By:  J. Daniel Pearson

Playing without one of their star players, Osceola still left little doubt that they were the best volleyball team in the county– sweeping past Harmony in straight sets (25-11, 25-20, 25-18) to win their third consecutive Orange Belt Conference championship on Thursday night.

With standout junior Jordin Southall being held out as a precautionary measure after injuring her leg in Tuesday’s semifinal win over Gateway, it became the Cate Palmi Show as the two-time Osceola County Player of the Year dominated the match from start to finish.

The University of South Florida commit posted 30 kills in the match – nine more than the entire Harmony roster recorded on the night.   Palmi got off to a fast start in the first set, accounting for Osceola’s first four points on kills.  She would finish the set with 11 kills as the Kowboys jumped out to a big lead and cruised to the win.

It was more of the same in second set as Osceola again built a big lead, but some sloppy ball handling and four kills from Samantha Vickers allowed Harmony to climb back in the set at 17-16.  Still they could not close the gap any further, as Brooklyn Sippio (four kills, two blocks) and Palmi (10 kills) came up with big plays down the stretch as Osceola pulled out a five-point win in the set.  

Harmony managed to stay close for most of the third set, until Palmi took over again.  With Osceola holding a 17-16 lead, the junior served up five consecutive aces as Osceola extended to 22-16. Sippio would come up with a couple of blocks as the Kowboys closed out the set and match.

“Overall, I thought we responded really well with Jordin out of the lineup,” Osceola coach Carrie Palmi said. “We spend a lot of practice time moving players around in practice in case we do have an injury or have a player missing, so I had a lot of confidence that the rest of the team would step up without her.”

One of the players that stepped up was Sophie Spivey, who replaced Southall in the starting lineup and finished with seven kills and an ace. “We asked her to play out of position and even though it wasn’t her favorite spot, she responded,” Palmi said about Spivey.

Overall, it was a totally dominating tournament week for the Kowboys – who pushed their season record to 18-4 and swept all three opponents in straight sets — outscoring their opponents 225-116.

Harmony was led by Samantha Vickers (8 kills) and Kiera Alexander (6 kills); Allyson Godwin had four kills, a block and an ace.  The Longhorns fell to 11-2 on the season, with both of their losses coming to Osceola. In the OBC third place game contested earlier, host Tohopekaliga rallied for a five-set win over Gateway.

The regular season comes to an end next week, with Osceola playing road games with The First Academy (10/7) and Holy Trinity Episcopal Academy (10/8) before wrapping up at home with Spruce Creek (10/10).  Harmony will play in a tournament this weekend, before concluding its season with matches against Lake Nona, Melbourne and East River next week.

With the Class 7A, District 7 Tournament basically a repeat of the OBC Tournament (Celebration, Harmony, Osceola, Poinciana, Tohopekaliga and St. Cloud), the next seven days will be critical for the Longhorns as they try to build a resume for a potential at-large regional berth.

Osceola will be favored to win out in the regular season and will also be heavy favorites to sweep districts, but Coach Palmi said her team would continue to stay focused regardless of the competition.  “Our last week of the regular season and district tournament may not provide us with the strongest competition as we get ready for regionals, but we can’t worry about that,” the veteran coach said.  “That is why each practice for the next two weeks is going to be vitally important for us.  We need to prepare for what we are going to see in regionals, study film and understand things are going to be a lot tougher once regionals start.”