Fort Myers, Fla. –

The Central Arkansas volleyball team finished off their appearance in the 2013 Hilton Garden Inn/Homewood Suites Airport Volleyball Classic with a pair of matches on Saturday. The Sugar Bears fell to no. 3 Penn State 3-0 this morning, before dropping a 3-2 decision to Marquette in the afternoon.

Against Penn State, winners of four of the past six national titles, the Sugar Bears kept the first two sets close, falling 25-20 and 25-22, before the Nittany Lions (5-1) pulled away in the third, picking up the 25-10 set victory. Jessica Nagy led the way offensively for Central Arkansas (7-3), notching nine kills. Marissa Collins dished out 30 assists, while Shlebee Berringer dug up 15 balls. Megan Courtney led the PSU offense, picking up ten kills, and Katie Slay chipped in six kills and eight blocks.

In their second match of the day, the Sugar Bears faced off with Marquette, an NCAA Tournament team a season ago. The Golden Eagles (4-3) grabbed a 25-23 victory in the first set, before Central Arkansas took the next two sets with 25-23 victories of their own. Marquette evened the match at two sets apiece with a 25-20 win in the fourth, before earning the match victory by taking the fifth set 15-11.

Nagy and Heather Schnars were the leaders for the Central Arkansas offense, tallying 13 kills each. Paige Gantar added 12 kills and Scout Brooks had 10. Collins had 48 assists in the match, and Berringer collected 26 digs. Lindsey Gosh led the way for Marquette, getting 17 kills in the match. Elizabeth Koberstein had 54 assists for the Golden Eagles, and Julie Jeziorowski had 23 digs.

The Sugar Bears return to the court for a trio of games in the Prince Center later next week. Central Arkansas will open Southland Conference play on Thursday night, playing host to new SLC member Abilene Christian at 7:00 pm. On Friday night, the Sugar Bears will welcome Louisiana Tech to the Prince at 7:00 pm, before closing out the weekend with an SLC match against Incarnate Word at 2:00 Saturday afternoon.