Tucson, Ariz. –

The Central Arkansas Volleyball team opened its season on the road, against the twentieth-ranked Kansas Jayhawks on Friday afternoon. Kansas came into the match with the ninth-highest RPI in the nation, but the Sugar Bears appeared to be completely unfazed, taking down the Jayhawks by a score of 3-1.

The Sugar Bears (1-0) took the first set 25-21 before Kansas (0-1) stormed back to win the second set 25-16 and tie the match at 1-1. Central Arkansas rebounded, taking both the third and the fourth set by a score of 26-24 to pick up their first win against a ranked opponent in school history.

The Sugar Bears started off a bit slowly, hitting .118 and .158 in the first and second sets before bumping up to hit .286 in the third set and .255 in the fourth. All told, Central Arkansas hit .202 for the match, while Kansas hit .232. Marissa Collins keyed the Central Arkansas offense, dishing out a match-high 52 assists and also getting nine digs. Jessica Nagy collected a team-high 17 kills while hitting an impressive .351 to go with three blocks and two digs. Heather Schnars had 13 kills and six digs, while Paige Gantar turned in 12 kills and four blocks. Shelbee Berringer tallied a match-high 29 digs. Caroline Jarmoc had a match-high 19 kills for the Jayhawks, while Erin McNortin dished out 49 assists and Brianne Riley had 18 digs.

The Sugar Bears continue play in the Arizona Invitational tomorrow at 12:30 pm, facing off against host Arizona. Central Arkansas will wrap up their first weekend of play against Morgan State at 6:30 tomorrow evening.