For the fourth time this season, Nation Ford and Catawba Ridge girls’ volleyball met with the same results.
Their match Thursday in the third round of the 5A Division II playoffs ended the season for the Copperheads. Nation Ford won 3-0 (25-14, 25-18, 25-9) and will host Woodmont at 6:30 p.m. next Tuesday, Nov. 12 in the Upper State championship.
“We seized the moment,” said Nation Ford head coach Craig Brown, as the Falcons improved to 40-3 on the season. “They exceeded my expectations. I was impressed with our whole team.”
The atmosphere for the match had an electric feel in a mostly packed Nation Ford gym. Nation Ford started out poised going up 6-3 to open the first set. Catawba Ridge came back to tie the match at seven.
The tie was short lived as Nation Ford surged ahead 13-9. The Falcons stayed in control as they went up 15-11 before a Catawba Ridge timeout.
After the timeout, the Falcons rattled off four more consecutive points to again lead to a Copperheads timeout. Nation Ford showed why they were the number one seed as the Falcon faithful were loud and helped to push them to a convincing first set win.
The Falcons didn’t take their foot off the gas in the second set to open up starting out with a strong 8-5 lead as Nation Ford showed how strong they were at the net by racking up kills.
As soon as Catawba Ridge would climb back into the match, junior Julie Nzambele, a Wake Forest commit, would come up with a kill or an ace to get the crowd back in it.
Catawba Ridge stayed composed and competitive, but struggled to make a consistent run of points. Nation Ford kept a sizable gap between them and the Copperheads to take a 2-0 lead.
The Falcons opened the third set going up 3-0 and only got stronger as the set wore on. Nation Ford went up 8-1 before a Copperheads timeout. Out of the timeout, the Falcons extended their lead to 15-3, before a small run by Catawba Ridge. The run made things look better, but Nation Ford finished the match off shortly thereafter.
“Nafo played well,” said Catawba Ridge head coach Alicia Lisee. “They stepped up to the plate. It was a good season overall. I am super proud of them. We did a really good job for our first year in 5A.”
The Copperheads finished the season at 15-15.
Nov. 7 Roundup
The Fort Mill girls’ tennis team finally got their second round 5A playoff match against Hillcrest in. Fort Mill fell 4-2 dropping their only match of the season. Winning for Fort Mill was No. 5 Justine Das 6-0, 6-0 and No. 2 doubles Abhi Nallareddy and Maddie Burcham 6-0, 1-0 (retired). Fort Mill finished the season at 12-1.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
