Centennial volleyball player Tess Fuqua signs with Arizona

LAS CRUCES - Tess Fuqua has been among the top five volleyball players in New Mexico for most of her career.

As a result, the Centennial senior and last year's Gatorade Player of the Year, is one of the school's first two athletes to sign with a Power 5 program. Fuqua signed with Arizona and Hawks baseball player Steven Milam has signed with LSU.

"Now I have my future set and now I'm just planning forward and seeing what things have for me over there, said Fuqua, who committed to the Wildcats last November and also had Division I offers from UNLV and Lamar. "Obviously I finished my chapter here. It's a new chapter I'm starting there and I'm very excited about it."

Arizona head coach Dave Rubio discovered Fuqua previously through club volleyball, but it also did not hurt that his brother, former New Mexico State assistant, Keith Rubio, coached her club team for the last month of the summer.

"The coaching staff is very supportive towards their players," Fuqua said. "They are competitive and set their players with the mind set that we play to win and I love that because I'm very competitive. The teammates were very welcoming. ... It just made me feel like that was my home."

Fuqua was named the Gatorade Player of the Year her junior season and she has played in two state championship matches, leading Centennial to the 2020 state championship. 

"I think she's right there as the best players I've ever had," Centennial volleyball coach Al Rosen said. "I've only coached two Gatorade Player of the Year and she's one of them.

"I think it comes down to the intangibles for her. She's maybe not as tall as some of the players at that level and she needs to get stronger physically and she's been working on that. I think she has all of the skills for sure."

Fuqua said serve receive and passing has been a focus for her since committing to Arizona, where she will play outside hitter in college. She hit .324 with 6.9 kills per set her senior season.

"I think this year was definitely one of the hardest years having a lot of younger girls who stepped up," said Fuqua, whose team was seeded No. 4 in the Class 5A state tournament. "Having to be a leader myself. It was my final year and I have had past very successful years and I didn't want my last year to not be successful."

Jason Groves can be reached at 575-541-5459 or jgroves@lcsun-news.com. Follow him on Twitter @jpgroves.