Brandelyn Fulgenzi
Cardinals’ queen of the courts,
The ingredients for making a North Stars female athlete of the year: One part Fulgenzi; One part C’de Baca; Stir in a healthy dose of work ethic; Mix and repeat. It’s hard to argue against the success that the marriage of Warren and Stacy (nee C’de Baca) Fulgenzi produced — four supremely talented kids who have made their mark in the Northern New Mexico sports scene.
Warren Fulgenzi Jr., the oldest of the quartet, won three state tennis titles playing at Santa Fe High and Las Vegas Robertson while also playing basketball at both schools. Lauren, the third child and a sophomore at Robertson, has three doubles titles and was the starting setter on consecutive Class 4A runner-up volleyball teams. The youngest is Nico, an eighth-grader who already added to his family’s considerable tennis legacy with a state doubles title this spring.
Then there is Brandelyn, the oldest daughter. She will continue the Fulgenzi tradition of playing collegiate tennis at University of Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas, in the fall. It helps that she’s a five-time state champion (thrice a doubles champion, twice as a singles player) for two programs — Santa Fe High and Robertson — but she did more than just make a name for herself on just one court.
Brandelyn was a two-time Class 4A All-State volleyball player while playing the last three seasons at Robertson. Her versatility on the court — Brandelyn never left the court, even when she went to the back row — helped the Lady Cardinals reach the semifinals three times and the state championship match as a junior and a senior.
Because of her unparalleled success in two sports, Brandelyn Fulgenzi was named The New Mexican’s North Stars athlete of the year for the 2017-18 school year.
Brandelyn acknowledged she thought she might be in the running for the honor, but was still pleasantly surprised to learn of her selection.
“I didn’t know if it would be me,” she said. “I was like, ‘Wow!’ It was good that it happened for my last year to be the athlete of the year.”
Brandelyn’s athletic achievements came as little surprise to her parents, who coached her in each of her sports (Stacy Fulgenzi in volleyball, Warren Sr. in tennis). They saw their daughter’s potential at an early age, though Warren Sr. withheld his judgment of Brandelyn until she graduated from Robertson two weeks ago.
“I haven’t said much through the years,” Warren Sr. said. “Now that her high school career is over, I can say she is as talented an athlete as I have ever seen.”
Dad saw it when he started training Brandelyn when she was 3 years old, rolling a ball to her across the floor of their Santa Fe home as she used her tennis racquet to slap-shot it back to him for 10 minutes a day.
“She would track the ball and brush it across the floor,” Warren Sr. said. “With the exception of the ball not bouncing, it was just like tennis.”
Brandelyn’s indoctrination to volleyball also came at home, but as a 5-year-old when she and Stacy would bump the ball back and forth in the living room.
“We just used a little dodgeball to start,” Stacy said. “Most of the time, kids start swinging wildly and don’t understand how to use their legs. But she was doing that and using her platform. I’m usually chasing the ball all over the place, but with her, it was nice and smooth and it was so much fun. If we wanted to, we could have bumped all day.”
That was a C’de Baca trait: Stacy and her older sister, Albuquerque Volcano Vista head coach Dawn C’de Baca, played for Robertson and New Mexico Highlands University from the late-1980s to the early-1990s.
So, it’s no surprise to C’de Baca that Brandelyn followed right in Mom’s footsteps.
“I haven’t seen an all-around player like that in a long time,” C’de Baca said. “She can play all six positions and play them so well. I think she is just one of those players who can be an asset anywhere on the court, and that is awesome to have.”
Her stats in 2017 bear that out. Brandelyn recorded a Class 4A-best 387 kills, and was second on the team in aces (29), serves received (302) and digs (441). She even averaged 1.5 blocks per match and had nine assists. Put those figures together, and Brandelyn’s selection for first-team All-State was a no-brainer.
“I know some people are just good at hitting and others are just good at passing,” Brandelyn said. “I wanted to be a good, overall player so I could contribute a lot.”
Brandelyn’s versatility was never in question. Tennis is her first love, and volleyball is not far behind, but she also tried basketball and soccer growing up. She played basketball at Santa Fe High and Robertson until she was a sophomore, but then decided to focus on her two favorite sports.
But with that last name, tennis may have been her destiny. Growing up, Brandelyn routinely played in United States Tennis Association junior circuit tournaments, and she was often the youngest in her bracket. Warren Sr. recalled a tournament in which a 7-year-old “Brandee” played Juliana Guerin, who won singles titles at Robertson in 2010 and 2012 and was twice her age.
“… Brandee beat her, I think, [6-3, 6-3], and she was tiny,” recalled Fulgenzi.
Brandelyn grew to 5-foot-8, and in the process, became dominant, with a 119-2 career mark in singles and 72-0 in doubles. That included a year stint at Santa Fe High as an eighth grader during which she won her first championship — a doubles title with Greta Miller.
Tennis also led to a series of changes not just for Brandelyn, but the entire family. Warren Sr. was the head tennis coach at Santa Fe High for a few months in 2014, but resigned over issues regarding court space as the school’s facilities were deemed unplayable. When Warren Jr. completed the boys basketball season with the Demons in February of 2015, the Fulgenzis promptly moved to Las Vegas, where Warren Sr. was hired as coach.
“That was tough,” Stacy said. “It was tougher for me and the younger ones [Lauren and Nico] because we had to make a decision within three days. [Warren Jr. and Brandelyn] lived with the grandparents because we couldn’t leave since it was in the middle of the school year.”
After settling into Las Vegas, Warren Sr. and Stacy separated in 2016, which made things more challenging. Brandelyn, though, put the situation in perspective.
“Everybody has a few bumps in the road, but it made me closer to my family and spend more time with them,” Brandelyn said.
That was especially true for the siblings; Brandelyn said they hung out together more and leaned on each other for support.
It was needed, because the Fulgenzi name carries heft in tennis circles in New Mexico, and particularly Las Vegas. Add that to her mom’s and aunt’s legacies in town, and the spotlight can get white-hot.
“The younger ones feel it more because the success continues,” Warren Sr. said. “Now, they feel like they have to do it or they are kind of a failure. That’s not how we want them to feel, but that is what comes with the territory.
“We all expect to win. Now, we don’t always win, but we train and prepare that that’s what we will do. I do tell my own kids, ‘You know what? If we prepare 100 percent and give 110 percent effort and still get beat, we’re still winners.’”
For her part, Stacy prefers to focus on the thrill of coaching her two daughters in her hometown.
“It was a tough transition, but doing it at my alma mater and just see my two daughters out there is a really cool experience,” Stacy said. “I am just so grateful for the opportunity.”
That opportunity extended to one more match for the family to enjoy. Brandelyn was part of the North squad that competed in the New Mexico High School Coaches Association’s North-South All-Star series for the top graduates in the state. Stacy Fulgenzi was the coach, with C’de Baca serving as the assistant.
“We always talked about how we wanted to coach together again,” C’de Baca said prior to the match. “So, now we get to coach Brandee for one last match. That is a nice way to go out.”
All the ingredients were there for a perfect moment.
And the mix made for a magnificent athlete.