By Danny Summers at the Gazette
Seth Fuqua’s memorable prep basketball career came to an end this month when his Vanguard team came up short against Manual in the Class 3A state championship game.
But Fuqua’s athletic career at the school continues as a setter for the Coursers’ boys’ volleyball team.
Boys’ volleyball is not a CHSAA sanctioned sport, though it is in its first year as a pilot sport and is expected to be a CHSAA sport by 2022. Boys’ volleyball is played at the club level. Vanguard is the three-time defending 3A state champion.
The Vanguard volleyball team has not lost a game against a 3A school in three years. There are 58 3A teams this season.
Fuqua’s had relatively no transition from basketball season to the volleyball court. He and his teammates played Manual for the state title on March 9. Two days later, he practiced with the Vanguard volleyball team and was starting at setter 24 hours later in its season-opening match.
“It was crazy,” Fuqua said. “I’ve been playing volleyball for five years, so it wasn’t that difficult for me, but I would like to have had a little more of a break.”
Brothers Carter and Decker Milroy are the other two Vanguard varsity basketball players who also play volleyball.
Fuqua is hoping to play basketball in college. At last check, he was still receiving offers from several schools, mostly at the NAIA level.
“It was awesome playing here,” Fuqua said. “I wouldn’t trade it for anything. My teammates. My coaches. I was really in the spot I wanted to be.
“We played with such heart. We came out of nowhere. My freshman year, we were awful, just above .500. And then my last three years, we just kept getting better.”
Vanguard was 73-24 in Fuqua’s four years.
His individual accomplishments are impressive by any standard. He ranks in the top 20 career in state history among all classifications in six categories: scoring (2,374 points, third), 3-pointers made (311, third), field goals made (816, sixth), scoring average (24.5, eighth), free throws made (431, 16th) and steals (219, 20th).
For a season, he scored the most points as a freshman in state history with 590 (25.7 points per game) and seventh all-time in scoring as a sophomore (571, 24.8 points per game).
In 97 career games, Fuqua scored double-digits points 96 times (he had one nine-point game). He scored 30-plus points 21 times, and 40-plus twice, with a career-high of 44 against Buena Vista as a sophomore.
In addition, he had 14 double-doubles and two triple-doubles. He once made 10 3-pointers in a game against Evangelical Christian Academy as a freshman, and nine 3-pointers against James Irwin as a sophomore.
He started at Vanguard since his freshman year and averaged more than 30 minutes per game during four seasons.
“It’s one of those things that when I look back on my high school basketball career, I will remember it for the rest of my life,” Fuqua said. “It’s cool that I’m in the top five all-time scoring in Colorado, and when I think about it now, it blows my mind.
“I give the credit to my dad and the coaches who have taught me to play. I just take what I’ve learned and practice it a million times and get good at it.”
