shallow hotel pool in Dallas
3. Getting off the trainers table

She's got an MRI today. Don't look for her on the right side this weekend against Marshall.

Correct Answer: #3.

On Sweeps and Stephanie

2010-09-27T10:23:00.001-07:00

The Miners arrived in Greenville, North Carolina around 3 am early Friday morning. They left El Paso around 11 am Thursday morning. Welcome to the CUSA travel schedule. This weekend they will travel to Houston to play Rice on Friday, then return to play Houston in El Paso on Sunday. At the end of the season, the Miners get to travel all the way out to Orlando for game one versus UCF only to turn around and hustle back to host UCF in El Paso days later. Killed our plans to make the most out of week at Disney.

We were able to watch both ECU matches on CSTV and it wasn't a bad connection. Stephanie Figueroa was outstanding, and the dummies at CUSA HQ in Irving are finally noticing. Stephanie was selected CUSA Defensive Player of the Week. What an honor it must be for Stephanie to be allowed a spot in the Friends of Tulsa-Tyler Henderson admiration society.

Jax had a great weekend as well. She logged 13 kills and zero errors during the Saturday's match. ECU made an adjustment on Sunday moving ECU 6'3" Brittany Roper to front her. On Saturday, ECU had no answer for Jax. On Sunday, they had no answer for Jeane Horton. Even on the constantly lagging CSTV video stream, Jeane still looked incredibly quick and powerful.

Great opening weekend. Tough weekend awaits with conference tournament champs Rice on Friday night. Ashleigh McCord crushes the ball, but she's a low-ball, seam-splitter. Close up the block and you can shut down McCord. Tracey Lam used to be the best Libero in the conference...used to be now that Stephanie Figueroa anchors the Miners big D. Imagine how great Stephanie's dig numbers would be if the Miners didn't block so well.

Arizona's Prepvolleyball.com 2010 Senior Aces

2010-09-17T08:37:00.000-07:00

Heading into weekend four of the college volleyball season, here is a statistical summary that focuses on Arizona's 2010 Senior Aces (click on the table to expand):

Chanel has been lights-out great for the Gators. Do a search for women's college volleyball on your DVR and you'll see Florida games offered around 15 times. Betsi is listed as an OH on the LMU site, but looking at her stats, she must be playing DS so far. I think Katie Rutherford might be redshirting. Not sure what happened to Erin Truett. She blew her knee out last winter, and left high school early to report to K-State, but I can't find her on the roster.

The Miners and NCAA Div I Stats

2010-09-16T13:44:00.000-07:00

Out of 368 Div I teams in the database, here are a few select rankings three weeks into the season:

UTEP Team

Blocks per set-21st
Hitting Percentage-29th

UTEP Individual

Blocks per set: Kyla Muela-29th
Points per set: Melissa Toth-46th
Kills per set: Melissa Toth-58th
Hitting percentage: Jacquie Cason-118th

UTSA Classic Recap

2010-09-14T14:50:00.000-07:00

It's still very hot and humid in San Antonio. The freeway network in San Antonio is also abysmal. Never heard of frontage roads that function as freeway parallels before I got to SA. Forget about crossing to the west side of I-10. We drove by the hotel on a frontage road we couldn't turn out of and had to re-cross under the freeway bridge and loop back around from the north. Took us more than 30 minutes to drive the 4 miles to UTSA from our Hotel north of the 410.

The UTSA/Miners tilt on Friday night was a classic five-setter. Two very evenly matched squads. UT Pan American was a gutsy team that dug everything on Saturday. Stephanie Figueroa was outstanding all weekend. Taylor Nix also stepped in on the left side and delivered on Saturday. The Miners left the A-game on the court Friday night. I was surprised that Davidson handled UTPA so easily.

Three Miners were selected to the all-tournament team:

Patty Jarmoc, S, UTEP — Most Valuable Player
Jacqueline Cason, OH, UTEP
Stephanie Figueroa, DS, UTEP
Meghan Fichtel, OH, Texas-Pan American
Elise Huskey, OH, UTSA
Sarabeth Peele, OH, Davidson
Kelsey Schwirtlich, S, UTSA

Jax is number five in CUSA in hitting percentage this week at .344. She also has the second-most kills in the top five.

