Osceola and Gateway were each taken to five sets in regional volleyball quarterfinal play on Wednesday night with both advancing but in strikingly different ways.
Gateway, the No. 5 seed in Class 5A, Region 2, had to fight off a match point before disposing of No. 4 seed Satellite in come-from-behind fashion, 25-16, 21-25, 16-25, 25-17, 19-17.
Meanwhile, over at Osceola, the Kowboys (Class 7A, District 6) ended up in a deciding fifth set with cross-town rival Tohopekaliga, before dominating that game and coming away with a 25-19, 25-12, 20-25, 18-25, 15-0 win.
The victories advance both teams into Saturday’s regional semifinals. The Panthers (18-8) will travel to Merritt Island to take on Region 5A-2’s No. 1 Mustangs (21-6). Osceola (22-6), the No. 2 seed in 7A-2 will host No. 3 Olympia at 5 p.m. The Titans (22-6) also went to five sets Wednesday night before eliminating Windermere.
In Wednesday’s action, Gateway cruised to an easy nine-point win in the first set -- only to see Satellite rally back to win the second and third sets. The Panthers would regain their composure to win the fourth and force a fifth and deciding set.
The Panthers victory came in large part to the outstanding play of freshman outside hitter Ivana Reyes. She finished the night with 19 kills, including putting the ball down on back-to-back plays to end the match.
Down 16-15 and facing a match point, Panther junior Kailyn Paulino kept the match alive with a kill from the left side. That resulted in two lengthy rallies with Reyes ending both on spikes from the right side as the Panthers prevailed.
“At the end of the day, I think we just wanted it more,” Gateway coach Jareliz Hernandez said. “Ivana was dominant all night for us but really turned it on at the end of the fifth set. We played with a lot of passion and energy tonight.”
In addition to Reyes, several other Panther players had big games for Gateway. Paulino finished with 12 kills, Aniyah Radcliff had seven and Libero Amanda Cruz had three service aces and led the team in digs.
Satellite was led by Ava Bray with 12 kills and two blocks; McKenna Burr eight kills, five blocks and four aces.
Meanwhile, Osceola appeared to be cruising to an easy win over Tohopekaliga—a team they swept 25-12, 25-21, 25-14 just three weeks ago in the Orange Belt Conference championship game. But after dominating the first two games, the Kowboys fell flat in Game 3 and saw their woes continue in the fourth set.
“You’re going to get everyone’s best efforts this time of the year, and I think we got a little complacent after winning the first two sets,” Osceola Coach Carrie Palmi said. “Give Tohopekaliga a lot of credit though, their seniors were ready to battle and their coaches made some really smart adjustments against us. We weren’t playing with a lot of emotion after the second set and unfortunately it carried over to game four. But we were able to regroup and our players simply did not want to see the season end that way.”
Palmi added that she “was amazed at the hustle and determination” her squad displayed in the fifth set and she never recalled coaching or seeing a 15-0 fifth set in all her years. Offensively, the Kowboys were led by their sophomore leaders Cate Palmi (28 kills, 13 digs, 3 blocks) and Jordin Southall (16 kills, 15 digs). Senior Alex Liggeri had 51 assists and 10 digs.
“The one thing about our team this year is that we always seem to play our best against the better opponents and we will definitely get that against Olympia,” Palmi added. Osceola, winners of four straight and 11 of their last 12 matches, will be looking to get back to the regional finals for a second straight year.
