COLUMBIA – A slow start was difficult to overcome for the Nation Ford Falcons girls’ volleyball team fell in the 5A Division II state finals Saturday.
The North Myrtle Beach Chiefs won 3-0 (25-11, 25-20, 25-22) over the Falcons to improve to 40-9 on the season.
North Myrtle Beach had been in the same spot as Nation Ford was dropping the final match of the season in the state finals the past two years at the 4A level. On Saturday, they didn’t let that happen and got off to a fast start.
“They came out with the momentum,” said Nation Ford head coach Craig Brown. “We tried to fight back the second set. We couldn’t get the job done. I’m proud of how our girls battled. We came out tentative. We played a little scared. It showed their experience coming here the last three years. They were a veteran team. It wasn’t our night.”
The adrenaline was high for Nation Ford as they opened the match with a serve only to hit it long. The Chiefs showed their strength early with several blocks at the net to jump out to a 7-2 lead. Nation Ford took a timeout to try and slow things down.
The timeout didn’t slow North Myrtle Beach down any as they continued to find open spaces to place kills extending their lead to 12-3.
After another timeout by Nation Ford, the Falcons seemed to have trouble finding any rhythm to get their offense going. Small mistakes kept the Falcons off balance as well like missing sets and hitting into the net.
Nation Ford started to play better as the set wore on, but the gap was too great for them to overcome as North Myrtle Beach took the first set.
Nation Ford started better in the second set, but the Chiefs again quickly got the upper hand going up 8-3. The Falcons came out of a timeout, but again wasn’t able to get any momentum. Four of the first five points for Nation Ford came on Chiefs errors.
The Nation Ford team that’s been so dominant all season finally started coming around halfway through the second set as they were able to get kills and force North Myrtle Beach into errors. The Falcons pulled within one at 16-15 scoring five of six points during the stretch.
The Chiefs then had a run as they would push the score to 20-16. That run was sufficient to give them enough distance to take the second set and go up 2-0.
Nation Ford started the third set well going up 8-4 scoring four consecutive points forcing the Chiefs into a timeout.
The Falcons, for the first time in the match, kept the momentum in their corner releasing a string of points to go up 12-5. The Chiefs then turned right around and scored four straight points.
North Myrtle Beach tied the match at 13 after the Falcons Julie Nzambele went down with an injury by getting hit in the face with a kill. She would return about nine points later with the set tied at 16.
From there the two teams traded kills and stayed close. The Chiefs would then score two in a row to go up 20-18 before another Falcons timeout. North Myrtle Beach remained strong out of the timeout to close the set and match.
Nation Ford finished the season at 41-4.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
