Lady Cardinals take frustration out on rivals
Las Vegas, disappointed to be playing in silver bracket, tears through opponents
The Las Vegas Robertson Lady Cardinals didn’t want to be in Capital’s Edward A. Ortiz Memorial Gymnasium this weekend. They made sure to let everybody know with their play. Robertson’s plans when they arrived in Santa Fe for the Tournament of Champions volleyball tournament was to spend all of their time in Toby Roybal Memorial Gymnasium at Santa Fe High in the gold bracket. Unfortunately, the Lady Cardinals were third in a pool play group that included tournament co-host Santa Fe High and Farmington, who got the two gold bracket spots in front of them.
Disappointment turned into retribution, as Robertson did not lose a single game on its way to the silver bracket championship, beating District 2-4A rival Pojoaque Valley 25-16, 25-20, 25-12 in the finals at Capital to secure a title. Just not the one they wanted. “We were disappointed when we made it to the silver
[bracket],” Robertson sophomore setter Lauren Fulgenzi said. “So, we for sure didn’t want to give up a set. We knew that we should be in the gold.”
The Lady Cardinals (5-0) quickly developed an attitude of not settling for second-best, be it in a regular-season tournament or otherwise. It formed after finishing runner-up to two-time champion Albuquerque Sandia Prep in the Class 4A championship last November.
Fulgenzi, part of a family triumvirate that includes mother/ head coach Stacy Fulgenzi and sister Brandelyn Fulgenzi, said the Lady Cardinals spent the offseason honing the skills they feel they needed to upend the Lady Sundevils.
Perhaps the biggest skill they improved upon was their speed on offense, and they can thank Sandia Prep for that.
After seeing the Lady Sundevils overwhelm Robertson with quick sets, the team set out to duplicate that system.
“Their quicks threw us off,” said Lauren Fulgenzi, who had 42 assists. “We just decided that if we did it, that would throw other teams off, as well.”
It helps when the Lady Cardinals have a potent one-two hitting combination in Brandelyn Fulgenzi, a senior outside hitter, and junior middle hitter Alianza Darley.
Fulgenzi, who was averaging 14 kills per match coming into the tournament, collected 22 against Pojoaque in the finals. Three came in the opening nine points of Game 3, as the Lady Cardinals jumped out to a 9-0 lead and were never challenged.
Darley, meanwhile, is equally dangerous on offense and defense, as her eight kills and 11 blocks can attest. Coach Fulgenzi said Darley’s best asset are her long limbs that only seem to stretch forever to opponents.
“The things that she does, I just have to laugh,” Stacy Fulgenzi said. “Those arm and hands come out of nowhere. It’s kinda of a suffocating feeling for teams that play us. You think [the ball] is past her, and her timing might be off on blocks or she’s on the way down, but those hands come out of nowhere.”
Against the Elkettes, those hands didn’t surprise anyone — they only frustrated the opponent. During the Lady Cardinals’ 9-0 run in Game 3, Darley took advantage of two straight overpasses by Pojoaque off of Lauren Fulgenzi’s serve and hammered them back down on the Elkettes’ side.
While her coach is amazed at her net play, Darley is a little unsure how she does it herself.
“I don’t know. I’m just there,” Darley said.
Whether Robertson is there at the level of Sandia Prep remains to be seen, but the Lady Cardinals will find out next weekend when it heads to Albuquerque for the Lady Sundevils Invitational. Sandia Prep sits at 6-2 on the season, but those two losses are to the defending champion in 6A (Albuquerque La Cueva) and 5A (Albuquerque St. Pius X).
Robertson, meanwhile, is catching up with the rest of the state since it started the season on Sept. 1, and had just three matches under its belt heading into the Tournament of Champions.
“We have three weekends of tournaments in a row,” coach Fulgenzi said. “Then we’ll be caught up with matches. We’re here, at Sandia Prep then at Portales [from Sept. 29-30]. We were just catching up when we first started and everybody else had five matches under their belt.
“Now I feel like we’re in the swing of things now that we have a tournament under our belt.”
In other tournament action:
SILVER BRACKET Seventh place SANTA FE PREP 3, BERNALILLO 0
The Blue Griffins were the lone 3A school in a bracket loaded with big schools, so head coach Kiran Bhakta was happy to finish seventh.
But he was happier that his team continued to respond to the challenge playing against highlevel competition. Prep (5-3) had a chance to play for fifth place, but could not hold on to a two-games-to-one edge against Lovington in the morning consolation semifinal, as the Lady Wildcats rallied for a 25-27, 25-21, 20-25, 25-15, 15-6 win.
“We played Bernalillo, which is, what, 4-A?” Bhakta said. “Lovington was 5-A, and then we had [Robertson, which swept Prep on Friday]. We about Brandee and [Darley], and Brandee’s sister is tough. They put up a good every single time, and we can’t relax.”
Senior setter Teslin Ishee earned a spot on the silver bracket alltournament team, thanks in part to the 27 digs she had against Lovington. She only had five against the Lady Spartans as Prep dominated play at the net. Samantha Wilson had six blocks, while Daisy Cunningham had six kills and Raelyn Gonzales recorded five.
GOLD BRACKET Seventh place CAPITAL 3, SANTA FE INDIAN SCHOOL 2
The Lady Braves tried to slow down the Lady Jaguars’ fast-paced attack, but could not sustain it in a 21-25, 25-10, 25-20, 14-25, 15-8 Capital win at Santa Fe High.
Even though Marlena Yazzie had 27 digs on the defensive end for SFIS (4-4), there were too many holes the Lady Jaguars found. Brian Gurule, the Lady Braves head coach, felt his team also needed to maintain its aggressiveness at the net.
“It’s just that whole aggressive hitting team thing,” Gurule said. “We’re good blockers, but we just need to take that next step.”
Senior outsider hitter Danielle Jackson, who earned all-tournament honors, and had eight kills and five blocks against Capital. Sierra Shoals had nine kills, while Leanna Lewis seven kills and three blocks.
In the fifth-place match, St. Michael’s finally went from being giant hunters to giant slayers by beating 6A Piedra Vista in five games.