Osceola Sweeps Harmony to Capture Class 7A, District 7 Volleyball Championship, Next Up... Regionals!

By: J. Daniel Pearson
Positively Osceola
Published 10/17/2025

Osceola continued its dominance over county opposition on Thursday night, rolling to a straight set win over Harmony (25-16, 25-13, 25-18) to capture the Class 7A, District 7 championship.

As top seed, Osceola received a first- round district tournament bye and reached the finals with straight set win over Celebration on Tuesday.

“I thought we were a little flat to start the match and to tell the truth a little flat all night,” Coach Carrie Palmi said. “Give Harmony some credit, they made some plays and were pretty scrappy all night. Still, it’s now win or go home time so I would like to start seeing us play our best from this point forward.”

Thursday’s final was never in doubt, as the Lady Kowboys jumped on top early in the first two games and glided to easy wins. Harmony would rally in the third set, briefly leading and later forcing Osceola to take a timeout after rallying from five down to close the gap to 14-12 in the third set. But behind the play of Jordin Southall, the Lady Kowboys pushed the lead back to four and held on for the win.

Southall finished the match with nine kills to go with six aces, Cate Palmi had 15 kills and Delaney Webb added 47 assists for Osceola, but it was the play of sophomore middle hitter Brooklyn Sippio (10 kills) that caught the eye of Palmi. “Brooklyn has improved so much from her freshman year but has really made an impressive leap this season,” Palmi said. “She is attacking with a lot more confidence and has become a valuable part of our arsenal.”

It was Osceola’s 31^st consecutive win over county opposition, dating back to a five-set loss to Tohopekaliga in October of 2021. During the current winning streak, the Lady Kowboys have won 93 of 97 games.

Harmony dropped to 12-11 on the season and will have to wait to see if it holds on to its current number eight regional ranking which would garner them an at-large bid to the state tournament. If that happens, they will face #1 region seed Osceola in a Region 2 quarterfinal next Wednesday.

“Really proud of the effort and energy our players displayed tonight,” Longhorns coach Ryan Kading said. “Our goal at the beginning of the season was to get back to the state tournament. Although we have had some injuries this season (most notably All-County outside hitter Samantha Vickers who has missed most of the season with an ankle injury), we have had several young players step in and have productive seasons.”

As for whether they will have a rematch with the Longhorns, Palmi was philosophical. “If given a choice, I would like to see a different team, but it is something you can’t control. Whether it is Harmony or not, we will have our work cut out for us in this region,” Palmi said. “This region is stacked with four of the top 10 ranked teams in Class 7A. Fortunately, we secured home court advantage throughout regionals and it will be nice to have our fans behind us.”

If they advance past the quarterfinals, the Lady Kowboys will most likely have to navigate through Jupiter (19-4, 7A #6 ranked), Olympia (19-4, 7A #7 ranked) and/or Vero Beach (18-4, 7A #10 ranked) in order to reach a Final Four for the third time in four years.

Last year, Osceola won its region and advanced to the state semifinals where they lost in four sets to eventual state champion Winter Park – who is ranked number one in the state this year. Those teams met in the final regular season match this year at Winter Park, where the Wildcats won a hard-fought five-set match (25-21, 25-10, 24-26, 22-25, 16-14).

“I think we have proven that we can play with any team in the state,” Palmi said. “But we have to take it one step at a time and that starts with next week’s regional quarterfinal.”

In other action involving Osceola County teams, Gateway will advance to the Class 5A Region 2 tournament. The Panthers (17-5) punched their ticket on Thursday night with a 25-19, 23-25, 25-19, 25-20 win over second-seeded Lake Wales.

Currently seeded sixth in Region 2, the Panthers most likely will open on the road.

District Volleyball Results

Class 7A, District 7

Quarterfinals

Celebration def. Toho (25-20, 25-14,23-25,22-25, 15-12)

St. Cloud def. Poinciana (25-8, 25-16, 25-15)

Semifinals

Osceola def. Celebration (25-10, 25-12, 25-8)

Harmony def. St. Cloud (25-22, 25-12, 26-24)

Championship

Osceola def. Harmony (25-16, 25-13, 25-18)

Class 5A, District 7