CONWAY, Ark. – The University of Central Arkansas volleyball team battled themselves and their opponent all afternoon, but eventually clinched their fourth consecutive Southland East Division title with a 3-2 (25-22, 26-28, 17-25, 25-20, 16-14) victory over Southeastern Louisiana Saturday at the Farris Center.
“We scratched, clawed and fought our way to ten wins in the conference this year. Little of it has come easy, but we seem to find ways to win and that’s a good thing,” said head coach David McFatrich. “All the credit goes to our players, just a great bunch of battling Bears and my assistant coaches, Todd Hay and Robyn Smith. They have been fantastic!”
The Sugar Bears got off to one of their slowest starts of the season, falling behind 15-6 in the opening set before coming to life with a 15-2 run to take a 21-17 lead. UCA staved off another late Lion run, but held on to take the match’s first set.
Southeastern Louisiana would go on to take the next two games, meaning that if UCA was going to win they would have to do so in five sets. Fortunately for UCA, the Sugar Bears have played some of their best volleyball in fifth sets. The story was no different today as UCA improved their record to 7-1 in five-set matches.
It was the final regular season home match for two UCA seniors. Setter Lauren Dear and libero Cristin Curl were recognized before the match as the team’s lone seniors. Dear started and recorded a kill and four assists today while Curl finished with a match best 29 digs to go along with three service aces.
As a team, UCA struggled mightily offensively, hitting just .176. That was thanks in part to a 17.0 total block effort from Southeastern Louisiana. The 17.0 total blocks are tied for the most blocks by a UCA opponent this season. Northwestern had 17 blocks against the Sugar Bears back on Sept. 9.
Despite the low team hitting percentage, outside hitter Jessica Nagy managed to find her groove finishing with a match-high 19 kills while hitting .340. She also added a service ace and eight digs in the contest. Freshmen Scout Brooks and Alicia Dittrich added 17 and 14 kills, respectively. Marissa Collins led all players with 60 assists. With that performance, it marked the third time this season the sophomore setter has recorded at least 60 assists.
The Lions were led by a double-double effort from Paige Dollison. The senior middle blocker finished with 10 kills and 10 blocks. Kinsey Williams added eight kills to go along with eight blocks of her own and Elizabeth Ramey chipped in 11 kills and five digs.
UCA returns to action on Friday at the Farris Center when they compete in the first round of the Southland Conference Tournament. Today’s victory assured the Sugar Bears a No. 4 seed and they will take on No. 5 seed Lamar at 6:30 p.m.
“Now it’s time to focus all our effort on preparing for the tournament next week,” McFatrich said. “We have a great opportunity before us and we need effort and execution to take full advantage of it.”
