CONWAY, Ark. – The Northwestern State Lady Demons did something no other opposing team has done in nearly three years on Wednesday night at the Prince Center. Win.
The Lady Demons ended UCA’s home winning streak at 31 consecutive matches with a 3-1 (25-22, 25-15, 17-25, 25-22) victory in front of 297 fans. It was UCA’s first home loss since UT-San Antonio defeated the Sugar Bears 3-2 on Oct. 25, 2008.
“We didn’t execute and I thought they played great,” said head coach David McFatrich. “I don’t want to take anything away from them but we didn’t execute and I’m disappointed in that.”
The Sugar Bears struggled to get anything going in the first two sets, struggling with the Lady Demons’ aggressiveness at the net and hitting just .000 in the second set. Meanwhile, the Lady Demons hit .471 in the first game and tallied eight block assists and two solo blocks to take an early 2-0 advantage. For the match, Northwestern State finished with 12 block assists and four solo blocks while UCA had just eight block assists and three solo blocks.
“Sometimes we become too passive at the net and you have to win the net battle,” said McFatrich. “We need all our net players to have an aggressive blocking mentality.”
The bright spot of the evening for UCA was in the third set when, after halftime, the Sugar Bears seemed to pick up the intensity a bit en route to the 25-17 set win. In the third set, UCA hit .406 and held the Lady Demons to an ice-cold .108.
“At half we talked about a few things and we showed some character and grit but we still are a few ingredients short of having a great team,” said McFatrich. “We need to be sassy and ornery and have that ‘refuse to lose’ mentality we’ve had in years past. We can’t just turn it on when we want to turn it on.”
Leading the way in the losing effort for the Sugar Bears was Jessica Nagy, who finished the night with 12 kills and six digs. Scout Brooks, seeing her first extensive action of the year, gave a spark off the bench and added nine kills while hitting .318. Taylor Hammonds was the only other Bear to reach double-digit kills, finishing with 11.
Northwestern State was led to victory by Stacey DiFrancesco. The freshman outside hitter finished with a match-high 21 kills to go along with 13 digs. Kelly Jimenez also posted a double-double with 15 kills and 12 digs.
The Sugar Bears will look to start the home winning streak all over when they return to action Saturday afternoon to play host to UT Arlington at 1 p.m.
After the match, UCA will be hosting the first of two “Cub Club” sessions. “Cub Club” gives girls, ages 5-12, the chance to receive instruction from Sugar Bear players and coaches following two matches this season. The other date for “Cub Club” is set for Oct. 29. All registration information regarding “Cub Club” can be found by clicking the link below.
Cub Club Information
