A.C. Flora No. 5 Emily Smith chips a backhand in her match against Greenville’s Mary Wesley Few.
Thanks to a 4-2 victory over the visiting Greenville Red Raiders Tuesday, November 2, the A.C. Flora Falcons are returning to the SCHSL Class 4A Girls Tennis State Championship for the first time since they won it all in 2018.
This Upper State Championship was especially sweet because the Raiders edged A.C. Flora 4-3 in 2020’s semifinal.
“The disappointment last year really fired us up and made us want to win this match even more, especially against the same team,” said A.C. Flora No. 1 Frances Smith.
Smith, a junior, was an eighth grader playing in the No. 4 spot on that 2018 team. She got the Falcons on the board first taking her match against Greenville’s Julia Price 6-2, 6-0.
A.C. Flora No. 4 Helen Miller put the Falcons up 2-0 downing Carlie Balck 6-4, 6-1.
Greenville No. 2 Wylie Jopling closed the gap to 2-1 with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Siona Sturgeon.
Then—in arguably the match of the day—seventh grader Emily Smith dropped her first set to Greenville’s Mary Wesley Few 6-2. Few led 4-3 in the second, but Smith kept coming and pulled out the 6-4 set win to force a third set 10-point tiebreaker. She found herself down 7-4 after a couple of volleys sailed long, but she won the next six points, one of which was a cross-court passing shot to go up 8-7. Smith’s comeback win gave the Falcons a 3-1 lead.
A.C. Flora No. 4 Helen Miller hits a forehand return in her match against Greenville’s Carlie Balck.
“Classic Emily fashion,” Frances Smith laughed describing her little sister, Emily. “That’s about every match.”
Caroline Overdyke took her first set for A.C. Flora 6-1 at No. 3 singles, but Lily Sommer battled back grabbing a 3-0 lead in the second set and eventually winning it 6-3 to force a tiebreaker. Sommer built a 9-7 lead in the tiebreaker, but Overdyke was able to take the next two points to tie it up. Sommers countered with a point and then ripped a return of serve to win the match and cut the Falcon lead to 3-2.
The focus then shifted to the A.C. Flora No. 2 doubles team of Lani Sturgeon and Karsyn Misenheimer, who is the only senior starting on the Falcon ladder. The pair had already taken the first set 6-0 over Greenville’s Jayne Womack and Lauren Iorio and were leading 3-0 when singles play ended. Misenheimer and Sturgeon led 4-0 before Womack and Iorio took the next two games giving the raucous crowd of Greenville fans who made the trip something to cheer about. The A.C. Flora duo quickly regained control, and Misenheimer’s volley on match point was not returned successfully to give the Falcons the set 6-2 and the overall match 4-2.
A.C. Flora No. 1 Frances Smith rips a backhand in her match against Greenville’s Julia Price.
A.C. Flora is scheduled to face defending 4A champ Lucy Beckham in the final at 10 p.m. at the Cayce Tennis Center on Saturday, November 6.
“It’s a great way to honor our seniors we won with last round, but I think this year we’re going to get it done,” Siona Sturgeon said. Sturgeon, like Frances Smith was an eighth grader on that 2018 team. She played No. 2 doubles that year. “If we work as hard as we did tonight, I think we’ll have a really good chance at state this year.”
Leave a Reply