It was a rematch of last year’s Class 7A state semifinals, and the results were unfortunately the same for the Osceola.
Hagerty (11-4), ranked 6th in the state, edged the Lady Kowboys (11-5), 17-25, 28-26, 25-15, 23-25, 11-15 Monday in volleyball action.
After jumping out to an early lead to win the first set, OHS appeared poised to take a 2-0 lead in the match as they controlled the second game, building a 14-10 lead. Osceola kept it up and at one point led 23-20 with the serve. But Hagerty rallied back to tie the match. Osceola had set points at 25-24 and 26-25 but failed to put the game away. A hitting error gave Hagerty a 27-26 lead and then Abby Mas put the game away for the Huskies with a thunderous spike.
“In retrospect, that probably cost us the match,” Osceola coach Carrie Palmi said. “We were sort of cruising and they weren’t playing with a lot of energy. If we win that game I think it would have set us up for a possible sweep. Instead, the game slipped away and it looked like it drained all the energy out of our side.”
Hagerty jumped out to an 8-3 lead in the third set and dominated, winning it, 25-15. The teams battled for a 14-14 tie in the fourth set until Osceola used an 8-3 run to take a 22-17 lead. Hagerty fought back to cut the gap to 24-23, but on match point sophomore Mikayla Mathews came up with a huge block at the net to send the contest to a fifth and final set.
Neither team could manage more than a three point lead in the “Race to 15” final set and Osceola tied the set at 11-11 thanks a long serve and a ball handling error by Hagerty and a service ace by Cate Palmi. The Huskies would put the game and match away by scoring four unanswered points.
Osceola had outstanding performances from Cate Palmi and Jordin Southall. Palmi finished with 17 kills and three service aces; while Southall – a sophomore transfer from Lake Brantley – had 22 kills.
“You never want to say it was a good loss, but we faced a really good team on the road and took them to five sets,” Coach Palmi said. “But at the end of the day we made too many mistakes and too many unforced errors to come out on top.”
The match was the start of a busy week for the Kowboys. They host Apopka Tuesday, before traveling to Harmony (11-6) on Wednesday and then to Bishop Moore on Thursday. Bishop Moore will be another stern test for Osceola, as the Hornets (12-2) are ranked No. 2 in Class 3A. In addition to Osceola and Harmony, Tohopekaliga (10-2) have reached double digit wins halfway through the season.
