After a long weekend of volleyball, the Nation Ford Falcons had to dig a little deeper to beat Catawba Ridge Tuesday evening.
Nation Ford won 3-1 after dropping the first set 25-18, before bouncing back to win 25-11, 25-12, 25-15. The Falcons improved to 23-2 on the season, while Catawba Ridge fell to 7-5. Nation Ford also improved to 4-0 in Region 3-5A, while the Copperheads dropped to 3-1.
Nation Ford head volleyball coach Craig Brown gave the Copperheads a lot of credit.
“They are scrappy,” he said. “They are a good ball club. They played good volleyball in the first set. We were able to regroup in the second set with great senior leadership.”
Catawba Ridge came out motivated in the opening set going up 7-2 before a Falcons timeout. The Copperheads held serve and continued to play well at the net and was able to keep momentum in their corner going up 13-4.
Nation Ford climbed back into the set pulling within five, but untimely mistakes like long shots out of the back line hurt their chances in the set.
The Falcons continued to cut into the Catawba Ridge lead, but wasn’t able to catch up and put together consistent points. That allowed the Copperheads to take advantage winning the first set.
The Falcons regrouped between sets and got the hot start on the second going up 8-3. Nation Ford shook off any first set issues and doubled up the scoring going up 16-6 before a Copperheads timeout.
The Falcons kept the momentum in their corner and was able to pull away even more at 22-9 before taking the second set and tying the match at one.
Catawba Ridge made the necessary adjustments and opened the third set going up 4-1.
After the slow start for the Falcons, Nation Ford fought hard getting back into the set tying it at eight. From the time they tied the set, the Falcons scored five of the next six points to go up 13-9 before a Copperheads timeout.
Nation Ford continued to push the pace out of the timeout pulling away with five consecutive points to go up 17-9.
The two teams started the fourth set going back and forth trying to get an advantage. Nation Ford started finding holes in the Catawba Ridge defense and was able to go up 12-9.
Those holes in the Copperheads’ defense allowed the Falcons to again find a groove and start pulling away going up 18-10 before closing the match out.
Catawba Ridge head coach Alicia Lisee feels like they were close to being able to challenge Nation Ford for the entire match.
“We lost a little momentum after the second set started,” Lisee said. “They frustrated our hitters. The way we stepped up shows we are ready.”
Sept. 17 Roundup
The Catawba Ridge boys’ volleyball team improved to 3-2 in Region 3-5A with a 3-0 win over Nation Ford. Catawba Ridge is 8-5 overall on the season. Nation Ford fell to 5-6 overall and 1-4 in Region 3-5A.
The Fort Mill boys’ volleyball team lost 3-1 to Blythewood on the road Tuesday by scores of 27-25, 17-25, 15-25, 11-25 to drop to 2-3 in Region 3-5A and 4-8 overall on the season.
The Nation Ford-Catawba Ridge girls’ tennis match was rained out and rescheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 2 at Catawba Ridge.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
