CONWAY, Ark. – Taylor Hammonds led the way with 17 kills while hitting an outstanding .607 and Alicia Dittrich chipped in another 10 kills five blocks while swinging .529 as the Central Arkansas Sugar Bears defeated the Nicholls Colonels in Southland Conference action 3-0 (25-22, 25-18, 27-25).
Tonight’s match marked the last time the Sugar Bears will take the floor at the Prince Center in 2011 and they did so in front of a loud and raucous crowd of 305.
“I don’t know how many people were in here tonight, but the crowd was fantastic,” said head coach David McFatrich. “They really love volleyball at UCA—thanks to all the students, faculty and staff and all that were here.”
The Sugar Bears struggled to find their groove in the opening set, recording nine attack errors, but they also were able to keep the Nicholls onslaught in check as the Colonels hit just .029 in the opening frame. Hammonds recorded seven kills alone in the first set, pacing the Sugar Bears.
“We made a decision at the beginning of the game to get her [Hammonds] the ball” said McFatrich. “She’s been playing a bit better as of late and she came through in a big way tonight.”
UCA answered the first set with a dominating effort in the second. The Sugar Bears out-hit the Colonels .405-.139 in the frame and recorded just four errors in that set to go up 2-0.
In the final set, Nicholls appeared poised to force a fourth game as they held a late 22-20 lead. Hartman took over at that point, giving the Sugar Bears a kill and then two very strong serves that Nicholls over-passed on, resulting in two more UCA points.
“We actually ran out of subs but Hartman has been serving great lately and she popped two in-a-row that resulted in a couple of big points for us,” said McFatrich. “They called a timeout to slow her down a bit but she was key in getting us back in the game.”
For the match, Hartman finished with 11 kills, two blocks and two digs all while hitting .391. Hammonds, Dittrich and Hartman combined tonight for 38 kills and 10 blocks.
Sophomore Marissa Collins added 50 more assists to her season total on the evening and defensively, senior Cristin Curl notched a game-high 26 digs. On the evening, the Sugar Bears dug up 16 more attacks than the Colonels, boasting a 58-42 advantage.
Nicholls was paced by the nine kill, three dig effort of Jessica Brandt. Jessica Addicks added six kills to go along with her match-best seven blocks and Rachel Yezak posted seven kills and 13 digs in the losing effort.
UCA returns to action Saturday afternoon for their final regular season match of the 2011 season before hosting the Southland Conference Tournament on Nov. 18-20. It will be Senior Day at the Farris Center and the match is set to get underway at 1 p.m.
