Nation Ford rallies past Fort Mill, stays undefeated in region play

After falling down one set to rival Fort Mill High, the Nation Ford Falcons volleyball team rallied to win their match 3-1 in the teams’ first meeting of the season.

Nation Ford won 21-25, 25-20, 25-15, 25-19 to improve to 19-9 overall and 4-0 in Region IV and with the loss, Fort Mill drops to 18-9-1 and 2-2 in the region overall.

Fort Mill came out blazing in the first set and took a 15-12 lead before Nation Ford took a time out. Nation Ford rallied some, but struggled to catch up going down 23-21 before the Jackets closed it out.

Fort Mill head coach Gina Farley said her team wasn’t the same after winning the first set.

“The first set we came out swinging and aggressive,” Farley said. “The second set we started to play too safe and we gave away too many balls. We are missing how to finish things off.”

In the second set, Nation Ford took an early lead at 6-4 and Fort Mill tied them at 10-10 before they would go ahead 16-14. The Falcons continued to battle, tied the set at 18-18 and took the lead on the next point. Nation Ford went on to take the set.

Nation Ford took a 2-1 lead after finishing the third set on a 10-3 run. The Falcons again started quickly going up 5-2, but Fort Mill would tie the set again at 10-10. Nation Ford would squeak ahead at 13-10 and kept the pressure on the Jackets, forcing them into two time outs before getting the win.

“It took us a minute to figure them out, but when we did we had control of the match the rest of the way,” said Nation Ford head coach Carrie Christian. “We have been strong under pressure.”

In the final set, a struggling Fort Mill would tie the set on two occasions at 9-9 and 11-11, but Nation Ford again would pull ahead and take a 17-12 lead before closing things out.

Nation Ford and Fort Mill will play against each other before the end of the season, at Fort Mill High, but before the Falcons have to play Rock Hill and Northwestern this week. Fort Mill will have to play Clover and Mallard Creek next week. Fort Mill and Nation Ford will meet again Oct. 12.

This story was originally published September 28, 2017 at 7:51 PM with the headline "Nation Ford rallies past Fort Mill, stays undefeated in region play."