On Aug. 28, Basilica School made the short trip across town to face the Lady Conchs of Key West High School. Last season, the junior varsity teams matched up and the Mariners came out on top. This season, the Lady Conchs were unstoppable, winning in three sets, 25-11, 25-15 and 25-15.
Despite the score, Key West head coach Kim Butler had some concerns about her team’s overall play style. “It wasn’t very pretty,” she said. “We didn’t play our best. We let them dictate the tempo.”
Butler was happy to come away with a win and was pleased with the performance of a trio of juniors. Audrey Smith remained steady and helped lead the team to a win with 10 kills and no errors, racking up five aces against the Mariners. Cat Van Staden had three kills with a .429% hitting efficiency, and Molly McKnight was credited with 13 assists and 5 aces.
That would be Basilica School’s only match last week, but the Conchs played again on Aug. 30 against the 7A regional runner-up Bobcats of Boca Raton. Key West found themselves across the net from a much larger team, with a right side hitter standing 6’3” tall. The LSU-commit Bobcat was merciless against Key West, but Butler found positivity in the team’s 3-0 loss, saying it was “good for us to see that caliber of play and strive to be better.”
The Lady Fins fell to 1-3 after a loss to Florida Christian on Aug. 30. Marathon lost in three sets to the Patriots in Miami. The Fins will take on Westwood at home on Thursday, Sept. 5 in a game that was moved from later in the season, then University School on Sept. 12.
