Story behind BBHS's record-breaking Fernanda Julian, heart 'n' soul of state championship volleyball team

December 12, 2024 at 12:21 a.m.

Blind Brook’s Fernanda Julian sets a ball during a regular season volleyball game against Tuckahoe. (Courtesy photo of EDL Photography)

In volleyball terms, dig she must, does and did—and nobody in Blind Brook history has ever done it better than senior Fernanda Julian, the Brazilian-born next level Bard College volleyball recruit who dabbled in figure skating, fencing and even judo-like Taekwondo in a nod to her Korean ancestry before she became the emotional heart and soul of Blind Brook High School's first ever state championship volleyball team.

And yet with every twist and turn the Lady Trojans’ record-breaking assist leader made during the past VB season like no other, buried deep in her subconscious was the fear that every game could be her last. Because she knew that every athletic move she made could mean game over for her. Because playing meant she could be digging her own grave, athletically-speaking, although nobody knows that but her.

That's how serious her back injury was and is.

The back and forth

And yet she still loves to dig and make the defensive plays where a player passes a spiked ball from low to the ground to the setter who needs to be able to set, block, dig, communicate, make quick decisions, their hands locked, using them like tennis racquets keeping the ball in play, volleying it back and forth over the net in an arcing choreography.

    Fernanda Julian poses with the Blind Brook volleyball team’s Sectional Championship trophy accompanied by her dad and mom, Wilson and Sandra Julian.
 Fernanda Julian   

And they dance that dance until a striker with the killer instinct rises high up over the net, soaring to meet the passed ball as though going up for a dunk to execute what is called a volleyball kill. That means that instead of dropping the ball through the net, basketball-style, they slam the ball down for the kill, hitting it is so hard it can't be blocked, and it hits the ground without being returnable.

Point taken, and the first team to reach 25 points wins the set; win three sets and the match is over.

That is the kind of VB ballet Julian wants to dance in and help choreograph while still being an integral part of the team, essentially functioning as its point guard, quarterback and coach on the court, assisting in any role she can play.

The painful role

And she doesn't care how much it hurts as long as she gets to play a role.

And she did. And it did hurt. A lot.

All that back and forth, accent on the back, caused her pain. And still does.

She was in a bad place physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually.

It was initially so bad, and the pain was so excruciating, that she had to take a months-long break from the sport she loved.

That break from volleyball froze her in time. Because she missed the game so much. And that pause almost derailed her Blind Brook varsity career before it ever really got on track.

But that delay of game, so to speak, was necessary for her health and mental well-being.

She got through it simply and not so simply because she couldn't stay away from the bouncing volleyball.

Because she couldn't stay away from the game, the court and the teammates she loved, she developed a stretching routine for her mind as well as her body.

It is a routine she follows before every practice and game she plays.

Looks are deceiving

Although you would never know it to look at her and see the smile on her face, the bounce in her step. But the pain is there. Always there. And has been there every day for the past three years.

    Team dog pile after Blind Brook won the game point vs. Westhill in the Class B state championship finals at Cool Insuring Arena in Glen Falls.
 Courtesy of Fernanda Julian   

In that time she has made three consecutive All-State volleyball teams—something no other Lady Trojan in school history has ever done before.

And in that time she has led the Trojans to three consecutive firsts even though each of them could have been her last.

Those firsts include Blind Brook winning two of the past three sectional titles as well as the school's first regional and state championship and Blind Brook's first state championship ever on her way to being named Player of the Year and inspirational captain and MVP of the Lady Trojans state championship team.

All the while being in pain every step and every school record-breaking assist of the way (and there were more than 2,000 career assists, 800 in this season alone with a high of 41 in one clutch, must-win or go home unforgettable state playoff game).

And it wasn't just a one-and-done game kind of pain.

The back story

All that pain dates back to September of her sophomore year.

"The worst thing that happened to me was also a turning point in my career because it was an injury that flared up in September of my sophomore year," Julian recalled. "My back started hurting and feeling weak, but I kept playing on it until I broke down in tears because of the pain during a club practice in February. I went to the doctor, and he told me that I had basically torn all my muscles and ligaments in the L5 area of my lower back. He removed me from all physical activity immediately without a return date and put me into physical therapy. I ended up being unable to play for almost three months. I would still go to practices just to help out where I could, until one day I couldn’t bear sitting on the sidelines watching my teammates on the court not knowing when I’d be able to get back to playing. I took a leave from volleyball for my mental health while I was injured. I was able to return, but my doctor told me that I would most likely have back pain for the rest of my life due to a prior nerve injury in my back. My back hurts every day, and it is rare for me to not feel any discomfort, but I have learned to deal with it in my daily life. This injury instilled a fear of re-injury in me, but I now have a specific stretch routine that I do before practice to minimize the pain that I feel and to prevent injury."