Big Girl Volleyball

2010-09-08T07:57:00.000-07:00

I remember back in club ball when you would see one, maybe two kids booming the ball during warm ups. As I watched the Aggies warm up, it didn't take long to see that everybody on that front line could crush the ball. It hit me for the first time last night. This is big girl volleyball. Skinny little Stephanie Ziegler is now muscular little Stephanie Ziegler. She could hit a nice top spin ball in high school. She can absolutely crush the ball now. Hitting for the Aggies is a whole-body experience. Explode into the air, swing with every ounce of juice in the tank, then pose arrogantly and admire your work.

A lot of energy in Memorial Gym last night. The septuagenarian Aggie fans were in the house and they were vocal, but Miner fans far outnumbered them. The Miners showed grit and battled back bravely in games two and three, but too many unforced errors still kill too many comebacks.

Jax has jumped to #2 on the CUSA hitting percentage charts. She's the only freshman in the top 15.

Week Two of the 2010 Season

2010-09-06T10:55:00.001-07:00

Tulsa sweeps the weekly awards again. Tyler Henderson has taken a ginormous 298 swings.

Good News: UTEP remains tops in the conference in blocks and htting percentage

Bad News: The Miners are near the bottom in digs and just got run by their arch-rivals

East Carolina and Tulane look to be the weakest sisters of the conference at the two-week point. UCF has wailed on some weak sisters, so don't let that record fool you. The top 10 in CUSA hitting percentage includes three Miners:

#2 Kyla Muela

#3 Jax

#7 Bridget Logan

Bridget played great on Friday night against the Aggies. Jax once played for a martinet of a coach who would yank players (especially Jax) out of a set if he thought they didn't swing hard or weren't prepared for a set. No fear of that with Bridget.

The Miners need to put Friday night on the shelf and come out fresh and fierce. Control the first pass, move the ball around to keep the Aggies off balance and take full swings on the attack.

Aggies/Miners Round One

2010-09-04T09:15:00.000-07:00

Tried to set up the laptop to watch the stream of the game on ESPN3 from the comfort of my big chair only to find out that my local ISP wasn't an authorized sponsor/partner with the Mothership online. Jumped in the car and drove to work to watch it in the office. Horrible connection all night long. Nothing but a stupid Gillette commercial would play for more than 15 seconds before locking up. I will never buy a Gillette Pro Glide razor. Never saw my kid touch a ball over the span of 90 minutes of trying to watch the game.

Got up this morning to watch the Fox Sports AZ broadcast. Kinda glad I knew how miserable the Miners did before we started watching. That way, we just got to enjoy watching our kid play ball. And the Aggie homer broadcasters got her name right.

Will this be the team that breaks the Aggie choke hold on the I-10 rivalry? See you all in El Paso on Tuesday night. I'll be the guy in an orange shirt.

Aggie Smack

2010-09-03T11:50:00.000-07:00

This quote in today's Las Cruces Sun-News:

Right-side hitter Whitney Woods on playing the Miners
"We play them like it's a conference game. It's bigger than conference to be honest. We lost to them in the spring a couple years ago and I feel like we need to get revenge from that....I haven't forgotten about it."

So, Whitney is still sore about a loss in the spring, at some undetermined time in the past...

Miners at the Aggies-The Tucson Angle

2010-09-02T07:09:00.000-07:00

This year's away-and-home I-10 series will feature several Arizonans-three of whom are Tucson kids. Aggie Freshman MB, Desiree Scott, played the spring club season at Zona with Jax. Desiree is all arms and legs and is very quick in the vertical plane.

Sophomore Stephanie Ziegler is a great athlete who will probably play in the back row this year. If Stephanie were 6' or taller, she'd be a #1 OH on another top-25 team. Look for her to absolutely rip a pipe if she gets the opportunity. Her jump serve is also very nasty.

Program Note: Tune in to the Miners/Aggies tilt on Fox Sports AZ HD (Direct TV Channel 686) Saturday, 12:30 am. I believe this will be a re-broadcast of the Aggie Vision telecast of Friday night. It will probably look and sound like public access TV, but I guess we should just celebrate the fact that that TV has finally come to Las Cruces. Aggie Vision. Excellent...Schwing!

