Competitive spirit vies with friendship on volleyball court

ALBUQUERQUE — They spent years forging rivalries, only to spend a week developing a kinship.

While the New Mexico High School Coaches Association’s North-South All-Star series is designed to pit the state’s best high school graduate athletes from the two regions against each other, it also has the effect of turning old foes into new friends.

This year’s All-Star Extravaganza, which condenses the games and matches for Class 1A through 6A into three days of competition among a variety of sports into one weekend, began with the volleyball players celebrating their last hurrahs while also learning a little bit about their teammates and coaches.

Northern New Mexico had plenty of representation in the Class 1A/2A and Class 3A/4A matches in Albuquerque La Cueva High School, and some of those newly formed friendships already had the foundation set. It was just a matter of getting to know each other, both on the court and off.

For some, like Santa Fe Prep’s Samantha Wilson and Teslin Ishee, the week’s worth of preparation for one match was worth it, if only to meet players she admired from a distance.

“It’s such an honor to play with the girls we played with,” Wilson said after the North’s sweep of the South in the 3A/4A match. “Teslin and I have been looking up to [Sandia Prep’s] Cat Kelly and all the Sandia Prep girls since

our freshmen year. It is really incredible to send us all playing together.”

For Ishee, it was a different experience on the volleyball court, because she didn’t wear her usual libero jersey like she did for the past four years for the Blue Griffins. Instead, she was just a defensive specialist who got a chance to play once more for North head coach Stacy Fulgenzi of Las Vegas Robertson, who was her physical education teacher while she was in elementary school, growing up with Brandelyn Fulgenzi.

The bond was still there, as the two held a long embrace after winning the match.

“I’ve seen them in tournaments and in passing, so it was really special to have her coach me in this,” Ishee said. “It was exciting for us to both do this.”

Santa Fe Indian School’s Danielle Jackson, who will attend Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colo., said she was nervous at meeting some of her new teammates but felt welcomed almost immediately.

“When we got together for practice, everybody helped each other,” Jackson said. “Everybody was super nice to each other. It was a great experience.”

Sometimes, players’ best friends were the only other players they knew from the other side of the net. Escalante’s Sarah Hurd, who is playing volleyball and basketball this weekend, said she and her Lady Lobos teammates immediately bonded with Questa’s Arianna Spears and Larissa Passino when the North’s 1A/2A practice began Monday because they knew each other from their District 5-2A battles.

They eventually got to know the rest of their teammates, slowly but surely, after that.

“This is like, an amazing experience,” Hurd said after the North beat the South in four games in the opening match of the evening sessions. “We’ve bonded and played together like we’ve known each other for years. Sometimes, teams have drama because this person can’t hold up their end, but here, everyone is so talented and so good.”

Some are talented enough to play at college, like Kelly (New Mexico State) and Camryn Nelson (New Mexico Highlands University), but the rest haven’t even bumped a volleyball since the season ended eight months ago. Santa Fe Waldorf ’s Brianna Poole said she did some workouts prior to this week, but it was still an eye-opener to get back into old practice habits.

“It was such a long first day, everybody was so sore!” Poole exclaimed. “Oh my gosh! But we all came back and picked up the intensity.”

The week was the culmination of an intense past six weeks, as the players rushed to finish their year in good standing, finish their spring sports (for some) and get through graduation. While graduation was an emotional moment for many of them, they found the week of North-South preparation a pleasant way to cap their high school careers.

Wilson, though, said it will be nice to know that the years of traveling, practicing and preparing for the next season are things of the past.

“We’ve given [volleyball] a lot of our time,” Wilson said. “We do club, we practice, we’d go to Albuquerque for club six times a week. For me to realize I am OK with being done with that and I put in my energy into my studies, it feels good.”