Portales' Blaeser second in state singles

ALBUQUERQUE — Sometimes the journey is more important than the destination.

That could definitely be said for Portales' Sarah Blaeser Thursday at the Jerry Cline Tennis Complex. Getting to the 1A-4A singles championship was a great journey, albeit one that ended with a 6-0, 6-0 loss to the overwhelming favorite in Robertson's Brandelyn Fulgenzi.

The match ended a dominant four-year run for the Cardinals senior, who won the singles championship in 2015 and won the doubles championship with sister Lauren in 2016 and 2017. Fulgenzi went 32-0 in singles during the regular season before winning district and state.

Blaeser, the fourth seed in the singles tournament, had a first-round bye before having to eliminate teammate Zamorye Cox 6-0, 6-1 Wednesday night. She fell behind St. Michaels' Haley Garcia 5-3, but rallied for a 7-5, 6-3 victory. Portales coach Ann-Marie Bucksath didn't think fatigue was an issue going into the 4 p.m. match, so much as it was going against a great player from a family that is synonymous with New Mexico prep tennis.

"We had a good break," Bucksath said. "She finished about 1 p.m. She was excited to make it to the finals after a hard-fought battle. She called it icing on the cake just to play in the state championship."

In Wednesday matches held at Sierra Vista, Cox defeated Bosque's Sarah Baca 6-1, 6-0 to reach the singles quarterfinals and Portales' doubles teams both fell in the opening round.

Cameron Calabrese and Kyra Chavez of St. Michael's topped Portales' Kinsey Bilberry and Kelly Fraze 6-4, 6-3.

Taos' Joseph Colonias and Victor Burns defeated Portales' Gerardo Calderon and Javier Gutierrez 6-1, 6-1.

The Portales girls now move on to the team championships. The fourth-seeded will face Bosque in a 10:30 a.m. matchup at Albuquerque Academy. Throughout Thursday, Portales used open courts at Cline to get in its practice time.

"We've never seen them (outside of Cox's Wednesday singles match)," Bucksath said of fifth-seeded Bosque. "I'm assuming they're just as good at Robertson."

The winner will face either top-seeded Robertson or No. 8 Raton in an 8 a.m. Saturday match at Academy. The team championship is scheduled for 1 p.m.