The season is still young. But thus far, the Coral Shores Lady ’Canes volleyball team refuses to lose.
After defeating Basilica School 3-0 on Sept. 3, the team headed to Somerset South Homestead two nights later, looking to avenge their preseason loss and maintain their unblemished regular-season record. Coral Shores did just that, taking South Homestead down in four sets, winning 3-1 against a team that has quickly become one of their biggest rivals on the court.
“Many of our girls play club ball with most of their team, and a number play for their coaches in the offseason,” explained head coach Jarrod Mandozzi.
To make the rivalry even more intense, outside hitter Celene Walker played at South Homestead last year, making her first match playing in her former home gym wearing a Coral Shores uniform a memorable one.
“They’ve always got a crazy crowd and the acoustics in the gym make it so loud,” said Mandozzi. Walker was unfazed, however, and her maturity on the court made her coach proud.
“Not surprisingly, she stepped up huge and made an impact all over the court,” he said. “I especially loved to see the way she served the ball, finishing with 5 aces with all of the lights shining on her and the crowd making noise.”
Prior to the match’s start, Mandozzi had told his team that hustle and hard work can be contagious, but laziness can spread just as quickly. Ivy Tiedemann took those words to heart.
“She dove to the floor to keep a ball alive and was nearly in the stands for another one,” he said.
“When you have one of your setters making hustle plays like that, it really sets the tone, and she finished the night leading us in digs for the game.”
Walker, Sofia Jans, Abbie Bergeron, Shelby Lynn and Abby Vogt followed suit, and the collective desire of the team to out-hustle South Homestead made the difference between the teams’ preseason meeting and this one. Mandozzi praised them all for their unwillingness to let the ball hit the floor.
“Grace Leffler and Niveah Howard really stepped up to the challenge as they have all season so far and they were fantastic,” he said. “They did a lot more than just slowing the ball down – they had some huge blocks and really went right back at their hitters. Grace finished with a .529 hit percentage with 10 kills and 3 blocks and Niveah had a .364 hit percentage with 6 kills and 5 blocks.”
Coral Shores has a little over one month remaining in regular-season play, with district quarterfinals scheduled for Oct. 15.
Key West improved to 3-2 last week, picking up a win in Marathon on Sept. 5. The Conchs defeated the Dolphins in three sets, winning 25-18, 25-19 and 27-25.
“Our strong point was consistent serving,” said Key West head coach Kim Butler. “Our hitting percentage was down, and that was due to Marathon’s hustle, and we were not moving the ball around. The third set, they had us at 22-20, but we managed to claw our way out of it.”
Other high points for Key West were Reese Haggard’s two dozen assists. Haggard’s serves have been on the money of late, helping propel the Conchs toward a winning record. Also serving up a storm for the Conchs were Adriana Heinrichs and Sunisa Kunn, who stacked up 5 and 3 aces, respectively. Tess Wright and Audrey Smith combined for 13 kills against the Fins.
Key West will be facing tournament action this week, with a return to regular matches at home in Bobby Menendez Gymnasium on Sept. 26 when they go head to head against Coral Shores to determine the best team in the Keys this season. Both Coral Shores and Key West are thus far undefeated in county play, setting the stage for an epic match.
The Dolphins were no pushover against Key West, and the set scores indicate there is truth in what Marathon head coach Kelley Cruz has said the past few weeks: The Dolphins are getting better and better. Cruz credited the team’s ability to keep the games close to “defense and our smarter plays at the net.”
“The audience helped a lot,” she said. Marathon’s home crowd was electric last week, and they are sure to get a good show at their next home match on Sept. 16 against Coral Shores, a matchup that always proves to be exciting.
After a light week, playing just one match, the Dolphins will be busy this week, playing at NSU University School in Fort Lauderdale on Thursday, Sept. 12 before heading to a tournament in Key West over the weekend.
The 1-4 Fins will be using the following weeks to boost their power rankings, which play into district placements at the end of October. Marathon joined the 1A Rural division this fall, and though they have just one win, they have played against good competition, which factors into the ranking algorithm. The Dolphins currently stand second in their district, and will find out how they rank against their rural division counterparts on Oct. 18 in Moore Haven for the district tournament.
The Mariners of Basilica School struggled with their depth chart the past few weeks. Though the starting six are as strong as it gets, for a small school like Basilica, which already includes athletes still enrolled in middle school, the loss of a single player is challenging. Losing two makes things exponentially more formidable.
Against Key West late last month, the Mariners were without standouts Mackenzie Morris and Julia Jankovic. And though Morris is still on the injury reserve, Jankovic was back in the starting lineup last week, helping the Mariners pull ahead with a winning record.
“We noticed the instant improvement right away with her return to the court,” said coach Robert Wright.
Basilica lost against Coral Shores Sept. 3 when errors plagued their ability to get things going, but Wright righted the team’s miscues and things went better in the next two matches. The Mariners defeated Horeb Christian and Cushman on Sept. 6 and 7, winning both matches 3-0. Wright was pleased with the team’s performance in both matches.
“Gloria Slavic continues to be the heart of the team,” he said. Slavic is key to the team’s offensive system, and when the starting lineup is complete and she is not filling in the gaps, Slavic is a playmaker.
Jankovic is one of the team’s middle school starters, and her ability to hit and set gives her a dynamic quality crucial to the Mariners’ strategy. Fellow middle school athletes Olivia Revoredo and Umo Vogan lead the team in kills. Junior Kallisto Sims has been coming alive recently, as well, registering 8 kills against Cushman.
Basilica plays a variety of Miami opponents for the remainder of the month, then will close out their season with Marathon on Oct. 10 and a rematch against Key West in their final game of the season Oct. 12.
