Standing in the way
If someone wants to win Class 4A, they’ll have to go through Sandia Prep
In order to be the best in Class 4A, you have to beat … The dynasty? When it comes to sheer volleyball dominance, 4A — formerly 3A until three years ago — knows no other way.
No class in the state is more susceptible to a program making a multi-year run of state championships than 4A. Since 2000, only one class has fewer state champions than 4A/3A (five) in that span — Class A (formerly B) only knows Elida as a state champion when it was created in 2010. Aside from St. Michael’s taking the title in 2002, none of the other championship-producing programs in the classification since 2000 have fewer than two blue trophies.
Portales dominated the class from 2000-07, playing in six finals and winning five of them. Then, the Lady Rams ceded power to Pojoaque Valley, which won the 3A title in 2006 before reeling off five in a row from 2009-13. Ruidoso is the only team to own multiple titles without winning them consecutively, puncturing the dominance of Portales (in 2004), Pojoaque (2008) and the new dynasty on the block.
As teams in 4A prepare for this weekend’s state tournament in the Santa Ana Star Center, the new beast is Albuquerque Sandia Prep. The two-time defending champion has played in the last three championship matches, losing to the Lady Warriors in 2014.
The Lady Sundevils are the odd-on favorite to add a third blue trophy to its collection, unless one of the other 11 teams left in the bracket can find a way to upend them. It’s task easier said than done, considering only one 4A team took a game, much less a match, off of Sandia Prep in 2017.
The head coach of that team, Santa Fe Indian School’s Brian Gurule, knows how hard it is to beat Sandia Prep. In 12 tries since 2014, the Lady Braves have won only one game against the Lady Sundevils. SFIS is the sixth seed in the tournament, but could possibly see the No. 1 Lady Sundevils in the semifinals or the championship.
“What makes them so good is their hitting, and they are just so consistent,” Gurule said. “They can put it down. They serve well. They do a lot of things well. They’re just an offensive team. They are that solid.”
St. Michael’s head coach Valerie Sandoval echoed those sentiments and added one more element to the Lady Sundevils’ success.
“They are a very, very, very composed team,” Sandoval said. “You wouldn’t know if they are winning by 20 or losing by 20.”
For Sandia Prep, its strength is in its hitting. Catherine Kelly leads a trio of
senior hitters that leave opposing defenses breathless at their power, averaging 13.8 kills per match. Hitters are only as good as their setter, and two-time AllState player Mirabelle Kinberger averages 28.4 assists per contest. Keeping teams off-balance are outside hitter Camryn Nelson (7.4 kills per match) and middle hitter Alora Lucero (6.5/match).
When the Lady Sundevils played SFIS in the District 5-4A championship on Nov. 4, they changed tactics on the Lady Braves by setting Lucero in the middle instead of Nelson or Kelly. Lucero tied with the other two hitters for team high with nine kills and chipped in a pair of blocks.
“It doesn’t matter,” Gurule said. “They have so many weapons — in the middle with Alora, on the outside with Cat and Camryn. They go inside, they go outside. They just have the weapons.”
Plus the speed. When Las Vegas Robertson played Sandia Prep in the 4A championship last November, Lady Cardinals head coach Stacy Fulgenzi saw how unprepared her team was for how quickly the Lady Sundevils run their offense. Kinberger’s quick sets to the front row continually frustrated Robertson in a convincing 25-18 25-14, 25-17 sweep.
Robertson worked at speeding its offense up in the offseason, but its rematch with Sandia Prep in the Lady Sundevils Invitational went much the same way — a 25-19, 25-16, 25-23 sweep. But the Lady Cardinals’ ability to push them in Game 3 lends hope to Fulgenzi that they might find a way to break that championship veneer. Robertson, the second seed, needs to win or finish third in Pool B to stay on the opposite side of the bracket, or else the Lady Cardinals could run into Sandia Prep in the quarterfinals.
“We have plans, we got a few of them,” Fulgenzi said. “We’ve been working hard, and we’d love to be in that situation again — to be in the state finals — but we have to take things one match at a time right now.”
Gurule said SFIS took advantage of Nelson’s absence when Sandia Prep visited the Pueblo Pavilion on Oct. 13 and played aggressively in Game 1 to take a 25-19 win. However, that energy evaporated over the next three games as the Lady Sundevils reasserted their dominance.
“We were passing well and serving tough,” Gurule said. “We get them out of system and kept Cat in the back row for a while, and that was key. We limited her a bit.”
Sandoval said Kelly is a crucial part of any team’s hopes of upsetting Sandia Prep. She said taking advantage of the times when she is in the back row is key. Having some size up front also helps, which the Lady Horsemen do with 6-foot freshman Lily Barker, 5-10 junior Mikayla Bohlman and 5-8 senior Sierra Moya.
“We have to capitalize on when she is in the back row,” Sandoval said. “We also have a couple of bigs up front so that when she is in the front, you can slow the ball down and get touches on her. That will be super important.
“But she’s pretty amazing. She can place the ball anywhere she wants. She is such a great player. She’s smart and she’s humble.”
The Lady Horsemen, seeded fourth, is in the same boat as the Lady Cardinals. Winning Pool D or falling to third keeps them on the opposite side of the bracket, but taking second sets St. Michael’s up for a potentially daunting task of playing Robertson and Sandia Prep in the first round and quarterfinals, respectively.
Sandoval said the challenge for the Lady Horsemen is to play aggressive, especially at the net.
“We need to play with confidence, and believe we can hang with anyone,” Sandoval said. “We have big girls on our team and we have good hitters. We talk about that in practice a lot. Whether it’s Sandia Prep, Robertson or Portales, we have a lot of weapons in our corner and we just have to have the confidence we are we right there with those teams.”
Confidence has to be in full supply if you’re going to take down the best, much less a dynasty.