The Nation Ford Falcons volleyball team won their 17th consecutive region game and wrapped up their Region 3-5A schedule by beating Fort Mill 3-1 to finish the regular season.
Nation Ford improved to 10-0 in the region with a 20-25, 25-16, 25-15, 25-15 win over the Jackets Thursday. Nation Ford improved to 21-9 on the season and Fort Mill fell to 16-10 and 5-5 in the region.
Having already clinched the region title earlier in the week, the Falcons will enter the playoffs next Thursday, Oct. 20 hosting a first-round game, while Fort Mill will be on the road.
In their match Thursday, Fort Mill came out swinging and took the fight right to Nation Ford. Nation Ford went up 11-6, but the Jackets came back to tie the set at 11-11 and then started to take the lead at 19-16 before pulling away.
“We didn’t do our job early on,” said Nation Ford head coach Craig Brown. “We didn’t come out well. We knew Fort Mill was going to come out after us.”
After the first set, the Falcons were able to regroup and came back to tie the match in the second set. Nation Ford jumped up early 8-3 and never allowed Fort Mill to gain the momentum they had in the first set. Fort Mill took an early timeout and then the Falcons pulled away to go up 18-8. Fort Mill pulled within six at 20-14, but Nation Ford was too strong down the stretch and was able to get the win.
In the third set, the Falcons again started strong going up 9-4 and was able to keep Fort Mill at a distance through most of the set. Nation Ford extended their lead to 12-6 and then pushed it to 19-11 before taking the set and going up 2-1.
The fourth and final set was all Nation Ford again as they jumped out to a commanding lead and never looked back to finish off Fort Mill.
Fort Mill head coach Makala McCrorey said the Jackets struggled once getting down in the second set.
“We dug ourselves a hole,” she said. “We started to play reserved. We didn’t communicate as well.”
The loss closes out the regular season for Fort Mill, while Nation Ford will head to Wando this weekend to compete in a tournament.
Tennis
The Nation Ford Falcons beat Catawba Ridge 5-1 in girl’s tennis Thursday to end the regular season.
The Falcons won all five singles matches with four of those being in straight sets. Winning for Nation Ford was Tori Baldino 6-2, 6-2; Lauren Padgett 6-3, 6-3; Ava Baldino 6-3, 6-3; Isabella Neff 6-1, 5-7, 10-5 and Eva Arnautovic 6-2, 6-3. Catawba Ridge won the lone doubles match with Ava King and Gracyn Root winning 6-1, 6-3 for the Copperheads. Both teams are starting the playoffs next week.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