Set Your DVR's-Miners on Fox Sports AZ this weekend

2010-08-30T18:20:00.000-07:00

I just did my usual scan of the Direct TV search function and found that Fox Sports AZ-channel 686-will broadcast the Miners vs. Aggies Friday night tilt at 12:30 AM (CT) on Saturday. We'll be watching the match online Friday night, then we'll fire up the old DVR for coffee, Kringle and Miners volleyball on Saturday morning!

For you Texans and Las Crucians who've never heard of Kringle, it's a decadent Danish pastry you can get online or in HyVee stories in the upper midwest.

Durham and the NCCU/Hilton RTP Tourney Recap

2010-08-30T11:44:00.000-07:00

Pretty good opening tournament for the Miners. The base rotation for the weekend was as follows:

OH-Melissa Toth, Bridget Logan (Taylor Nix registered a very crisp kill in one set of play)

MB-Kyla Muela, Jeane Horton (Cassandra Burrel in for one set)

S-Patty Jarmoc (Malia Patterson set for a couple of points on day one)

RS-Jax

DS-Victoria Valencia, Jenny Nolasco and Ashley Mullens

L-Stephanie Figueroa

The only blemish was a four set loss to Elon on day one. Elon was a very junior/senior heavy team and they played with a lot of fire and precision.

Melissa and Patty were selected to the all-tournament team, and my MVP was Victoria Valencia. The true freshman started in every set and was the first server in every set. What a joy to watch Victoria play the whole weekend with a big smile on her face. Great catch for Ken and Angela keeping Victoria in El Paso.

Jacquie finished the weekend third on the team in kills and second in hitting percentage. After the first week of play, UTEP is number one in CUSA in the hitting percentage category and Kyla (.449) and Jax (.397) are in the top four.

Note to UTEP Sports Info: Her first name is spelled "Jacquie" not "Jackie."

Durham Update

2010-08-26T19:31:00.000-07:00

Got in at around 10 pm. Started the day at the University of Louisville with our oldest son. Liked it a lot. Tried to stop in at UK but the traffic was miserable. New Dad rule in the college selection process-If I can't get to campus on a Thursday afternoon without getting into a jam, no kid of mine is going to that school.

Stopped for lunch in Huntington. Got a Frostop Root Beer. The place reminded me of the A&W stand my dad used to take us to after knothole baseball games.

Miner vball season kicks off first thing in the am. Jacquie texted us this afternoon to say national champion, Penn State, and CeCe Twitty's Villanova Wildcats are in the same hotel. Both are in town for a tourney at UNC. Good luck CeCe. You are going to need it against Blair Brown and co.

Durham Bound!

2010-08-24T18:54:00.000-07:00

The 2010 season starts on Friday at NC Central in Durham! We'll head out tomorrow evening and try to make it to Louisiville tomorrow night. We'll be back in our old Raleigh/Durham stomping grounds Thursday night. Bojangles country ham biscuits and the sweetest sweet tea on earth await.

Nice article about senior setter Patti Jarmoc on the Prospector today. The caption for the image in the article reads: "Senior setter Patty Jarmoc enters her third year as a starter." Too bad they used a picture of Cassandra Burruel. Bet they would have known the difference between the Miner's punter and place kicker. That's OK, I'm sure the El Paso Times and the UTEP Athletics web sites will be rolling out their Miners volleyball previews any day now. Yup, any day now...

Volleytalk Talk About CUSA Vball

2010-08-22T12:43:00.000-07:00

So today I see "Zomofo's" take on CUSA volleyball over at Volleytalk. Zomo's got our Miners dead last:

I don't see a preseason poll for Conference USA. Did they eliminate it ?
Here are my predictions:
1) Tulsa -best talent and high level coaching
2) Rice-returns several top players, could be #1
3) Marshall-Plenty of key returners and great coaching
4) Tulane-Lost key starters to transfer, will likely get more.
5) SMU- Returns most of their top players
6) Houston- New coach, but gets players
back from injuries
7) Southern Miss- Conference champ last year, new coach, could
be higher or lower.
8) Memphis-Returns injured players, and upperclassmen
9) ECU- should make the move out of the bottom this year
10) UAB- several new players
11) UCF- lost best players to graduation, still bottom dweller.
12) UTEP- Could be really bad this year*

*UTEP goes into this season with a senior setter, an Andi Collins finalist setter backing her up, a NJCAA First Team All American backing up a solid senior on defense and two 6' 2" Prepvolleyball.com Seniors Aces in the front row. Don't sweat it Miner fans. This team will be markedly better this year.

