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Columbia, Mo. – The Central Arkansas volleyball team is set to make its second NCAA Tournament appearance on Friday afternoon. The Sugar Bears, seeded-third in the Columbia Regional, will battle second-seeded Purdue at 4:30.

Central Arkansas (29-3, 18-0 SLC) made it to the NCAA Tournament by earning the Southland Conference's automatic bid, posting a perfect 18-0 record in SLC play over the course of the regular season before defeating Stephen F. Austin, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, and Northwestern State in the SLC Tournament. Offensively, the Sugar Bears feature six players who average at least 2.00 kills per set, led by All-SLC first teamers Heather Schnars (3.57) and Jessica Nagy (2.98). SLC Player and Setter of the Year Marissa Collins keys the Sugar Bear offense, dishing out the fourth most assists per set in the nation (12.03). Defensively, the Sugar Bears are led by Shelbee Berringer's 4.89 digs and Paige Gantar's 0.83 blocks.

Purdue (20-11, 11-9 Big Ten) earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tourney after finishing sixth in the Big Ten during the regular season. The Boilermakers are led by Catherine Rebarchak and Val Nichol, who average 2.92 and 2.76 kills per set, respectively. Nichol leads the team with 6.00 assists per set, followed closely by Rachel Davis' 5.17 assists. Carly Cramer digs 4.02 balls per set to lead the Boilermaker defense, and Kierra Jones averages 1.20 blocks per set.

The winner of the match will move on to the second round to face the winner of Friday night's match between IUPUI and national fourth seed Missouri at 7:30 pm on Saturday.