CONWAY, Ark. – The University of Central Arkansas volleyball team fought back from two games to none, but in the end the Texas State was able to repel the Sugar Bear comeback as the Bobcats clinched a spot in the Southland Conference Championship  with a 3-2 (25-18, 30-28, 23-25, 21-25, 16-14) victory Saturday night at the Farris Center.
 
“We just took a team that won 15 matches in a row, came in 1^st in the conference and to be honest with you—we could have easily won this match in four and we had shots to win it in five,” said head coach David McFatrich. I’m extremely proud. I’ve been calling them champs since the first day of practice and to be honest with you they are.”
 
UCA held a 12-9 advantage in the match’s final set. Texas State coach Karen Chisur called a timeout and the match suddenly changed. A pair of kills by Melissa Toth made it 12-11. Then three straight block assists by the duo of Amari Deardorff and 2011 Southland Player of the Year Amber Calhoun gave Texas State a 14-12 lead. Kills by Marissa Collins and Jessica Nagy tied the game back up at 14 all. Two more kills, one apiece by Toth and Calhoun sealed the victory for the Bobcats, however.
 
With the loss, it marked just the second time this season that UCA has dropped a five set match. The Sugar Bears looked dead to rights after losing arguably the hardest fought set of the year, a 30-28 second set decision. However, UCA came out of the locker room break on fire, tying the match at 2-2.
 
“I just kept telling them there is a lot of volleyball left-- I said that at every timeout and every break. I said it 100 times between the end of the second game and the end of the match,” said McFatrich. “They won the third and fourth game could have easily won the fifth. They believed it. It’s a neat feeling as a coach that when you say something to your kids they believe you.
 
UCA finished with five different players with double-digit kills. Scout Brooks had a match-high 19 kills. Taylor Hammonds hit an impressive .526 and added 12 kills, Alicia Dittrich pitched in 13 kills. Jessica Nagy had a match high 65 attempts and finished with 16 kills and Karlie Giesler earned 10 kills. Collins, the sophomore setter from Pearland, Texas, led all players with 57 assists and nine digs.
 
“Taylor Hammonds went off and led our attack tonight. Dittrich and Brooks also went off,” McFatrich said.  “They shut down Nagy a little bit, but to be quite honest- we don’t get within a swing of winning that match without Jessica Nagy.”
 
Defensively, UCA was again led by senior libero Cristin Curl who played in her final match as a Sugar Bear tonight. She finished with match-high 26 digs. The Amarillo, Texas native finishes her storied career with 1,809 digs which is fourth on the all-time list.
 
Texas State, who was able to overcome a raucous crowd that heavily favored the host team was led by Calhoun’s 16 kill, 11 block effort. Toth added 17 kills and five blocks and Caleigh McCorquodale tallied 50 assists and 11 digs.  
 
The announced crowd of 531 was the second night in a row the Farris Center has drawn a crowd of that size.
 
“What an amazing crowd these last two nights,” said McFatrich. “I just want to give a huge thank you to the entire crowd, all the baseball players, soccer team, alumni—we had people drive from 15 hours away. I had no idea they were coming tonight. What an amazing group of fans we have. They are a big part of this program. We grew to love the Farris Center in the last few days. It was remarkable.”
 
While the 2011 Sugar Bear season came to a close, there is still one more volleyball match left to be played in the Farris Center as the championship match between Texas State and UTSA will take place Sunday at 2 p.m.
 
The Sugar Bears finish the first season in the McFatrich era with a 17-15 overall record and will lose just two seniors off this season’s eastern division championship team.
 
“I’m so proud of this team. I can’t tell you how proud I am of this team,” said McFatrich. “ If the faculty and staff and students of UCA had any idea what these players overcame this year to get within a point to go to the SLC finals they would crown them as champs and that’s what I feel like doing. To me they are champions.”