The Nation Ford Falcons girls’ volleyball team shook off some early match issues to rally and beat the Clover Blue Eagles to open Region 3-5A play Tuesday.
Nation Ford beat Clover 3-1 (23-25, 25-16, 25-20, 26-24) to get their first region win, but it didn’t come easy.
“Clover played well,” said Nation Ford head coach Craig Brown. “They have got some players and they hit shots. We started slow. We have got to figure out how to not start slow. We had some tight sets. We missed too many swings.”
Nation Ford started quickly opening the first set going up 4-0, but Clover rallied to tie the set at 5-5 and then started pulling ahead. The Falcons would battle back and tie the set before taking the lead at 20-18, but couldn’t hold onto things as they would let Clover slip past them to take the opening set.
Nation Ford started the second set matching the Blue Eagles nearly point for point and then went ahead 8-4. Clover rallied to pull within one at 10-9, but Nation Ford scored 10 of the next 11 points and went up 20-10 to pull away and tie the match at one set each.
The Falcons again stayed one step ahead in the third set to take a 2-1 match lead as they jumped out to a 10-5 lead in the set before Clover would rally to tie the set on a couple different occasions. Nation Ford surged ahead at 21-18 before taking the set and grabbing the match lead.
The fourth set was a tight one between the two schools. The two teams traded points between the first 10 points before Clover took a slim 10-7 lead. Clover held that lead by two or three points until Nation Ford regrouped in a time out and then came back to tie the set at 19. From there Nation Ford jumped ahead and finished off the set after Clover tied it at 22. The Falcons would score the four of the final six points to pick up the win.
Nation Ford heads on the road to Blythewood Thursday, Sept. 14 looking to get their second region win of the season. The Falcons are now 9-3 overall on the season.
Sept. 12 Roundup
The Fort Mill girls’ tennis team beat Spring Valley on the road 5-1 to improve to 2-2 overall and 1-1 in Region 3-5A play.
The Fort Mill girls’ volleyball team beat Blythewood 3-2 to improve to 6-1 on the season and open region play with a win to move to 1-0.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
