Osceola leads all-county volleyball team with 5 selections

  • Sophomore Kaitlyn Taylor (10), paced Osceola to a Class 7A FHSAA Regional Finals, is the Osceola News Gazette’s Player of the Year. PHOTO COURTESY OF OSCEOLA VOLLEYBALL
    Sophomore Kaitlyn Taylor (10), paced Osceola to a Class 7A FHSAA Regional Finals, is the Osceola News Gazette’s Player of the Year. PHOTO COURTESY OF OSCEOLA VOLLEYBALL

Osceola High School, which made a deep run in the FHSAA Class 7A Playoffs and went undefeated against county opposition, led all county schools by placing five players on the Osceola News Gazette’s All-County Volleyball Team for the 2020 season.
In addition, Lady Kowboys sophomore outside hitter Kaitlyn Taylor is the News Gazette’s Player of the Year.   The 14-member all-county team was selected from a combination of the All-Orange Belt Conference team, as well as recommendations from a select panel of coaches.
Osceola finished the season 17-9 and reached the Regional Finals, where they were eliminated by eventual state runner-up Lake Nona.
“Kaitlyn was certainly deserving of Player of the Year consideration,” Palmi said. “She was voted our team MVP and led the conference in kills. Although we have a young team, she played liked a veteran all season and certainly played a major role in getting us into the Elite 8 this season.”
Taylor finished the season with 311 kills, 163 digs, 23 aces and 17 solo blocks.
Joining Taylor on the All-News Gazette team was Liz Cartagena (Sr., Defensive Specialist), Ahnika Johnston (So., Middle Blocker), Yarelis Lopez (Jr., Outside Hitter and Emily Negron (So., Librero/Defensive Specialist).
Cartagena led Osceola with 508 assists, Johnston had 61 total blocks, Lopez contributed 239 kills and Negron led the team with 429 digs. Of the five Osceola members on the ONG’s All-County Team, only Cartagena is a senior.
Three seniors from St. Cloud were also named to the ONG’s All-County Team. Senior Jazmin Santiago, who received strong consideration for Player of the Year honors, finished the season with 150 kills, 27 blocks and 184 assists. Brooke Singleton (75 kills, 11 aces, 20 blocks, 185 digs and 59 aces) and Kaylee Tutor (153 kills, 231 assists, 194 digs) were also named to the team.
Ettie Singleton’s team had an outstanding season and finished at 15-3, but suffered a heart-breaking 22-25, 25-16, 20-25, 25-15, 15-17 loss to Viera in the first round of Class 6A, District 10 play.
Harmony, Celebration and Tohopekaliga rounded out the paper’s All-County team by having two players each named. Those players included Celebration juniors Evaisbel Davila-Morales and Paols Fregonezi; Harmony’s Autumn Rogers (Sr.) and Yulie Torres (So.); and Tohopekaliga’s Thanely Santos (Sr.) and Ariana Warner (Jr.).