A.C. Flora playing for first girls tennis state crown
The A.C. Flora girls tennis team cleared one hurdle by making it to the state championship.
Now, the Falcons hope to get over another by winning their first state title Saturday against powerhouse Myrtle Beach. It’s A.C. Flora’s third state title appearance, and first since 2012.
Flora lost in the Upper State championship the last two years before defeating Daniel 4-1 on Wednesday to earn a spot in the title match.
The defending champion Seahawks are making their 20th state title appearance and going after the school’s 16th championship, the most in Class 3A history.
“When we started, I believe we had something special. They came so close last year and the year before that,” A.C. Flora coach Amy Martin said. “We’ve got to give everything we have and leave it on the court. Pressure is not on us. We aren’t going to feel the pressure.”
A.C. Flora’s journey to the championship has been an interesting one. The Falcons (20-2) had to wait on the rain to finally get in all of their playoff matches. Before that, like most of schools in the Midlands, Flora had to deal with time off from last month’s floods.
Martin said the team went seven or eight days without practicing. The girls practiced on their own when they could. Once they returned, things started to click.
“It made everyone realize tennis is tennis,” Martin said. “People lost everything and one of our girls was displaced. So you learned to take things day by day. When we finally got back, tennis was a great distraction and we focused better. We were so ready to be part of the team.
“We came together as a team and became really close,” said Rachel Acco, the team’s No. 1 singles player.
Acco, a freshman, has been the team’s No. 1 player the past two years and Martin said she has great potential. The rest of Flora’s top five singles players are made up of Megan Pleasant, Marlene Robinson, Katherine Cromer and Elise Sandlin. The Falcons’ top five players went 34-1 in region play and have dropped just two matches in the playoffs.
This story was originally published November 13, 2015 at 7:52 PM.