All of this leads into the story behind all she has accomplished as a Lady Trojan volleyballer par excellence.

It all started in her native Brazil, where she began her athletic career by following in her big sister's footsteps, learning the ABCs of various sports ranging from figure skating to fencing to a form of judo called Taekwondo, all leading up to volleyball, a sport played with joyously reckless abandon on the beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema as well as all over Brazil.

The athletic influences

"I’ve always been a pretty active kid, and I bounced around from figure skating, Taekwondo, and fencing to volleyball," Julian recalled. "My family and culture had a massive impact on my interest in sports. Whenever my older sister, Mariana Julian, started a sport, I wanted to do it too since I looked up to her. The only time that we did not do the same sport is when I did Taekwondo. I did Taekwondo because my maternal grandparents were both born in Korea and then went to Brazil to escape the war. My mom, Sandra Julian, wanted me to do Taekwondo because it is a Korean sport, and she wanted me to feel more connected to my culture. My whole family was born in Brazil, including myself, and volleyball is a massive sport there, so my mom signed up my sister and me for clinics to see if we liked it. I immediately fell in love and knew that this was going to be the sport I dedicated my life to. My dad, Wilson Julian, played squash when he was younger, but I wasn’t really interested because I’m bad at racquet sports. When I started playing, I looked up to Jenna Gray (former Stanford setter) for her high volleyball IQ, Morgan Hentz (former Stanford libero, libero being the team's best passer in the backcourt) for her hustle and grit, and Jordan Larson (4-time Olympic medalist) for her leadership."

After her family came to the United States and moved to Blind Brook, she found someone else to look up to in Lady Trojans volleyball guru and head coach Gina Carlone who picks up the back story from here.

"Fernanda's passionate attitude, coupled with her unwavering belief in continual improvement, sets her apart as a rare and invaluable asset," Carlone said. "Throughout her tenure as a volleyball athlete, spanning from freshman year to her senior year captaincy, Fernanda has consistently demonstrated an exemplary work ethic and a remarkable ability to inspire her peers (17 of whom made various postseason All-Star All-Section and All-League teams following this wondrous state championship year). She achieved her 2,000-assist milestone at the state tournament. ... Her dedication has shown success on the volleyball court including: 2021: All-League; 2022 (including Player of the Year): All-League, All-Section, All-State Third Team; 2023: All-League, All-Section, All-State Fourth Team; 2024: All-League, All-Section, All-State First Team (the high-scoring Rosenfeld twins—juniors Oriah and Ella—also made the All-State Team in an unprecedented Blind Brook trifecta).

    Ella Rosenfeld poses with her All-Tournament team plaque, Fernanda Julian with the Class B MVP plaque and Oriah Rosenfeld with her All-Tournament team plaque after Blind Brook won the Class B State Volleyball Championship in Glens Falls.
 Courtesy of Fernanda Julian   

"Along with that she inspired her teammates to achieve the school’s first Volleyball Section Championship title in 2022 and then the school’s first girls’ state title, the Class B State Championship in 2024," Carlone continued. "I commend her commitment to excellence and am confident that she will continue to exhibit the same level of dedication and diligence in her college career..."

But college is next year, and Julian hasn't yet graduated from Blind Brook and is making the most of her time remaining even while enjoying what Lady Trojans volleyball has meant to her.

The way it was

"I took my first volleyball lesson when I was 8 years old, and when I started playing club volleyball in 6th grade, I was a setter," she recalled. "I played as a setter for three club seasons before being a libero for two club seasons, and then later going back to my roots as a setter. During my freshman year, I did not want to be a setter, I only wanted to be a libero. I went on to realize that although it wasn’t what I wanted to do at the time, it was what I had to do to help the team. I fell back in love with setting, and my favorite thing to do is to set up my hitters. I ended up getting over 800 assists this season, and I have ended my time here at Blind Brook with over 2,000 assists and a school record."

But a lot has happened in between.

