Galloping ah ead
Lady Horsemen headed for state title game after win over Robertson
ARIO RANCHO year ago, Lily Barker was the future. On Friday, she was the now. The sophomore middle hitter for the St. Michael’s volleyball team has been an integral part of what is a special season for the Lady Horsemen. On Friday, she introduced herself to the rest of the state — as if teams in Class 3A didn’t know her already. Barker peppered the Las Vegas Robertson defense for 19 kills and three blocks, helping St. Michael’s to its first state championship appearance in 16 years with a 25-22, 25-20, 25-21 sweep in the Class 3A semifinals in the Santa Ana Star Center on Friday evening.
The top-seeded Lady Horsemen (22-2) will face one last obstacle to win their first state title since the 2002 team — they must take down the dynasty that is Albuquerque Sandia Prep, the threetime state champion, on Saturday.
St. Michael’s took care of the twotime runner-up Lady Cardinals, though, and did it for the fourth time this season, having beaten them three times in District 2-3A play.
Barker had a big role in each of those wins, leading the team in kills.
Her performance in the state tournament showed she matured a lot in a year.
“Last year, I was definitely nervous coming in as a freshman,” Barker said. “This year, I feel way more comfortable with my teammates and just with my coaches. I feel like I belong really, and I’m a team leader.”
However, it was the ability of Lady Horsemen setter Miquela Martinez to spread the ball around and keep defenses honest that has helped Barker blossom. It was especially important against the Lady Cardinals.
“We talked about moving the ball around, but mostly just doing what we’ve been doing,” St. Michael’s coach Valerie Sandoval said.
“We gotta start strong. Everyttime we do that, we get in their heads a little bit. Just start strong and switch things
up,” she said.
But when it came to needing a big hit to slow down a rally, Barker’s name is often first on the call sheet. In Game 1, she had a kill over the Robertson block that came after the Lady Cardinals (16-9) pulled to within 22-20 on middle hitter Alianza Darley’s block of Mikalya Bohlman’s hit. After a Darley tip got Robertson within 24-22, Barker sealed the Game 1 win with a kill off the Robertson block.
With Robertson playing with the desperation of a team seeing its season on the precipice in Game 2, Barker cooly helped St. Michael’s keep pace with four kills. If anything, her calm matched the demeanor of the Lady Horsemen throughout the match, especially when the intensity heated up late in the second game.
Robertson fans howled when St. Michael’s defensive specialist Cia Alvarez’s serve to the end line was called in to break a 17-all tie. With the score knotted at 19-all, the Lady Cardinals thought they had a kill when Shayla Hillis pounded the ball off of Bohlman.
Instead, officials let play continue despite the protests of a few Robertson players, and the sequence culminated in Jazmyne Jenkins’ kill attempt hitting the top of the net to give St. Michael’s the lead for good.
“They got down because they wanted the call,” St. Michael’s senior defensive specialist Cia Alvarez said. “The calls just didn’t go their way. I’m proud of our team, keeping our heads like that.”
The bad news didn’t end there for the Lady Cardinals. With the score at 23-20, a ball from an adjacent match rolled onto the St. Michael’s side as Barker prepared to hit a Martinez set. Robertson libero Taylor Jackson simply caught the hit, believing play had stopped despite no whistle being blown — until she had the ball in her hands.
It gave St. Michael’s a game point that Bohlman cashed in on with a kill on the ensuing play.
“We didn’t get any breaks, and that’s tough,” Robertson head coach Stacy Fulgenzi said. “I felt like we were feeling good, we were very prepared, but St. Mike’s is a very good team. Sometimes, we had a few mental lapses and we just couldn’t pull out of it.”
The win was not just the culmination of a 16-year wait for the program, but it brought the senior class of eight Lady Horsemen to the cusp of realizing their state title dreams. That hardly seemed the case four years ago, when the program came off its worst season (5-17 in 2014) in more than two decades.
By the time the group reached its sophomore year, it reached the 4A semifinals when there were six classes, and repeated the journey last year.
“It feels so great, to be with this amazing team I have,” Alvarez said. “This feels so wonderful. I’m ready for it.”
And if St. Michael’s needed more incentive for the championship match there is this: The two teams that beat St. Michael’s in the semifinals were Robertson and Sandia Prep.
The win brought the senior class of eight Lady Horsemen to the cusp of realizing their state title dreams.