The Nation Ford girls’ volleyball team wrapped up the Region 3-5A title in four sets against Fort Mill.
Nation Ford won 3-1 (25-17, 25-20, 25-27, 25-17) to improve to 11-0 in region and 37-3 on the season.
“It was one goal of many,” said Nation Ford head coach Craig Brown. “Now we have to make sure we keep that number one seed.”
Nation Ford has one more region match next week against Clover. Fort Mill finished the regular season at 10-9 and 6-6 in the region. The Jackets will open the playoffs on Thursday, Oct. 31.
“Even though we lost, I’m proud,” said Fort Mill head coach Makala McCrorey. “We are excited to be in the playoffs.”
Nation Ford took control early in the first set going up 9-3 before a Fort Mill timeout. The Falcons were able to keep momentum and went up 13-7 before Fort Mill clamped down and got back into it at 17-15.
Nation Ford was able to open some breathing room and went up 23-15 scoring six consecutive points. The Falcons would take the opening set, but struggled keeping the momentum in the second set.
Fort Mill started 3-0, but the set stayed close before Nation Ford took a 10-9 lead. From there the Falcons pulled away some but wasn’t able to hold off Fort Mill who rallied to take a 17-15 lead.
The two would battle to a tie at 19 before Nation Ford scored three straight points to make it 22-19 and pushing Fort Mill into a timeout to regroup. The Falcons kept control out of the timeout to win the second set and go up 2-0.
The third set started much like the second with the two teams trading points. Fort Mill was able to pull ahead at 9-6 and then 15-12 as Nation Ford took a timeout to talk. The timeout worked because Nation Ford came out and scored eight of the next nine points to go up 20-16.
It was Fort Mill which then took a timeout and tried to regroup. The Falcons’ control of the set quickly slipped away after a second timeout as Fort Mill tied it at 24 before winning 27-25 to fight their way back into the match.
Fort Mill kept the momentum in their corner starting 4-2 in the fourth set. The Jackets played better in the later sets getting to and returning shots. Neither team was able to really pull away in the fourth set as both would grab small leads only to see them slip away.
That seesawing finally broke tied at 16 with Nation Ford scoring five straight to go up 21-16. Fort Mill took a timeout only for Nation Ford to score three more points afterwards before taking the set and match.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
