By Rick Pedone
Sports Editor

The district volleyball tournaments begin next week as local teams try for a berth at the state tournament, which will be held at Osceola Heritage Park Nov. 18-19 for Class 7A schools.

All of the county’s large high schools will compete at either St. Cloud in 7A-6 or Poinciana in 7A-5.

Osceola, 18-6 and on a roll, is the top-seed at the 7A-5 tournament and drew a first-round bye.

The tournament begins Tuesday when No. 4 East Ridge plays No. 5 Liberty at 5 p.m. Gateway, No. 3,  plays the host Lady Eagles, No. 6, at 7 p.m.

In the semifinal round Wednesday, Osceola meets the East Ridge Liberty winner at 5 p.m. Lake Minneola, the No. 2 seed, plays the Gateway-Poinciana winner. The championship begins Thursday at 5 p.m.

Tickets are $6.

Osceola avenged an earlier loss to Harmony with a five-game victory (14-25, 22-25, 25-21, 25-17, 15-11) at the Kowboys gym Tuesday.

“My girls started slow, but then ended up playing amazing,” OHS Coach Carrie Palmi said.

The team wrapped up the regular season by beating Cypress Creek Wednesday

Harmony, 17-8, is the favorite in 7A-6. The Longhorns have won consecutive district championships and return an experienced lineup that has designs on the state tournament.

The No. 1-seed Lady Longhorns meet No. 4 Oak Ridge Tuesday at 5 p.m. at the St. Cloud gym. The host No. 2 Lady Bulldogs play Celebration at 6:30 p.m.

The winners meet for the championship Thursday at 6:30 p.m. The district champion and the runner-up both advance to the regionals, which start Nov. 1.

Harmony simply got outplayed by OHS, Coach Eric Trowbridge said.

“We never  make excuses for our losses. OHS did a great job defensively starting midway through the second game and we let them get some momentum and it carried them through,” he said.

Still, the Lady Longhorns are a confident team.

“We are not concerned one bit,” Trowbridge said. “We have to get some players healthy and some rest and then continue working on achieving our third straight district title. Hopefully, we will get another shot at OHS down the road.”