The Fort Mill girls’ tennis team rebounded in a must win match to clinch a spot in the playoffs.
Coming off a nearly five-hour match which ended in a 4-3 loss to rival Nation Ford Tuesday, Fort Mill had to make the trip down I-85 to Boiling Springs facing a must win to make the playoff. The Jackets came away with a 5-1 win over the Bulldogs to keep their postseason hopes alive.
Fort Mill senior Sophie Bennett clinched the win for the Jackets finishing her three-set match with a win at No. 3 singles going 6-7, 6-0, 1-0 (10-6). The Jackets won four of the five singles matches and the only doubles match, which also went to a three-set tiebreaker.
Madison McCarty won at No. 1 singles 3-6, 7-6, 1-0 (10-8) for Fort Mill and Katie Pierson won easily in straight sets 6-2, 6-1 at No. 2 singles. Rounding out singles play for Fort Mill was No. 5 singles Bristol Kershaw, who won 6-1, 6-3. In the doubles match, Clara Lake and Katie Hill for the Jackets won 1-6, 6-3, 1-0 (10-3).
Fort Mill has three more matches in the regular season next week based on their schedule. The Jackets are now 9-2 on the season and finish the region 6-2 in second place.
For the second straight night, the Nation Ford Falcons girls’ tennis team played another long match, this time coming out on the losing end 4-3 for their first loss of the season falling to Catawba Ridge. The loss puts the Falcons at 7-1 on the season, while Catawba Ridge is 10-1 overall.
The two teams played pro sets playing only one set each. Catawba Ridge’s Sarah Taylor beat Vanessa Cardona 8-5 at No. 1 singles. Nation Ford bounced back and won No. 2 singles as Alex Cardona won 8-3 over Sara Malendy.
Catawba Ridge’s Clair Hivner and Aiyana Uter won at No. 3 and No. 4 singles respectively by identical 9-7 scores. Nation Ford’s Neha Arunprakash won at No. 5 singles 8-4 over Evangeline Kelly.
In the two doubles matches, Laura Padgett and Bella Neff for Nation Ford won at No. 2 doubles 8-2 over Mallory McCart and Emily Taylor. And in the No. 1 doubles, Sarah Taylor and Hivner teamed up to beat the Cardona sisters 8-6.
Nation Ford has one more Region 3-5A match at Gaffney Thursday and Catawba Ridge has matches next week against Fort Mill.
Golf
The Fort Mill girls’ golf team dropped their last home match of the year to Gaffney falling 175-209. Fort Mill was led by a 50 from Blythe Barrington-Hughes and a 51 from Mackenzie Finn. Both Cayla Cappuzzo and Emily Broshious had identical rounds of 54 for the Jackets as well.
Fort Mill plays against Rock Hill Oct. 8 at the Rock Hill Country Club and finishes the regular season Oct. 12 against Nation Ford at Springfield Golf Club.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