CUSA Volleyball Preseason Rankings, Says Me

2010-08-21T09:58:00.000-07:00

The progosticators on volleytalk have been real busy this summer chattering about the usual suspect programs. One strand a few months ago was started by some hoser who asked what was up with "the USA Conference?" I've waited somewhat patiently for one of the anonymmous experts to offer their take on that USA Conference...crickets.

Here is my take as a rookie dad in D1 Vball:

1. Rice-Returning studs at setter, OH and Libero.

2. Tulsa-OH Tyler Henderson is a girlie toy cannon (Jimmy Wynn old school baseball reference)

3. Southern Miss-2009 regular season champs say they are on a mission after getting whacked in the CUSA tourney...with a rookie coach who has had the job for around three months

4. UCF-Injuries kept this squad from doing more damage last season. Dr. Evil, aka Todd Dagenais, is a top-notch coach.

5. UTEP-Veteran leadership, improved defense and much more physical attack and block packages

6. Marshall-Coach Ratigan's kids are scrappy (my observation from watching them play UCF on TV last season)

7. SMU-Guessing-they have a preseason conference all-star shorty OH in Dana Powell and my wife met the mom of their Libero at a tournament, and mom thought they would be pretty good.

8. UAB-Sister Messerschmitt is down a couple of Euro ringers

9. Memphis-The new collegiate home for Serbian ringers

10. Tulane-Two key Serbians are now Florida State Seminoles

11. Houston-Brand new coach and I think their setter from last year bailed.

12. ECU-Two freshmen setters and all but one of their recruits played club ball for the Lollipop Guild

Dreaming On...About Conference Realignment

2010-08-19T05:49:00.000-07:00

Fresno State and Nevada announced today that they will join the Mountain West in 2011. BYU might join the WAC in all sports not football. This leaves a smushed WAC, a somewhat depleted Mountain West and a previously depleted Big 12. Then let's say some eastern conferences can be coerced into stealing UCF, Memphis, Marshall and ECU. How about this for a new Texas dominated athletic conference? And they called it the Wild West Conference...or the Hook' em Who(?) Conference.

Baylor
Houston
NMSU
Rice
SMU
Southern Miss
Texas Tech
Tulane
Tulsa
UAB
UTEP

New Conference USA Media

2010-08-15T11:41:00.000-07:00

Conference USA is out with their pre-season all conference team-as voted by the coaches-zero Miners on the list.

The CUSA web site also has a link to 2010 signees. No Jacquie and no Taylor Nix on that list. Crackerjack staff over there at CUSA HQ.

Transitions and Introductions

2010-08-08T08:42:00.000-07:00

Jcasonvball was created to host recruiting videos. Jacquie left for UTEP on Thursday. Practice for the 2010 UTEP Miners begins tomorrow, and even though this site has served its purpose, I think I will keep using it as a vehicle to chronicle Jacquie's collegiate career.

For you Miner fans, I can tell you without hesitation that Jacquie is all about...

1. Joy: The smile that rarely leaves her face on the court is an expression of the joy she feels when the game is on. Check out the header for this blog and you'll see what I mean.

2. Competing: Boys in gym class didn't want to play against her because she had a tendency to run them over in pursuit of the ball, the puck...whatever. She was the unanimous MVP of a high school tournament last fall in which her team finished 5th.

3. Toughness: She played several tournaments this spring and led her club team to a Junior Olympics bid while fighting off pneumonia, pleurisy and patellar tendonitis so bad she could barely bend her knees.

New Miner for 2011

2010-08-02T11:24:00.000-07:00

Picked this up on the Miner Rush fan page. Madison Morris is a 6' middle from Killeen, Texas who will join the Miners in 2011. Watched a couple of video clips of Madison on YouTube. Looks like the Miners are going to get even more physical a year from now.

Madison will join DS/L Ashley Peak of Colorado Springs in the 2011 class.

Welcome Miner Rush'ers

2010-08-02T10:55:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the folks at Miner Rush for picking up this blog. Miner Vball practice kicks off next week. Several new faces on a 2010 team that should be physical up front and very skilled on defense.