"Throughout my four years on Blind Brook Varsity Volleyball, I have grown as a player, and as a person," she said. "I have learned to give myself some room for error and to aim for excellence rather than perfection. I have been dedicated to this program, leading my teammates by example by never giving up on a point and always playing to win."

Unwinding from the grind

She has found different ways to unwind from the grind.

"I like to come home and just lay on the floor next to my dog, Monty, petting him and reflecting on my day. I also like to journal to get out all my emotions and to express my gratitude," she said. "Some of my friends and I started a little thing right before sectionals where if the team won, we would go and get dinner afterwards to celebrate the win. We got dinner after sectionals, regionals, and we have our celebratory states dinner planned."

And then there are also the game films and what she calls "adventures."

"Although I do it to improve my playing, I also watch back our games for fun, especially if it was a really fun and competitive game," she said. "And I go on 'adventures' as we call it with two of my teammates where we get food and just hang out with each other. I also like to spend a lot of time with my friends. We’ll go to one of our houses, watch a show or movie and just stay up until the early hours of the morning talking about anything and everything."

That girl talk goes well beyond diet, fashion, hairstyles, body image, classes, teachers and college choices.

"My senior year’s been pretty tough academically because of Calculus and AP Psychology, but I still enjoy it," Julian said. "My favorite classes this year are AP Italian Language and Culture, Forensics, and even though it is challenging, I really enjoy psych as that is what I intend to major in in college."

And then there is keeping up with the latest happenings. " I see my teammates almost every day, and we still text each other on our group chats. We always have a team sleepover at the beginning of the season, and now we want to do monthly sleepovers so that we keep our bonds strong."

Road to title

This bonding made for a closely-knit team that played together and stuck together. And it showed as they went into the sectional championships as the number two seed to Valhalla, the team that beat them twice during the regular season. But they beat Valhalla when it counted most, winning the sectional final against them. And then it just kept going from there with the Lady Trojans winning out over Ichabod Crane to win their school's first regional title ever and then surviving a day of pool play where they beat Section 8's Oyster Bay and Section 4's Windsor but lost to Section 3's Westhill 2-1. But Blind Brook finished second in pool play at 2-1 to the Westies’ 3-0. That set up the title game the next day (Sunday, 11/24) for the Class B state title at Cool Insuring Arena in Glen Falls. And what happened next was unforgettable in every way.

"We stayed at the Queensbury Hotel where I shared a room with sophomore defensive specialist Georgianna Haas #6, and senior team manager Juliana Cardillo," Julian recalled. "It was a lot of fun because we got dinner on Friday night as a team in the hotel, we got celebratory dinner on Saturday night before going into finals with the whole team and families, and we got breakfast as a team on Sunday morning before finals."

But then the Westies took the first set in a best of three sets title match. And Blind Brook refused to fold in the next three do-or-die games, winning game, set, match with the scoreboard reading 19-25, 25-19, 26-24, 25-23, with just two points the difference between winning and losing in the final deuce.

    Fernanda Julian is captured in an artsy shot during a regular season game against Tuckahoe.
 Courtesy of Fernanda Julian   

"When the last ball hit the floor during finals, I was in disbelief. I’ve seen my friends from other schools win states, but I never thought that it would be something that I experienced," Julian recalled." I immediately broke down and started crying with my teammates because not only did we make history yet again, but I was never going to be able to play with them again. I have cried every day since because I love these girls so much, and it is so hard to say goodbye. The hardest thing for me to do was return my jersey. That one piece of clothing just holds so many memories and I’m a very sentimental person, so it was hard."

Besides volleyball…

Outside of volleyball, there is a lot more going on in her life.

"I really enjoy going to concerts with my sister and my friends," Julian said. "I am really passionate about music, and although my voice is always a bit raspy due to volleyball, I love singing my favorite songs with my friends. My friends who do not play volleyball always find a way to support me. After sectionals this year our team manager Juliana, me, and two of my best friends all went to get dinner to celebrate the win. I like to read books about mental health, watch TV shows like “Modern Family,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Criminal Minds,” and “Breaking Bad,” and the movies that I always find myself going back to rewatch are “10 Things I Hate About You” and “Pitch Perfect.”

And then, of course, there is college.

Commitment and goals

"I have verbally committed to further my athletic and academic career at Bard College," she said. “I feel like it is somewhere that I could really flourish as a student, an athlete, and a person. I want to always try my best to foster a loving and accepting team environment...and my career goal is to work in sports psychology so that I could always be working with athletes."