The Nation Ford Falcons girl’s tennis team clinched a share of the Region 3-5A title after outlasting the Clover Blue Eagles Tuesday.
Nation Ford beat Clover 4-3 to finish region play with a 9-1 record, with their only loss being to Blythewood, who also lost to the Falcons for their only region loss to finish at 9-1 as well. With each team beating the other and finishing at 9-1, the two will share the region title, but only one of them will get the top seed, which should go to Nation Ford. When the Falcons beat Blythewood, they won 4-2. When Blythewood beat Nation Ford, they won 4-3.
Against Clover Tuesday, all five singles matches for Nation Ford went to a third set tiebreaker. Leading the Falcons was No. 1 singles player Tori Baldino, who won 0-6, 6-2, 10-3.
Clover took the No. 2 through No. 4 singles matches and Eva Arnautovic won at No. 5 singles for Nation Ford with a score of 3-6, 7-5, 10-4.
In No. 2 doubles, Alexa Brenner and Ansley McDonald won for Nation Ford 6-3, 7-6 and then No. 1 doubles of Lauren Padgett and Baldino won 6-2, 6-1.
Nation Ford has one more regular season match scheduled for Thursday against Catawba Ridge. Playoffs for the Falcons start Thursday, Oct. 20 with Nation Ford hosting a home match in the opening round.
Across town in non-region action, Fort Mill girl’s tennis beat Catawba Ridge 4-2. With the win, Fort Mill improved to 7-7 overall on the season, while the Copperheads fell to 10-6 overall.
Winning for Fort Mill was No. 2 singles Adrinna Staniszewski 6-3, 6-1; No. 3 singles Kate Hill 6-1, 6-1; No. 5 singles Kendall McCarty 6-2, 6-2 and then No. 2 doubles of Hannah Swainey and Maddie Burcham 6-4, 6-2.
Getting wins for Catawba Ridge were Lilly L’Esperance at No. 1 singles 6-2, 4-6, 10-4 and No. 4 singles Nala Uter 6-2, 6-3.
Fort Mill has a match scheduled Thursday against Charlotte Catholic to finish the regular season. Playoffs for both Fort Mill and Catawba Ridge start Thursday, Oct. 20.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
