By Rick Pedone
Sports Editor

Harmony began its quest for a Class 7A state volleyball championship Tuesday by beating Osceola, 26-24, 25-20, 25-18 in the regional quarterfinals at the Longhorns gym.

The Lady Longhorns, 20-8, travel to Lake Minneola, 17-4, Tuesday in the semifinal round. Lake Minneola beat St. Cloud, 25-16, 25-18, 25-19, to advance. The Lady Bulldogs finished 14-14.

Osceola, 19-8, split the regular-season series against Harmony and led late in both of the first two games before the Lady Longhorns used their depth on the front line to rally.

Marie Gilbert, who led Harmony with 14 kills, Alicia Palm and Kendall Pollack all came up with big hits, and middle hitter Nia Frederick was a wall on defense.

Setter Genesis Viera, one of the best in Central Florida, had 30 assists and freshman Alicia Trowbridge led a scrambling Harmony defense with 19 digs.

Coach Eric Trowbridge said that Harmony had to defend against Osceola’s outstanding senior hitter, Natalie McClain, after OHS won in five games against Harmony two weeks ago.

“We were fortunate that we had several days to prepare. We usually play a man-up defense, but we switched to a rotation and it seemed to work pretty well,” Trowbridge, who has guided Harmony to three consecutive district championships, said.

“They have a very good team, and (OHS Coach Carrie Palmi) did a good job of adapting after we dominated them in the first match.”

The winner of next week’s Harmony-Lake Minneola match advances to the regional final Nov. 12. Harmony would host.

That winner plays at the state tournament Nov. 18-19 at Osceola Heritage Park.