Osceola defeats Vero Beach in 3 sets in Region 7A-2 final; state tourney starts Nov. 8
For a second time in the last three years, Osceola is headed back to the FHSAA State Final Four in volleyball.
The Lady Kowboys earned that trip on Wednesday night by dispatching Vero Beach in straight sets, 25-22, 25-15, 25-23, to claim the Class 7A, Region 2 Championship.
The victory puts Osceola (24-4) in a Friday, Nov. 8 Class 7A state semifinal match at Polk State College in Winter Haven. The Kowboys will take on either Tampa Plant or Winter Park, based on rankings following the regional finals, at 4 p.m. Boca Raton is the other regional finalist and will play at 7 p.m. The 7A state championship game is set for 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 9.
“Plant (22-1) has been number one for most of the season but their one loss has been to Winter Park (26-1), so it will be interesting to see if they flip positions in the re-seed,” OHS Coach Carrie Palmi said. “Regardless, we are most-likely going to face one or the other in the semifinals. Both are great teams and will present a tremendous challenge.”
Osceola lost in three sets to Winter Park back on Sept. 25. Since then, the Kowboys have won nine straight matches without dropping a set.
“It always something you always hope for, but certainly something I was not expecting,” Palmi said about the Vero Beach sweep Wednesday. “They are a big, incredibly athletic team and although we were top seed, I anticipated a four or five set match. Fortunately, we were on our game tonight and kept our focus.”
The first set was a hard-fought affair that remained close early. But with the score tied 10-10, Osceola went on an 8-3 run to grab a five-point lead. The Indians took advantage of a couple of errors to close the gap to 23-21, but after a Vero service error, Cate Palmi’s thunderous spike put the first set away.
After grabbing a 5-2 lead to start the second set, Vero rallied back to make it a 10-9 game before Osceola went on a 11-2 run to take control and cruise to 10-point victory. Junior outside hitter Sophie Spivey keyed the run with four kills and an ace.
“She (Spivey) has been an important part of our team all year and certainly was again tonight,” Palmi said. “We liked the matchup she had on her defender thought we could take advantage of it. I probably should have played her more in the first set because of it.”
Osceola started off strong in the third set-- building leads of 6-1 and 13-6 -- but Vero would fight back behind the play of 6-3 sophomore hitter Ella Garvlee and senior middle blocker Maleah Mutterbuck. Two kills by Garvlee and two attack errors cut the Vero deficit to 15-12 and the Indians scored nine of the next 16 points –tying the match at 21-21 on a Yahya Johnson kill.
A service error gave the Lady Kowboys the lead for good and an incredible dig by Dari Bravo was followed by a Cate Palmi kill to make it 23-21. Vero cut the gap to one on a Johnson kill, but a Vero Beach return error was followed with another Palmi spike as Osceola closed out the match.
“Volleyball is such a game of momentum and we had it for the entire second set and first half of the third,” Carrie Palmi said. “But they took advantage of a couple of mistakes and did a great job of fighting back. Fortunately, we were able to fight them off each run and kept them from ever taking the lead. We had a great crowd here tonight and I think our kids fed off the energy they provided.”
Cate Palmi led the way with 18 kills, Jordin Southall had nine and Spivery contributed seven.
Osceola’s last trip to the Final Four came in 2021, where they lost a hard fought five-set match to Hagerty.
