Conway – The Central Arkansas Sugar Bears took to the court on Saturday afternoon knowing exactly what they needed to do: win and secure the second seed in the upcoming Southland Conference Volleyball Championship. The Sugar Bears easily achieved that goal, sweeping the New Orleans Privateers 25-10, 25-15, 25-23.
Central Arkansas (16-12, 12-4 SLC) opened the match on fire, hitting a blistering .450 in the first set while limiting the Privateers to a -.095 attack percentage. Senior
Amy South marshalled the UCA attack in the set, passing out 10 assist to four different players in the set, while fellow senior
Heather Schnars served up three aces in the set.
In the second set, the Sugar Bears looked even better, upping their attack percentage to .500. Schnars led the way with seven kills, as South added 14 assists to her mark.
The Privateers attempted to rally in the third set, upping their hitting percentage to .265 and trading points with the Sugar Bears for the majority of the set. After taking a timeout early in the set, UNO took a 15-13 lead, forcing a timeout from the Sugar Bears. UCA exploded with a four-point rally out of the break, causing the Privateers to take their second timeout of the set. UNO responded with a 5-2 run to take a 20-19 lead, and UCA head coach Jeni Jones took her second timeout in an effort to break New Orleans' momentum. That proved to be the right move, as Central Arkansas came out of the stoppage with a 4-0 run before closing out the match a few points later.
On the day, Central Arkansas hit a red-hot .461, thanks to hitting percentages of at least .300 from all three players that had double-digit attacks. Schnars led the way with a match-high 18 kills while hitting .708, and completed the double-double with a match-high 11 digs. Freshman
Samantha Anderson added nine kills on a .300 attack percentage, while freshman
Nicole Peters and junior
Rachel Sharp each chipped in five kills while hitting .625 and .417 respectively. South easily had the match-high with 37 assists, while sophomore
Megan Nash led the way defensively with four blocks.
With the win, the Sugar Bears locked themselves in as the second seed in the Southland Conference Volleyball Championship, which begins Friday in Conway. Full seeding for the tournament will be released later today, but Central Arkansas will take the court at the Farris Center at 6:30 PM on Friday evening, taking on the seventh seed in the tournament.
