Columbia, Mo. – For the second consecutive season, Central Arkansas saw its volleyball program's wildly successful season come to a close in the NCAA Tournament on Friday as the Sugar Bears fell to perennial power Purdue 25-15, 25-17, 25-13 in the first round at the University of Missouri's Hearnes Center.
The loss brought an end to another championship season for the Sugar Bears (29-4), who made their second consecutive NCAA Tournament after winning 22 straight matches – including all 21 against Southland Conference foes – and became the first Southland program to win back-to-back regular season and tournament championships since 1990. They were knocked out of the national championship tournament by a Purdue (21-11) squad that has now reached the second round of the NCAAs in four straight years and nine of the last 11. Last season, the Sugar Bears bowed out of the NCAAs with a loss to No. 5 national seed Washington to end a 30-win season.
In Friday's loss, the Sugar Bears hit a season-low .010 with 26 errors, while the Boilermakers had a .312 attack percentage – the highest surrendered by the Sugar Bears this season, eclipsing the .274 mark by Marquette. By comparison, No. 2 Penn State hit only .247 against the Sugar Bears earlier in the season. Purdue had 36 kills to 27 for the Sugar Bears, and had seven service aves to just one for UCA.
The Sugar Bears showed some fight early on, trailing 11-7 in the first set before the Boilermakers went on a 9-2 run to gain their largest lead at 20-9. The Sugar Bears were able to cut it to 22-15, but got no closer as the Purdue closed it out with the final three points. In Set 2, the Sugar Bears threatened late as they trailed 20-16, but suffered a pair of hitting errors to help the Boilermakers end on a 5-1 run to pull away for the win. In the final set, the Boilermakers jumped out to a 9-1 lead and rolled to the 25-13 win, with the Sugar Bears never getting closer than 17-9.
Evie Grace Singleton led the Sugar Bears with seven kills on the night, while Jessica Nagy and Heather Schnars each chipped in five. Marissa Collins tallied a match-high 23 assists to pace the Central Arkansas offense, and on defense, Shelbee Berringer had a match-high 11 digs while Fulani Petties and Nagy had three blocks each.
Sam Epenesa led Purdue with eight kills, and Annie Drews hit .462, the highest attack percentage that the Sugar Bears have conceded to an individual this year. Val Nichol dished out 19 assists and Rachel Davis chipped in nine. Defensively, the Boilermakers were led by Carly Cramer's 10 digs and Kierra Jones' eight blocks.
In ending their season in the field of 64 for the second consecutive season, the Sugar Bears conclude a two-year run that saw them win 86 percent of their matches with 59 wins (the second most in the country behind Penn State entering this year's NCAA Tournament), a pair of Southland Conference regular-season championships and two tournament titles with a total record of 39-3 (.923) against league foes, an RPI among the national Top 50, and a No. 24 ranking by VolleyballMag.com.
