The Nation Ford girls’ volleyball team rallied from down one set to pick up a 3-1 win over rival Fort Mill Tuesday evening.
Nation Ford won 19-25, 25-20, 25-19, 25-18 to improve to 17-7 overall on the season and 4-1 in Region 3-5A play. The loss dropped Fort Mill to 11-5 and 2-3 in the region.
The Falcons’ head coach Craig Brown had to rally his team after the opening set.
“I told them they were better than this,” he said. “We have started slow this season. Fort Mill is a good, scrappy team.”
Fort Mill opened the first set going up 9-4 with Nation Ford trying to stay within striking distance. The Falcons stayed close, but could never rally to the point where they tied the match. That led Fort Mill getting off to the good start they wanted taking the first set.
Nation Ford regrouped in the second set and started chipping away after Fort Mill opened the set going up 11-6. The Falcons battled back to tie the match at 12 and then pushed things to an 18-14 Nation Ford advantage holding off Fort Mill down the stretch as they were able to tie the match taking the second set.
The third set was just as strong for Nation Ford as they opened with a 9-2 lead over the Jackets. Fort Mill was able to battle back and pull within three on several occasions, but could never rally passed that point. Nation Ford surged ahead to go up 19-13 after a Fort Mill time out and then pulled away to get the six-point win.
Fort Mill head coach Makala McCrorey said after winning the Warriors Classic in Indian Land this past weekend they were hoping things would carry over to Tuesday.
“Their offense picked it up and we didn’t respond well,” McCrorey said.
The fourth set again was all Nation Ford as they jumped out to a great start and never looked back. Nation Ford opened going up 8-2 and then scored five consecutive points to lead 13-2. Fort Mill again battled back and pulled within 10 points, but could never get close enough to make a difference as Nation Ford cruised to the win.
Fort Mill now will head to Catawba Ridge to play them Wednesday, Sept. 27, while Nation Ford heads to Clover on Thursday, Sept. 28.
Sept. 26 Roundup
The Fort Mill tennis team beat Rock Hill 5-1 on the road to improve to 5-5 overall on the season and 3-4 in Region 3-5A. Winning for the Jackets were Emily Rimmer 6-1, 6-0; Kate Hill 6-2, 6-1; Reagan Adams 6-1, 6-1; Hannah Swainey 7-5, 6-1 and in doubles Kendall McCarty and Abhi Nallareddy 6-1, 6-3.
The Nation Ford tennis team fell to Blythewood 4-2 to drop to 5-3 overall and 4-2 in Region 3-5A play. Getting wins for the Falcons was Alexa Brenner 6-4, 4-6, 10-6 and in doubles Ansley McDonald and Piper Land 7-5, 5-7, 10-5.
The Catawba Ridge tennis team lost to Indian Land 4-3 on the road dropping them to 6-3 overall and 5-1 in Region 3-4A. Getting wins for the Copperheads was Emerson Brooks 6-1, 6-3; Sydney Biggers 6-2, 6-3; and Skylar White and Abby Russell in doubles 6-1, 6-3.
The Catawba Ridge girls’ volleyball team won 3-0 (25-14, 25-20, 25-13) over York to improve to 7-0 in Region 3-4A. The Copperheads are 9-5 overall on the season.
The Fort Mill and Nation Ford golf teams played at the Howard Varner III Foundation tournament in Gastonia. Fort Mill finished eighth and Nation Ford finished 10th. Mackenzie Finn led Fort Mill with an 80 and was tied for 18th. Nation Ford was led by Vivian Harris with an 83 and was tied for 25th.
Nation Ford golfers had a split squad match with four other golfers taking on Indian Land at Lancaster Golf Club where they fell 196-226. Hadley Mark led with a 54 for Nation Ford followed by 56 from both Carolyn Miller and Campbell Reiking and a 60 from Drew Ruth.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
