The Nation Ford Falcons boys’ volleyball team is still looking for their first win for the program after dropping both ends of a tri-match Tuesday against Clover and Indian Land.
Nation Ford fell to Clover 2-0 (25-22, 25-20) and lost in three sets to Indian Land 2-1 (25-11, 22-25, 9-15). The losses drop the Falcons to 0-5 on the season.
“Everything is starting to click,” said Nation Ford head coach Tory Tysdal. “Every game we play we are getting better.”
Against Clover, Nation Ford was able to play them close, but the Blue Eagles has fielded previous teams in the past and this is a new adventure for the Falcons.
Clover jumped out to a 4-1 lead, but Nation Ford battled back to tie the opening set at 8-8. Clover would pull ahead, but Nation Ford was able to tie them on several different occasions the last time at 21-21. Nation Ford went up 22-21 as Clover took a time out.
After the time out, Clover rattled off four straight points to take the opening set. The second set was a lot like the first, but Nation Ford struggled to hang with Clover after a 7-7 tie. The Blue Eagles then scores four consecutive points to go up 11-7 and never trailed again.
Because it was a tri-match involving three teams, the sets were best of three instead of best of five. In the second match, Clover swept Indian Land 2-0 as well.
In the first set between Nation Ford and Indian Land, the Falcons jumped out to a 6-0 lead and were strong throughout the set. Gaining early control was big for Nation Ford as they would go up 14-5 and then 21-10 to put away the Warriors to win their second set on the year.
Like Clover, Indian Land is a multi-year program and has more experience than Nation Ford. That experience allowed them to rally. Indian Land was able to return serves better and stayed with Nation Ford to open the second set. The Warriors finally pulled away to go up 17-13 forcing the Falcons into a time out.
After the time out, Nation Ford closed the gap some, but could never grab an advantage falling in the second set to tie the match at 1-1.
The third and deciding set again started out close, but the Warriors were able pull ahead at 8-6 and never trailed moving forward as the Falcons used both their time outs to try and regroup, but were unable to do so.
Nation Ford travels next to Rock Hill Wednesday, Sept. 6 to face the Bearcats, where they will look to pick up their first win on the season.
Sept. 5 Roundup
The Nation Ford girls golf team beat Fort Mill at Tega Cay Golf Club Tuesday 186-193. Nation Ford was led by Vivian Harris with a 43. Both Sara McCaskill and Katie Griggs shot rounds of 45 for the Falcons and Piper Sabino finished with a 53 for Nation Ford as well. Fort Mill was led by medalist Mackenzie Finn with a 42. Both Sam Benton and Cayla Cappuzzo had rounds of 48 for the Jackets and Olivia Seifert finished the scoring for Fort Mill with a 55.
The Nation Ford tennis team won their first match of the year beating Clover 5-1 after having a week of rain delays during the first week of the season. Winning for the Falcons was Bella Neff 6-3, 0-6, 10-2; Eva Avnautovic 0-6, 6-3, 10-5; Lauren Padgett 6-1, 6-1; Alexa Brenner 2-6, 6-0, 10-8 and Ansley McDonald and Piper Land in doubles 7-5, 6-1.
The Catawba Ridge tennis team improved to 3-0 on the season and 2-0 in Region 3-4A play with a 6-0 win over Lancaster. Winning for the Copperheads was Nala Uter 6-0, 6-3; Gracyn Root 6-0, 6-0; Sydney Biggers 6-0, 6-1; Emerson Brooks 6-0, 6-0; Katelyn Evans 6-0, 6-0 and Skyler White and Abby Russell in doubles 6-0, 6-0.
The Fort Mill boys’ volleyball team beat Rock Hill 3-0 (25-20, 25-22, 25-16) to improve to 3-2 overall on the season. The girls’ volleyball team also won beating Dutch Ford 3-0 to improve to 5-1 overall on the season.
The Fort Mill tennis team fell 5-1 to Blythewood to fall to 1-2 on the season.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
