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She and partner Grace Vivian came in unseeded and lost in three sets to the top-seeded Fulgenzi cousins
By Arnie Leshin
From the tennis courts at Albuquerque Academy to the track and field complex at the University of New Mexico.
That’s what Santa Fe Prep 8th grader Isabel Voinescu has done after she and fellow 8th grader, Grace Vivian, came into the state doubles unseeded and took it all the way to the championship round.
After turning back the 2nd seeded seniors Taylor Walker and Jordan Franzoy of Mesilla Valley Christian in three sets, it was time for the finals, and if the Griffin youngsters were surprised, it was safe to say they earned it.
They stunned top-seeded Fulgenzi cousins, Lauren and Janese of Robertson, by winning the first set in a tiebreaker, but the Fulgenzis huddled and took the next two sets, 6-0 and 6-1, for the Fulgenzi family’s fourth straight doubles championship.
Done with that, Voinescu was now in the track and field state championships. She qualified in the 100 meters, long jump and triple jump.
In the century, she will have to contend with junior teammate Taylor Lincoln, in the long jump, Academy of Technology and The Classics senior Lilia Noger-Onstott, and in the triple, Noger-Onstott and Prep sophomore teammate Hayden Colfax.
She may not get to stand on the podium in these two days, but she’s got plenty of time, and who knows, maybe she will make the podium this weekend, for it can’t be forgotten how she and Vivian took their unseeded label to the finals.Vivian was not in the track and field competition.
In the semis, the Fulgenzi girls took out St. Michael’s Cameron Calabeso and Haley Garcia, 6-3, 6-1.
The 100 meter preliminaries will be raced today, with the finals Saturday. The long jump is also Friday, while the triple jump makes the scene Saturday.
Voinescu is a reminder of Colfax having qualified for six events (will do four plus the relays), because she, too, might be doing the same in the next four years.
