Freshman Cate Palmi had 19 kills, and senior Kaitlyn Taylor added 12 more as the top-seeded Osceola Kowboys took care of Wellington in straight sets Wednesday in 25-12, 25-14, 25-19 fashion to advance to the FHSAA Class 7A regional semifinal.
Osceola (24-4) will now host Jupiter (19-5) Saturday, after their straight-set win over Fort Pierce Central. As top-seed in the region, Osceola will host the match on Saturday with an 11 a.m. tentative start time (check back here or our social media for updates).
“It’s never easy, but I thought we prepared ourselves for the post-season by playing a pretty tough regular season schedule and obtained the No. 1 seed,” Osceola coach Carrie Palmi said. "We were prepared, we certainly did not take them lightly and played a pretty solid match tonight.”
Osceola dominated from the opening serve, jumping out to leads of 16-7 and 20-14 in the first set as Palmi had six kills and two aces. The second set was even more lopsided, Osceola grabbed a 11-5 lead and then used a 7-0 run to extend the lead to 20-6. With several Kowboy reserves entering the game, Wellington went on a 5-0 run top cut the lead to 20-12; but Osceola quickly regained form and closed out the game with 5-2 run.
Taking advantage of some lackadaisical play on returns, Wellington finally came alive in the third set building leads of 9-5 and 12-6. But Osceola regained the serve, defensive specialist Isa Echevarria held serve for seven straight points as the Lady Kowboys regained the lead 14-12. Freshman Sophie Spivey played a key role in the rally, recording three straight kills during the run.
“Not sure whether we relaxed or let our guard down but we were a little sloppy to start the third set, but Isa and Sophie certainly gave us a lift,” Palmi said. “Sophie did a great job on the right side. She started working the areas we wanted her to attack and it certainly sparked us. Isa being able to serve seven points in a row was also a big key.”=
Wellington would battle back and take a 16-14 lead, but a 6-0 run put the Kowboys back on top as they closed out the match. Palmi and Taylor both had big games in the third set as Taylor posted five kills and a block at the net for a point and Palmi had eight kills including the one to end the match.
The Jupiter Warriors have won 44 of their last 50 matches and were the Class 7A state runner-up last year with a 25-1 record.
“From this point on, every team you face is going to be really good,” Palmi said. “We haven’t seen them this year, but they haven’t seen us either, so there is no real advantage. There is so much film out there, we will study their games and come up with a game plan for them.”
The regional finals are scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 2.