Battle of Tucson 2010

2010-07-18T18:07:00.000-07:00

May 2010-Tucson's best juniors (Dinamo) vs. best seniors (Zona). Seniors win 2-1. Double click on the video to watch it on YouTube.

UTEP's 2010 roster is up

2010-07-16T16:50:00.000-07:00

Jacquie will wear #15 for the UTEP Miners this year.

The Rest of the UTEP 2010 Schedule

2010-06-28T12:48:00.000-07:00

The August 27-28 NCCU tournament will involve Charleston Southern, Delaware State, Elon, NCCU and UTEP.

The border battles between New Mexico State and UTEP will be in Las Cruces on September 3 and in El Paso on September 7.

The missing piece of the puzzle is now revealed. The Miners will be in San Antonio September 10-11. Teams scheduled to participate include Davidson, UT-Pan American, UTEP and the host team, the UTSA Roadrunners. Might be making a return trip to the Little Rhein steakhouse.

On September 25th, the Miners begin Conference USA play on the road at East Carolina.

UTEP Road Trip to UT Arlington Sep 17-18

2010-06-17T14:51:00.000-07:00

UTEP will play in UT Arlington's tournament Sep 17 and 18. Teams expected to participate include:

UT Arlington
North Texas
Texas A&M Prairie View

Looking ahead to UTEP's Fall Schedule

2010-06-16T21:14:00.000-07:00

UTEP's first regular season event this fall will be the August 27 in Durham, North Carolina at the NC Central tournament. Teams expected to participate include:

NC Central
Elon
Charleston Southern
East Tennessee State
Delaware State
UNC Asheville

Go Miners. Bring home some hardware.

Zona 2010's

2010-05-07T07:30:00.000-07:00

Zona 2010 Commitments to Date:

Zoe Calhoun - Hendrix College

Jacquie Cason - University of Texas El Paso

Haleigh Householder - Eastern Arizona CC

Nicole Kalinowski - University of New England

Desiree Scott - New Mexico State University

Kayla Wang - Pima CC

UTEP's 2010 Recruiting Class

2010-04-22T12:20:00.000-07:00

UTEP's 2010's

Taylor Nix, OH, Crawford, TX
Jacquie Cason, OH, Tucson, AZ
Stephanie Figueroa, L/DS, Dorado, PR and Iowa Western CC
Malia Patterson, S, Honolulu, HI
Rachael Scott, S, Leander, TX
Victoria Valencia, DS, El Paso, TX

Zona 18-1 News

2010-04-22T06:30:00.000-07:00

1. Zona 18-1 will compete in the American Division at this year's Junior Olympics in Reno, Nevada.

2. Congrats to college-bound Zona 18-1 players Haleigh Householder (Eastern Arizona CC) and Desiree Scott (arch-UTEP nemesis, New Mexico State). Expect an announcement in the next couple weeks about Zoe Calhoun's next stop.

UTEP VBall vs. Tulane Last Season

2010-03-03T14:42:00.001-08:00

This is a nice Web slide show with some very crisp pictures.

Senior Season Recap

2010-01-05T21:05:00.000-08:00

Looking forward to one last club season with Zona. Jacquie's senior season summary:

2009 Prepvolleyball.com Senior Ace

2009 AVCA Senior Watch List

Az Central Class 4A All-State First Team

Az Star's All-Southern Arizona First Team

Tucson Citizen First Team All-Star

State 4A-I Playoffs, second round (first time in Cienega history)

Kino Region Champions (undefeated in conference)

Cactus Shadows Falcon Classic Tournament MVP

TUSD Tournament Champions

Blast from the past-Vegas 2009

2009-12-29T09:18:00.001-08:00

AZ Central All-State 4A

2009-12-07T05:27:00.000-08:00

The Az Central Class 4A all-state first team:

Maddie Bushman
Jacquie Cason
Alex Green
Haley Lawless
Madison Kingdon
Katie Rutherford

Az Star's Volleyball List

2009-11-30T13:15:00.000-08:00

Once again, the crack staff of the Az Star (and a very select group of area coaches) is out with their All-Southern Arizona vball team lists. Last year, Stephanie Ziegler was done wrong by these geniuses. This year, it's Zanna Sarama (2nd team) and Zoe Calhoun (3rd team). Here is their list:

