The most exciting part of Española tennis’ weekend was what happened after they lost.
Team coach Nancy Suazo said that everyone wanted to stay for the rest of the final day to see the state championships.
They continued watching the day’s tennis, fully immersed in the action, seeing the competition of the state’s very best teams and players, and talking to friends they have made across the board.
“They were all talking about next season, what we’re going to do, what we need to improve upon,” Suazo said. “No one left burnt out in any capacity.”
Española’s tennis teams set program highs across the board at the state tournament in Albuquerque on May 3-6, with the boys team making the quarterfinals, the girls team in the semifinals, and a doubles team of Jennifer Gallegos and Olivia Suazo placing fourth. All three were firsts in school history, as far as the team’s coach could remember.
“It’s a season of firsts,” Nancy Suazo said. “It shows the strength of our program, and how much time and effort these kids put in.”
A year ago, Española’s girls beat Goddard in the state team tournament first round, and it was the first team win in a state tournament since at least 2007, potentially the first in program history. This year, both teams won a state tournament match.
“You haven’t heard of any Española team in many years who have made it this far in state,” Olivia Suazo said after making the individual doubles semifinals.
The four-day state tournament started with the individual portion, where Suazo and Gallegos were Española’s only qualifiers, and they were the No. 3 seed as district champions. The two began playing together late in 2022, but had their best matches in the last two weeks.
“I saw that lightbulb go off, and how they came together,” Española assistant coach Lloyd Wilton said.
“It’s just a big mental game,” Gallegos said.
They easily handled business in the first round, winning 6-1, 6-0. And in the second round, the quarterfinals, they had only a slight push against a team from Grants, but won 6-4, 6-3.
Nancy Suazo lets the assistant coaches focus on coaching that doubles team, and prefers to watch her daughter play from off to the side.
The next day, in the semifinals, Española’s team faced off with the No. 2 seed from Albuquerque Academy. A long first game set the tone for the match, but Academy won 6-2 in the first set.
In the second set, Española went up a break early, and they led 3-1 and then 4-2. But Academy broke back, and then went up 5-4. Española won on serve at 5-5. But Academy closed out strong, winning the second set 7-5 to win the match. That team would go on to easily win in the final, 6-1, 6-2.
Gallegos and Suazo faced the tournament’s top seed, Goddard’s Williams/Williams, who were upset by the No. 4 seed (also a team from Albuquerque Academy). The two teams went back and forth in the first set. Española was up a break to 5-3, then Goddard broke back, but Española got another break to win the first set 6-4.
Entering the second set, though, Española struggled, and dropped 6-1. And they attempted to rally for the third set after a break, but Goddard won 6-2.
“It’s just a tribute to their hard work and their belief that they could make it that far,” Nancy Suazo said.
“I’m just hoping to come back next year and take it all,” Gallegos said.
Wilton said that when he started with the team in 2021, he set a goal to find four boys and four girls to form the core of a team. Instead, they found six for each, to form a complete and deep team.
“They made strides, leaps and bounds, from then to now,” Wilton said. “They played all summer, up to this point. That’s a cultural shift. They went from playing just for four months, to playing for 10 months.”
In the boys team tournament, Española entered as the No. 11 seed, but they felt confident about their chances. The year before, they were the No. 12 seed, and nearly beat No. 5, losing 5-4. And in comparing their Universal Tennis Ratings, the Sundevils seemed to have an edge, regardless of the seeding.
The team format features nine matches – six flighted singles matches and three doubles – in a best of nine.
That hunch turned out to be correct. The Sundevils won in all nine matches.
“As far as NMAA’s seeding, yeah, it was an upset,” Suazo said. “In terms of expectations the team, I would say it wasn’t an upset. Our district is one of the most difficult districts in the state. My boys being battle tested, it showed.”
They lost 6-0 to New Mexico Military Institute, a strong No. 3 seed that only lost 5-4 to No. 2 Santa Fe Prep.
And the Lady Sundevils fared even better. After finishing second in their district, they entered as the No. 6 seed. A first-round match against Bosque proved to be easy for Española, after years of losing in the first round if they made the tournament at all, a 9-0 win.
In the second round for just the second time in team history, Española faced No. 3 seed Artesia, and took them down to the wire. They won in 2 and 3 doubles, and in singles in the No. 4-6 singles flights, with the depth of the team leading to the win.
The match, with long battles, went deep into the night, past 9 p.m. after their day started at 11 a.m. and that was when Aubriana Garduno finished off a win in 5 singles. The team, with one other match still pending and everyone else watching the results, burst into emotion, and Garduno received a big hug from her coach.
In the semifinals the following day, the Sundevils yet again faced off with Robertson, the No. 2 seed and eventual state runners-up. Española could not quite match up with the Cardinals, and they lost the match 5-1.
The only two non-Española seed upsets across all team tournaments for 4A and 5A were No. 5 over No. 4 quarterfinals.
And the Sundevils will return. Olivia Suazo is a freshman, Gallegos a junior. 6 singles player Kadence Arrey, who was undefeated in that slot, is also a freshman. And all six players on the boys team figure to play another year as well.
“When you build a program, you want to see where you’re going,” Wilton said. “They’re doing all the work to make it happen. It’s really changed a lot of attitudes toward Española.”