Nation Ford claims part of region title with win over Fort Mill

With a win over rival Fort Mill last week, the Nation Ford High volleyball team finished as co-Region IV-5A champs with Rock Hill.

Nation Ford beat Fort Mill 3-1 (22-25, 25-17, 26-24, 25-20) and in doing so finished tied with Rock Hill because both have 7-1 region records. The teams each claimed a win over the other this season. However, the Falcons got the tiebreak due to points and the No. 1 seed in the 5A playoffs starting Oct. 19. It also gave them home court advantage through the playoffs as well.

Going into the match with Fort Mill, Falcons head coach Carrie Christian said his team knew what it was playing for.

“That is what they knew was on the line,” she said.

Fort Mill won the first set after both teams went back and forth through most of it before the Jackets took a 20-17 lead and would go on to win from there.

In the second set, Nation Ford took the early lead and held on throughout, forcing Fort Mill into two time outs during the period. The Falcons led from 4-3 and didn’t look back in the set.

The third set was the pivotal one in the match as it put momentum clearly in the Falcons’ corner. The set was close to start, but Fort Mill took an 11-7 lead before a Nation Ford time out. After the time out, the Jackets maintained the lead and ran the score to 20-16 before another Falcons time out. Fort Mill then pushed the score to 23-19, needing just two points to win the set, but Nation Ford won seven of the next eight points to take the set and a 2-1 lead in the match.

“We just really do a good job under pressure,” Christian said. “They were used to intense pressure like this.”

Nation Ford would go on to jump out to a big lead in the fourth set and cruise to the win.

Fort Mill head coach Gina Farley said her team played well and she was proud of their effort, but they just didn’t have an answer for the Falcons.

“Our game plan was to come out strong and keep swinging,” she said. “I feel like we played the game we wanted to play. I give it to their back court they were digging everything.”

Fort Mill finished third in the region and will have a road match in the opening round of the playoffs.

This story was originally published October 14, 2017 at 4:13 PM with the headline "Nation Ford claims part of region title with win over Fort Mill."