First Team
• Erin Bradley, Sr., Amphitheater
• Maddie Bushman, Jr., Sabino
• Jacquie Cason, Sr., Cienega
• Michaela Christiaansen, Jr., Ironwood Ridge
• Emily Graham, Sr., Catalina
• Alyssa Mort, Sr., Rincon/University

Playin' Zona 18

2009-11-23T06:09:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Pat Mooney and Molly Stark for a great club season last year at Sprial. Played with many of the top players in Arizona and finally made it to JO's. Tried out at both Spiral and Zona this weekend. The grind to Chandler and back last year was tough on the whole family. Two hours each way, twice a week, and many Saturdays.

Tough decision, but committed yesterday afternoon to Zona. Levi Quesada and Rachel Balsiger will be the coaches, and that was a huge plus from the start. Should be fun, and just about everybody is looking to play at the next level.

Zona 18-1

Zoe Calhoun (S)
Zanna Sarama (OH)
Erin Bradley (MB/OH)
Iyonna Zortman (L/DS/OH)
Michelle Snyder (OH)
Emily Malisewski (RS/MB)
Kyla Wang (MB)
Desiree Scott (MB)
Haleigh Householder (S/RS)
Jacquie Cason (OH/RS)

High School Finale

2009-11-13T07:04:00.000-08:00

This connection wasn't working real good last night. And so it goes. Got swept by Cactus Shadows.

Best high school vball season in Cienega history. Several "firsts." Beat Sabino...twice. Beat Amphi. Won the TUSD tournament. Made it to the second round of the state playoffs. Time for the Bubba Keg to move on to one more season of club ball.

National Letter of Intent Signing Day

2009-11-11T10:59:00.000-08:00

The dynamic duo of Sun Park and Jacquie Cason on NLI signing day at Cienega High. Jacquie and Sun are two of five girls, all from Old Vail Middle School, who are heading for D1 college programs. Sun will play golf at Yale.

UPDATE: Here is a link to UTEP's press release from today.

4A-1 State Playoffs Round One

2009-11-10T22:46:00.000-08:00

Cienega in four very tough sets over Apache Junction. Got to hand it to the Prospectors. They made great adjustments to meet our attack, and their digging and hustle was spectacular.

Thursday is Cactus Shadows day again. We lost to them two years ago in round one of the playoffs. We lost to them in five sets last season. Then we lost to them in their tournament...but we didn't have Zoe for that last one.

Tucson Citizen First Team All Star

2009-11-10T11:53:00.001-08:00

From yesterday's Tucson Citizen online:
4A-1 First Team

Maddie Bushman, Sabino
Jacquie Cason, Cienega
Michelle Snyder, Catalina Foothills
Kayla Henry, Canyon del Oro
Lindsay Honea, Marana
Zoe Calhoun, Cienega

And Tiana Fox made the second team list!

This was a better list than last season's AZ Star list. Shouldn't take these things very seriously. There are no real selection standards, so it's really just a local popularity contest among people with a vested interest in making their kid or program shine.

In our state, Tucson kids rarely get any love from the Phoenix media. They have an end-of-the-season list they call "All-Arizona," but they've never included any Tucson kids on that list. CDO's Stephanie Ziegler got no love in Tucson or Phoenix last season. She's now playing at NMSU. Other states have more objective process for end-of-season honors. Wish Arizona did.

What's most important is your coach and teammates respect you, your opponents fear and game plan around you, and college coaches, who get paid to judge performance and talent, want you on their team.

Arizona 4A State Playoffs Start Tonight (and NLI Day Tomorrow)

2009-11-10T06:23:00.000-08:00

Apache Junction is in our house tonight at 7 p.m.

Nice preview of the 4A championships from AZ Central's, Odeen Domingo: http://www.azcentral.com/members/Blog/OdeenDomingo/67149

The second round is Thursday and the championships are Monday night in Phoenix.

Tomorrow is NCAA National Letter of Intent signing day and Cienega is hosting a mini-event at school tomorrow morning. Go Miners!

Boom!

