When a Feb. 12 match pitting Key West against Marathon was postponed, the Feb. 15 Coral Shores/Key West meetup became the first in-county match of the season. The Coral Shores boys team swept the Conchs 7-0 on Key West’s home court. In the first match, Hurricane Makani Burga defeated Nicholas Burnett of Key West 8-0. Aidan Althouse of Coral Shores defeated Nicholas Burnett 8-2. Johann Smith of Coral Shores and Shaun MacAlearney of Key West battled to a close 8-6 win for Smith. Erik Moerner from Coral Shores won against Key West’s Nate Bergh 8-0 and the ’Canes’ Corben Dean beat the Conchs’ Michael Grodzinski 8-3. In doubles action, Burga and Althouse defeated Pico and Burnett 8-2 while Smith and Moerner defeated MacAlearney and Bergh 8-4.
The Lady Conchs fared better in their matches, winning 4-3 overall. In singles play, Eva Drozdetskaya of Key West defeated Charlotte MacEachern 8-5, Coral Shores’ Olivia Hughes defeated Key West’s Gabriella Aguero 8-3, and the Conchs’ Amalia Strunk defeated Kai Guth of Coral Shores 8-1. Coral Shores’ Mary Cakans beat Zoe Gehin of Key West 8-4 and Hurricane Claudia Steling defeated Ally Ingold-Thompson of Key West 8-5. In doubles play, the teams split the wins, with Drozdetskaya and Aguero teaming up to defeat MacEachern and Hughes 8-3 and Guth and Cakans defeating the duo of Strunk and Gehin 8–3.
Marathon travels to Tavernier to take on Coral Shores Feb. 20, then the Fins hit the road to play against Key West Feb. 28 to complete the first round of in-county play.
