By Tracy McDonald
Coral Shores hosted a preseason volleyball tournament on Aug. 15, allowing three of Monroe County’s four teams to work out their rotations and prepare for the upcoming season. All three teams took advantage of the opportunity to get in some good work before the scores count toward their official records.
Key West coach Kim Butler found success for her Lady Conchs with wins against Coral Shores, Marathon and South Homestead. In their first test, Key West found themselves on the wrong side of the scoreboard, but quickly rectified their initial mistakes to come out on top. “We came out shaky,” Butler said. “It was 19-7 before we evened out and shook off the nerves and were able to build momentum into the next two sets.”
Once she got rolling, nothing was going to stop Reese Haggard. The senior setter served up 6 aces against South Homestead, earned 4 assists against Marathon, then added 13 against Coral Shores. Conch hitters Audrey Smith and Gabby Garcia were killing it on the court, quite literally. Smith registered 20 over the course of the tournament, hitting as high as .429 against Marathon. Garcia killed 20 and hit .571 against Coral Shores. Adriana Heinrichs killed 4 against Marathon, proving Key West’s hitters have strength and depth, a crucial piece of the puzzle for any team with hopes of making a run into the postseason.
Butler also praised Molly McKnight, who shared time at setter, finishing with 7 assists in the tournament. Sunisa Kuhn was fantastic on both sides of the game. The Conchs’ libero, a position typically played by a defensive specialist, served 100% in the Coral Shores match.
“Overall, I was very happy with their resiliency, and our serving was at 92% and team hitting efficiency was not bad at .230,” Butler said. Key West opens its regular season with a pair of games against Marathon at home on Aug. 22 at 5 p.m.
Marathon stood their ground against fierce competition, leaving a positive season outlook despite landing in the losing column for their preseason matches. The Fins won a set against Coral Shores and came close against Somerset South Homestead, losing 25-22 and 25-23.
Coach Kelley Cruz was feeling positive about her upcoming season, saying, “I feel very confident in our team’s capability. We had a very good showing on the court. We played well in all the different rotation variations that we tried. We have a few things we still need to iron out as expected, but overall, I have a good feeling.”
It’s no surprise that Daysi Williams was a standout at the net for the Fins. As a freshman, the now-junior was a state medalist in high jump, and coupled with her height, Williams has everything it takes to be a wall for Marathon. Cruz praised her all-around athleticism, saying, “she performed well under the pressure of playing with more seasoned players. She had blocks against all teams, had kills on all teams and aces on all teams. She even had digs while she was playing in the back row during serving.”
Also strong for the Fins was Mackenzie Budi, who gained the utmost respect from Somerset’s head coach, who described her relentless performance as “nasty” – a compliment, Cruz specified, adding, “She was all over the court, recovering hard hits and covering blocks on our side.”
Cruz felt her team is headed in the right direction. “The biggest takeaway from the tournament is that their hard work is paying off,” she said. “Their off-season work in open gym and attending camps over the summer showed.”
Cruz and the Lady Fins didn’t need to wait long to find out whether their glimmers of greatness will shine bright in the regular season; they opened against the yet-untested Mariners of Basilica School on Aug. 19 in Key West. (RESULT GOES HERE IF ALEX CAN GET IT.)
Coral Shores head coach Sam Ovalle was busy both coaching his team and running the tournament, two jobs that can be challenging by themselves. Together, the tasks presented a time-consuming start to the ’Canes’ season. Ovalle was happy with his team’s performance last week, especially given that his senior-heavy crew from 2023 left some big shoes to fill.
He was particularly pleased with a trio of hard hitters in sophomore Celene Walker and seniors Lily Goodrich and Grace Leffler.
“The girls did really good,” he said, adding that the preseason nature of the tournament allowed for a lot of substitution and position shifts to help determine who fit best where. “We love the preseason. Everyone plays and we can make some adjustments as they are needed.”
Two players who were already solid in their positions are juniors Ivy Tiedemann and Shelby Lynn, who were steady at the setter position. “I appreciate the setters,” Ovalle said. “Without good play from them, nothing will happen.” Tiedemann and Lynn were also praised for their serving in the tournament, along with senior Abigail Bergeron. The three make a force from behind the baseline, as the team’s most accurate servers. “All three had aces,” Ovalle said.
The Hurricanes bested Marathon in their match and showed some grit against Somerset and Key West, winning crucial points in both matches and one set against Somerset. And though the team is undergoing a slight rebuild, Ovalle was forward-thinking enough to spread out playing time last season in preparation for the loss of his seniors, making it a bit more like a reloading season.
The final piece for the Lady ’Canes will be for the team to begin to gel as a unit, something Ovalle saw begin to happen this summer with many of his athletes playing travel ball together and now playing for Coral Shores. Their unity and skills were put to the test on Aug. 21 in Miami against the Stallions of Somerset Silver Palms. Their first home match of the regular season is the following day against Westwood Christian at 5:30 p.m.
