DAVIE – Besides being sisters from the Hollywood Reservation, Mary-Sally Osceola and Xiya Osceola have something else in common that has helped drive the success of the NSU University School girls volleyball team.

University coach Corey Sarubbi talked about the Seminole sisters’ high volleyball IQ after the Sharks swept David Posnack Jewish Day School in a Class 3A-District 13 semifinal Oct. 19. He mentioned the IQ factor again the following day when the Sharks edged Westminster Academy of Fort Lauderdale, 3-2, in Davie to win their third consecutive district championship.

“They read the game really well,” Sarubbi said. “They make great decisions; they make quick decisions. They have a really good touch on the ball. At the end of the day, especially at the high school level, it’s all about ball control and limiting errors, and that IQ and that touch they have for the game helps us with eliminating a lot of errors.”

There wasn’t much room for error in the tightly contested championship match. With Xiya, a sophomore, leading the back row in the libero position – as she has done for two years – and Mary-Sally, a freshman, providing valuable versatility on offense and defense, the sisters helped the team win the first two sets. Westminster battled back to even the match at 2-2 before the Sharks prevailed in the winner-take-all fifth set by a score of 15-7. Mary-Sally provided three strong serves – including an ace – in the final three points that sealed the win.

“I was just focusing on getting it in,” she said.

Earlier in the fifth set, University began to pull away thanks to a kill by Chelsea Ventura on a set by Xiya that made it 5-2. The lead was extended to 9-4 on Xiya’s serve that ended with a kill by Hazel Alevok. 

Late in the first set, with Xiya serving, University won three consecutive crucial points to take a 24-20 lead. The Sharks won 25-21.  Xiya came through in the clutch again late in set two. Her two aces gave the Sharks a 23-13 lead and they went on to win 25-18.

Sarubbi praised the sisters’ decision-making in the match.

“They made really great decisions at the right moments. Their confidence was great tonight. They stayed level-headed,” he said.

The sisters, who are in their second season playing together on the team, provide leadership on the court and in the celebrations, too. As the team was in the midst of whooping it up after winning the district, Mary-Sally sprinted to the sideline, grabbed a sign from a parent that read “3 PEAT” and brought it back to the celebration.

When Paul Herfurth, University’s director of athletics, presented the district trophy to the team, it was Xiya who received it first and promptly hoisted it into the air in the middle of her cheering teammates with the home spectators, including their mom Tasha Osceola and grandmother Virginia Osceola, looking on.

Both triumphant scenes were examples of how much the sisters love the sport.

“They do a lot of training and play year round,” Sarubbi said. “They’re very competitive. You can tell that they play volleyball because they enjoy it. They bring that enjoyment to the style that they play on the court.”

University needed the victory in order to advance to the regional playoffs.

“We didn’t want our season to end. We’ve gone through a lot of ups and downs this season,” Mary-Sally said.

Indeed, the team lost a good chunk of last year’s roster to graduation. Claiming another district title as the team did in 2019 and 2021 was far from a sure thing. (There was no district playoff in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic).

“We basically had to rebuild our team again,” Xiya  said.

The 5-19 record in the regular season was a bit deceptive because of a strong schedule, but still somehow this team went from being shutout in its first three matches of the season and having a nine-game losing streak at one point to repeating as district champions.

“This year was more of mental toughness and confidence, like some of those intangibles. There’s not a blueprint for that and there’s not always the right practice plan for that, so it’s just staying after it and you hope they put it together at the right time and they did that,” Sarubbi said.

In the semifinal against Posnack, Mary-Sally sparked the team early with a bunch of aces to put University ahead 8-0 in the first set. The Sharks breezed the rest of the way to a comfortable win.

Mary-Sally is a left-handed server and hitter who contributes in many areas. 

“Mary-Sally is very versatile. She’s played a lot of positions for us. She’s set, she’s played a lot of defense and she’s played a lot for us in the front row now,” Sarubbi said.

When Mary-Sally is in the back row, the sisters are often next to each other awaiting opponents’ serves. Xiya is the team’s leader in serve receptions. She has thrived in the defensive specialist libero spot.

“Xi has been our libero since last year. It was a new position for her last year and she’s really taken ownership. She’s been excelling on a daily basis,” Sarubbi said.

“I used to play outside. I’ve always been better at defense, so I enjoy it,” Xiya  said.

Volleyball is the sisters’ No. 1 sport. Having a net set up at home helped spark their interest. They play on club teams. They’ve dabbled in basketball, but volleyball is their primary athletic focus, so much that they traveled nearly 5,000 miles to help improve their skills. They went to Hawaii for a volleyball camp this year.

“It was a really good experience. We met new people from all over,” Mary-Sally said.

University’s season ended Oct. 25 with a 3-0 loss against undefeated Westminster Christian School of Miami – the state’s No. 1 overall ranked team – in a regional quarterfinal.  The Sharks will lose four seniors, but 11 players on the roster can return next season. The sisters still have two years left as teammates. They have already made their mark on the program.

“They’ve both done an amazing job,” Sarubbi said.