ALBUQUERQUE — The Las Vegas Robertson girls tennis team entered doubles play Saturday afternoon needing to win one more match to secure the program's first-ever New Mexico State Team Tennis Tournament championship.

That final point against No. 2 seed St. Michael's proved to be elusive.

"I was starting to get that nauseating feeling in my stomach," said Lady Cardinals head coach Juan Carlos Fulgenzi, who has watched his boys squad squander too many late leads in the finals.

The Lady Horsemen rallied back from the 4-2 singles deficit by winning both doubles at No. 1 and No. 2.

That left all eyes on the final match between Robertson's seniors, Elise Almandarez and Giavonna Laferriere and the St. Michael's duo of Renee Rivera and Stacy Martin.

"We were excited to be out there for our team, but at the same time it was a little nervewracking," Laferriere said.

The Lady Cardinals were able to shake off their nerves enough to win 7-6, 6-4 to set off a wild celebration on Albuquerque Academy's court No. 3 that culminated in a bath for Fulgenzi.

Meanwhile, St. Michael's head coach Vladimir King carted off the second-place trophy for the fourth consecutive season.

"I've got four reds," he said. "But I still want a blue. That means I'm going to have keep coaching."

For awhile it looked this was going to be the year that he would get that coveted championship after the Lady Horsemen rallied.

"I knew that was going to happen," King said of the comeback. "We had the same thing happen in district. I knew we had a good chance. We always fight in the state tournament."

On this day, however, the final fight belonged to Cardinals.

"That's amazing for me," LaFerriere said. "We were able to do this as seniors."

The match, and the state championship, turned when LaFerriere and Almandarez pulled out a white-knuckle tiebreak in the first set.

"Winning that first set is so important, especially with girls," Fulgenzi said. "Especially with that match on the line, getting that first set makes it so much easier."

The Lady Cardinals pair felt confident going into that tiebreaker.

"We started off it good and strong," Almandarez said. "We just got after it."

Not that Rivera and Martin succumbed easily in the second set. After falling behind 3-0, they roared back to knot it at 4-all. But that's as close as St. Michael's was to come.

"They're a little upset," King said of his squad. "But I thought they played fantastic. When we last played Robertson, they beat us 8-1."

Still, the final score didn't matter to Fulgenzi as long as the Cardinals came up with the necessary five points.

"We got here," he said. "This is just big for us. It's big for the school. It's big for the community. Our school and community came together. I'm grateful that our administration lets us play the schedule that we have."

Other area schools didn't fare quite as well as the St. Michael's boys lost in the semifinals to eventual champion New Mexico Military Institute and the Los Alamos boys lost to Farmington.

The Lady Hilltoppers dropped a 5-3 decision to Albuquerque Academy in the semifinals.