Conway – The Central Arkansas volleyball team closed out the 2015 UCA Volleyball Crain Automotive Invitational on Saturday night, facing off against the Alabama State Lady Hornets at the Farris Center. The Sugar Bears and Lady Hornets traded the first two sets, before Central Arkansas took the third and a hard-fought fourth set for the 3-1 victory.

The first set was initially close, with neither team able to create separation early, but the Sugar Bears (4-9) went on an 11-3 run to take a commanding lead, eventually taking the set 25-16 to take a 1-0 lead in the match.

The Lady Hornets (4-9) responded in the second set, taking advantage of seven kills from Chelsey Scott to even the match at 1-1 with a 25-23 win.

The third set would prove to be all Sugar Bears, as Central Arkansas took advantage of five service aces and five blocks to retake the lead with a 25-11 win.

The fourth set was more completive, with the teams trading runs. Central Arkansas built a 15-9 lead, but Alabama State got a 13-4 run of their own to take a 22-19 lead in the set. After a point for both squads, the Sugar Bears ripped off five straight points to take the set 25-23.

"We came out with a pretty good lead in the set, and unfortunately put it on cruise control," said Central Arkansas head coach Jeni Jones. "Our serving got very vanilla and that allowed Alabama State to start getting confidence with their pass. They started jamming the middle and we weren't able to make the adjustment quick enough, which is something that we're constantly talking with our players about. We got pushed, and I was thrilled to see the way that we responded."

The Central Arkansas attack was led by senior Heather Schnars, who tallied a match-high 15 kills and five service aces, while sophomore Megan Nash was a jack-of-all-trades, collecting nine kills, six blocks, five digs, and four service aces. Senior Amy South dished out a match-high 34 assists and added five digs and three blocks.

"Getting Meg going was one of our priorities tonight, and she made some key adjustments from last night," said Jones. "We started forcing the ball to her to open her up with some one-on-on opportunities early on, and even when they were having a solid double-block on her she was still able to get some kills."

Following the match, Schnars and South were named to the All-Tournament team. In three matches, Schnars averaged 4.60 kills per set and 1.00 service ace per set while leading the Sugar Bears with 2.80 digs per set. South averaged 9.20 assists per set and 1.60 digs per set for Central Arkansas.

The Sugar Bears return to Southland Conference play for a pair of matches next weekend, hosting Abilene Christian and Incarnate Word.