Published: Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2009 / Updated: Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2009 03:30 PM
Falcons take one from Fort Mill at the net
FORT MILL --
In the first of two meetings this year, the Nation Ford High Lady Falcons got one up on their cross town rivals, Fort Mill High, with a 3-1 victory (25-9, 19-25, 25-15, 25-20) on the volleyball court.
“It was mentally the toughest match we have played all year,” said first year Nation Ford Head Coach Carrie Christian. “We were communicating as a team. The second game we got down and they made a run. This was a big win for us.”
Ranked third in the state going into the match-up, the Lady Falcons wasted no time getting right to work in the opening game.
Sara Bebeau led the Lady Falcons with 16 kills, two aces and six digs, while Ally Lambert added 11 kills, five aces and six digs. Caylee Antilley had nine kills and three aces, while Jordan Meadows had six kills, 14 digs and three aces.
Nation Ford jumped out to an 8-0 lead before Fort Mill could score. After a Yellow Jacket timeout, Nation Ford came out with even more energy and widened the gap to 12-1.
Fort Mill struggled to return serves and had trouble passing the ball and placing their shots. Mental mistakes also plagued the Lady Jackets as they would let balls fall in between players.
As the game wore on, the Lady Jackets did close the margin from 14-2 to 18-8, but couldn't gain enough momentum to get back in the game.
Game two was a different story for Fort Mill. After making some adjustments, head coach Melanie Jaehnen's team came out and responded by evening the match at 1-1 with the 25-19 win.
Leading Fort Mill was Lindsay Piedt with 14 assists, seven kills and four aces. Haley Bonner had 15 digs.
Fort Mill started the match going up 4-0 and went up 7-4 as Nation Ford remained close.
Nation Ford pulled within one at 9-8, but the Lady Jackets retaliated with four straight points to push it to 13-8.
The Lady Falcons were forced to take a time out at 15-9, which helped as they came out and scored five straight to make it 16-14. Fort Mill came back with a streak of its own and extended its lead to 19-14.
Refusing to go away, Nation Ford again pulled within one at 20-19, but the Lady Jackets maintained control to score five straight to take the win.
In game three, Nation Ford regained control. Jumping out to a 5-2 lead to start, it pushed that lead to 9-6 before allowing Fort Mill to rally to tie it at 10-10.
The teams traded points, but Nation Ford would score seven straight to make it 18-11 and never looked back.
The final game saw both teams starting off well, but the Lady Falcons improved their score to 6-2 and then 11-6 to take command of the game.
Fort Mill again struggled passing the ball and Nation Ford would easily go up 22-13 before having to hold off a 5-1 rally from the Lady Jackets.
Jaehnen said she was proud of her team's effort.
“They played hard and didn't give up,” she said. “We made mistakes. Nation Ford is a very tough team. My girls are fighters. Ball control was our biggest problem.”
Later in the week, Nation Ford would sweep Northwestern in three games 25-20, 25-20 and 27-25; however, the girls would also take their third loss on the year to fall to 22-3 against Charlotte Catholic in four games – 25-14, 21-25, 19-25, 23-25.
Fort Mill would improve to 9-3 on the year with a win over Clover High in four games – 25-10, 19-25, 25-20, 25-20.
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