BEAUMONT, Texas. – Despite hitting over .300 for the second straight match, the University of Central Arkansas volleyball team fell on the road Saturday afternoon to Lamar 3-1 (25-21, 25-10, 20-25, 25-21). With the loss, UCA is now tied with Lamar for the eastern division lead.
 
Lamar took an early 2-0 lead and looked dominant in the second set after hitting a whopping .500 in that game. The Sugar Bears came back in the third set and had their best performance with a .400 hitting percentage, while holding the Cardinals to a mark of .226.
 
Despite the losing effort, middle blocker Taylor Hammonds had one of her best performances of the 2011 season. The Tomball, Texas native slammed home 11 kills and hit an impressive .556 on the afternoon. Not to be outdone, Jessica Nagy added 10 kills and hit .474.
 
Lamar was able to take advantage of a huge day serving the ball. The Cardinals were able to sneak 11 serves past the UCA defense while the Sugar Bears were only able to counter with two. Lamar was led by Sierra Whittaker’s five ace performance.
 
Whittaker added 10 kills to go along with her five aces. In addition, Cynthia McCollum finished with 16 kills while hitting .394. Wendy Kress hit .500 and finished with 14 kills in the match. Christina Hobbs contributed with nine kills and four block assists. The Cardinals were helped greatly with a strong performance from Alex Morford who assisted in 54 kills while digging up eight attack attempts.
 
With the loss, the Sugar Bears fell to 14-14 overall and 8-6 in Southland play. Meanwhile, Lamar improved their overall mark to 10-19, while equaling UCA in Southland play with and 8-6 record.
 
UCA will look to take back the division lead Thursday night when they host Nicholls at the Prince Center. The Sugar Bears defeated Nicholls on Sept. 29 in Thibodaux by a count of 3-1. Match time Thursday evening is set for 7 p.m.