The Nation Ford Falcons girls’ volleyball head coach Craig Brown put it to his team simply after dropping the second set of the 4A Upper State Championship.
“This is our house,” he told his team.
The message worked.
Nation Ford captured the 4A Upper State Championship over the Greenville Red Raiders 3-1 (25-21, 16-25, 25-21, 25-22) to advance to the state finals at noon on Saturday, Nov. 7 at Dreher High School against Lucy Beckham High School, who won the Lower State title with a 3-0 sweep of South Aiken. Nation Ford improved to 30-4 overall on the season with the win.
“We haven’t lost at home all year,” Brown said. “We aren’t going to start now., especially how hard they worked to get a No. 1 seed to be at home. That is a high-quality team, that Greenville squad. They are a really good team. That is what an Upper State championship should be like.”
Greenville scored the opening point of the match, but Lila Martin came back with a couple of aces early to give the Falcons a small advantage.
Both teams played each other close to start as the Red Raiders would tie the match. Strong serves and aggressive play at the net pushed the score to 11-5 before a Greenville timeout.
Nation Ford maintained control, despite Greenville putting together a small rally to make it feel uncomfortable for the Falcons at 18-14. After a timeout by Nation Ford, they scored three of the next four points to again open their margin.
Despite multiple attempts to pull away, Greenville kept rallying to stay within striking distance at 23-20 before a second Falcons’ timeout. Nation Ford was able to hold on to get the first set win after the timeout.
Nation Ford scored first to open the second set, but Greenville had made the necessary adjustments between sets and quickly went up 7-2 over the Falcons.
Greenville was able to keep the momentum after a Nation Ford timeout and maintained the lead. However, over time, the Falcons were able to slowly chip away at the Red Raiders lead. The Falcons pulled within three at 14-11, but unforced errors again allowed Greenville to open their lead. They would hold a strong lead to tie the match at one set apiece.
Nation Ford opened the third set, still struggling with returns at the net, but were able to keep it close with the Red Raiders. After a couple of kills by Martin, the Falcons tied the set at eight. That little bump gave Nation Ford some momentum to regain the lead and then create some distance as they went up 13-9 before a Red Raiders timeout. Martin started serving for the Falcons as they scored five straight points including two aces.
Greenville continued to put up a fight, but the Falcons maintained control taking the match lead with a third set win.
Both teams were unable to get an early advantage in the fourth set trading points. Nation Ford captured the advantage by going up 11-7 and was able to keep the small lead despite strong play by Greenville. The Red Raiders tied the set at 14, as again neither team was able to gain a big advantage.
Kills that came easily in the earlier portions of the match didn’t come as easily for the Falcons in the later sets. The Falcons then unleashed four straight points to go up and take a strong lead as they held off a late rally to capture the set and win the match.
Nov. 3 Roundup
The Catawba Ridge girls’ tennis team fell in the 4A Upper State Championship at Riverside by a 6-0 score. The Copperheads’ season ends at 13-2 overall.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