2009-10-29T06:28:00.000-07:00

(image: Zona Gardens)

Sahauro vs.Cienega Write-Up in the AZ Star

2009-10-28T06:45:00.000-07:00

Bobcats sweep key rival again
Long point runs help Cienega stay unbeaten in Kino

Calhoun and Cason, a pair that Mott calls the best setter-hitter combo
in the area, were clicking against Sahuaro.
As usual, Cason filled the stat sheet with kills — she had 17 — and Calhoun registered 25 assists.

Read the entire article at the AZ Star online

Dopey Poll Fun

2009-10-16T08:49:00.000-07:00

A poll this week on the AZ Star asks you to pick the top vballer in Southern Arizona. The poll is about half-way down on the right side. And no, the finalists will receive any free Nfinity kneepads.
http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/preps/

Cienega vs. Sabino-Take Two and Pics!

2009-09-30T10:59:00.000-07:00

"Jeez," Cienega's second match versus Sabino was highlighted in today's AZ Star: http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/preps/311221

UA vball star, former Jacquie's coach and current CDO Coach, Kristina Baum, has a dad who is a really good vball photographer. Here is a link that will take you to some images from last week's Cactus Shadows Falcon Classic: http://biggirlinthemiddle.com/

Cactus Shadows Falcon Classic

2009-09-28T21:33:00.000-07:00

We finished 5th in the gold division despite missing senior setter, Zoe Calhoun. Had a shot at beating CDO, but fell apart in game three.

All-Tournament Team:
Alex Green, OH, Cactus (She's why Arrowhead digs everything)
Summer Anderson, OH, Cactus Shadows
Jordan Smith, L, Cactus Shadows
Micaela Forest-Catalde, OH, Canyon del Oro
Abby Kleinsmith, MB, Chaparral
Liz Prieto, OH, Parker

Tournament MVP.......Jaquie Cason, OH, Cienega

Senior Ace!

2009-09-18T15:02:00.000-07:00

Somewhere in the top 150! This is a huge honor. Eleven right sides in the top 100 and seven more in the top 150. Thanks to all you college coaches and John Tawa for bringing it all together.

Cool weekend ahead. UTEP vs. UA and New Mexico. Go Miners!

Cienega Takes the TUSD Invitational

2009-09-06T11:09:00.000-07:00

2009 TUSD Tournament Champs!

Didn't lose a set all weekend until game one of the final against Sabino. Then came back and won the next two. Cienega's first victories ever against Amphi and Sabino.

Cienega Volleyball http://www.zonagardens.com/cienegavolleyball/Welcome.html

The AZ Daily Star's article about the tournament: http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/preps/307899

Cienega High School Season Schedule

2009-09-02T14:11:00.001-07:00

The season starts Friday with the TUSD Tournament at Pueblo High. Here is the season schedule:

Sep 4-5 TUSD Tournament@Palo Verde -WON!
Sep 8 Pueblo
Sep 10 Rincon
Sep 15 @Catalina
Sep 16 Buena
Sep 24 @Catalina Foothills
Sep 26 Cactus Shadows Tournament
Sep 29 Sabino
Oct 1 @Salpointe
Oct 6 Nogales
Oct 8 @Sahuaro
Oct 13 Desert View
Oct 15 Ironwood Ridge
Oct 20 @Marana
Oct 22 @Nogales
Oct 23-24 Mountain View Tournament
Oct 27 Sahuaro
Oct 29 @Desert View
Nov 3 @Flowing Wells
Nov 5 Marana

Week of Nov 9, State Playoffs

AVCA Under Armour HS All-American Watch List

2009-08-14T17:14:00.000-07:00

Spiral rules Arizona on this year's watch list

Arizona
Chanel Brown - Sprial
Jacquie Cason - Spiral
Kyle Hartman - Sprial
Betsi Metter - Spiral
Stephanie Preach - AVA
Cassie Ronda - Spiral
Katie Rutherford - AZ Storm
Erin Truett - Spiral

They'll pick a first and second team in November, and then the top 24 selected for the first team will get an invite to Florida to play in a December exhibition.

Go Miners!

2009-05-05T14:33:00.001-07:00

I visited The University of Texas at El Paso the last weekend in April and decided to commit this week.

Thanks to head coach Ken Murphy, assistant coaches Angela Mooney and Azadeh Boroumand, the players and the UTEP athletics staff for welcoming me into the Miner family.

