The first set featured five service breaks. With Republic leading four games to three, Nacy and Hendrix broke Glendale’s serve for a third time in the set, and Hendrix served out the set to give Republic a one-set-to-none lead.
In the second set, though, Glendale dictated the tempo. Instead of a serve-and-volley game, Fulk and Weller turned the match into a battle of groundstrokes, where they excel. They broke Republic’s serve for the first time to take a 4-2 lead, then broke serve again to even the match at one set apiece.
“The first set, I felt like we attacked better,” says Nacy. “When they started yelling and stuff, it got to us and we just kind of backed off whenever we should have pushed forward.”
In the third set, Glendale maintained the momentum to close it out. The Falcons broke Nacy’s serve and Hendrix’s serve in succession to leap ahead 4-0. The Tigers got back a break and closed to within 4-2, but couldn’t overcome the deficit.
Both Nacy and Hendrix say the fact that they came within one set of qualifying for the state tournament will motivate them to get better during the off-season.
“It definitely is going to fuel me. What happened out there shouldn’t have happened, but that’s the way life rolls,” Hendrix says. “I’m going to put that into training harder this summer, because I really wanted to go to state. I’ll take this and put it toward something good.”