Osceola left little doubt it is the top high school volleyball team in the county by defeating Tohopekaliga in straight sets, 25-22, 25-20, 25-10, to claim the 2022 Orange Belt Conference Championship Thursday.
The win lifted the Kowboys to 20-2 on the season, was their 13th straight match win and gave them a regular season sweep against Tohopekaliga (12-7), the 2021 OBC Champions. It was Osceola’s 16th Orange Belt Conference championship.
“Obviously winning the OBC Tournament was one of our team goals coming in to the season,” Coach Carrie Palmi said. “We’re maturing at the right time. I was a little disappointed that we let them back into the first two games, but give them some credit too, they were scrappy and did some good things defensively.”
Osceola led most of the first set, before Tohopekaliga won three straight points to take a 17-15 lead. But Osceola regained the lead on three consecutive kills by Kaitlyn Taylor to forge ahead 21-18. Although Tohopekaliga battled back, the game ended when the Tigers’ two final serves went long and Osceola held on for a 25-22 win.
Behind the stellar play of freshman Cate Palmi, the Kowboys broke open a tight 12-11 game in the second set by going on a 9-3 run. Palmi, who would finish the match with an unofficial game-high 20 kills, capped the run with a thunderous spike to give Osceola a 20-15 lead. The teams would trade points for the rest of the set, before Sophie Spivey would finish the Tigers off with a spike from the left side for the 25-20 win.
Set three was all Osceola, as they jumped out to a 5-0 lead to open the game and then would run off 12 of the next 15 points to build an insurmountable 17-3 advantage. Perhaps it was only fitting that Osceola’s match point came on another Palmi spike. In addition to her 20 kills, Palmi had three aces and block. Taylor finished with nine kills, Ahnika Johnson had six kills and three blocks.
Osceola played the match without senior backline defensive specialist Eimy Negron. The libero leads the Kowboys in both digs (301) and service aces (43). “We’re fortunate we have some depth behind her,” Palmi said. “But hopefully we’ll get her back soon.”
The Kowboys will close out the regular season with three challenging matches next week, hosting Timber Creek on Monday, Holy Trinity Episcopal on Wednesday before traveling to Lake Mary on Thursday. Timber Creek is 11-4 and ranked 8th in the state in Class 7A; Holy Trinity is 10-5 and Lake Mary is 8-7.
Tohopekaliga saw its six-match winning streak snapped. The Tigers were led by junior outside hitter Danna Aquilera with nine kills. Ileana Rodriguez had five kills and a pair of aces.
“We got ourselves back in to the first two games but when we lost both of them, I think it took the wind out of our sails,” Tohopekaliga coach Eric Capestany said. “They have a lot of talent on that side and you really have to keep your energy up against them or the games will get away from you.” He went on to say he was pleased with his team’s development this year. “We graduated a lot of talent last year and got off to a slow start. That said, we have come a long way since the beginning of the season. Only a few points separated these two teams in the first two sets.”
Tohopekaliga will close out its regular season with games at Harmony (Monday), and home contests against St. Cloud (Wednesday) and Southland Christian (Thursday).
On Wednesday, Osceola reached the championship match with a straight-set win over Gateway (25-17, 25-17, 25-20); while Tohopekaliga got to the finals with a four-set win over Harmony (25-17, 25-22, 18-25, 25-23). While the Kowboys were defeating the Tigers, the Longhorns were claiming third place in the OBC Tournament with a straight set win over Gateway (25-22, 25-15, 30-28).
In the lower bracket, St. Cloud claimed fifth place with straight set wins over both Poinciana (25-17, 25-17, 25-20) and Celebration (25-17, 26-24, 26-24). At least one coach of the teams seeded fifth through eighth expressed concerns their teams did not get to the chance to play for the conference championship with one or two upset victories. Points for volleyball won’t be counted in the overall OBC All-Sports Trophy race.
The Kowboys will host the 7A District 6 Tournament (Oct. 17-20). Harmony, Poinciana, and Tohopekaliga are in the same district as is perennial state power Lake Nona (9-4) and Cypress Creek. Celebration will play in the 7A, District 5 with several Orlando schools; St. Cloud is scheduled to participate in the 6A, District 7 tournament and Gateway will play in 5A, District 6 event.