Thanks to my Spiral 18 coach, Pat Mooney, for being my coach and for his patience and advice throughout.

And thanks to all who took the time to watch me play both live and via video stream on this site.

Jacquie Plays on the Outside

2009-04-11T17:55:00.000-07:00

New video from last week shot during a Spiral-on-Spiral scrimmage. Jacquie is in the white kneepads and without the trademark white headband.

New Video (finally) from March in the Arizona Region

2009-04-03T19:05:00.001-07:00

A short clip of Spiral vs. Az Storm. We won this one...

#17 in the white headband.

Video from Arizona Region Play

2009-04-01T20:40:00.000-07:00

This one is vs. Arrowhead in March 2009

Crossroads Qualifier

2009-03-24T23:06:00.000-07:00

Hi from Tucson,
We placed 5th after going in ranked somewhere in the 20's. We remained undefeated until Sunday, where we lost to Club Performance then turned around and beat Central Cal. In the three-way playoff, we beat Club Performance then lost to Cal 25-23 in the one set playoff. In the end, we missed qualifying by those two points.

Great competition. I got to play left on Friday. I think we are making our mark on the national vball scene. We were the highest finishing Arizona team in the tournament. Check out the results: http://www.coloradocrossroads.org/past_results/09_results/0918Ofinish.pdf

Jacquie Cason Game Footage from Las Vegas

2009-02-18T15:20:00.000-08:00

Dad here. Two video clips from the Las Vegas Invitational. Spiral 18's three-set match against Santa Barbara 18 Blue. Jax on the right side in the ubiquitous white headband. Special thanks to the Green Valley High School gym bleachers and a tube of lip balm for serving as my video camera tripod for day one of the invitational. Once again, you can double click a clip and then select "watch in high quality" on the jcasonvball YouTube site.

Clip #1:

Clip #2:

There's a New Number One in AZ

2009-02-02T09:07:00.000-08:00

Spiral 18-1 is now #1 in the AZ Region Open Division after the second Saturday of play. It took three sets to defeat AZ Storm (who beat us in the Fiesta Classic) and take over the top spot.

Next up is Las Vegas.

Az Region Open Play This Weekend

2009-01-29T08:36:00.000-08:00

Spiral 18-1 will play the second Saturday of open division play this weekend at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix. We're seeded #2.

Spiral Club Season Preview

2009-01-05T09:37:00.000-08:00

The club season gets going for Spiral 18-1 with the first Arizona Region tournament this Saturday. We'll host the pre-season's top eight teams at our facility in Chandler. Here is a link to the schedule, and here are directions to our gym. We go in ranked #1 in the open division. Molly and Pat like to remind us that it is a good thing to have a target on your back to start a season.

Then we're going to participate in the Fiesta Classic January 17-19. We'll also be at Las Vegas in February and Crossroads and Lone Star later in the spring.

End of Season Honors

2008-11-30T20:20:00.000-08:00

End-of-season awards are up in the Phoenix and Tucson papers. Thank you for the honors...whoever you are out there making these selections.

Class 4A All-Arizona volleyball team: Honorable Mention
Fall 2008 All-Southern Arizona teams: Second Team
Kino All-Region: First Team

Jacquie Cason (2010) Game Video

2008-11-10T09:35:00.000-08:00

This is around five minutes from the second match against Kino rival, Sabino. It's a bit dark, but if you double-click on the video as it appears on this page, it should take you to a YouTube site. There you have the option of watching a high quality version. The HQ version is more watchable.

All Kino Region Team Announced

2008-11-07T12:27:00.000-08:00

On his Tucson Citizen blog today, Geoff Grammer has published the Kino Region coaches picks for first and second team all-region. Thanks Kino coaches for the honor.

Adventures in Video Editing

2008-10-29T16:58:00.000-07:00

Dad here. In this episode, I take another shot at video editing. This one is on YouTube. She's no. 17 in the white headband, and starts out on the left side. A little better than the tiny version below. If you double-click on the video as it appears on this page, it should take you to a YouTube site. There you have the option of watching a high quality version. The HQ version is more watchable. Better on the DVD...those were not done by me.....OBTW, DVD's are going out the door tomorrow. If you've been in contact with Jax, one is on the way.