Conway – The Central Arkansas Sugar Bears took to the court at the Prince Center for a Southland Conference matchup against Incarnate Word. The Sugar Bears came out firing on all cylinders, hitting a red-hot .430 on their way to a 3-0 win.
Central Arkansas (6-9, 2-1 SLC) was actually outhit .562 to .400 in the first set, but took advantage of a pair of service aces and two blocks to take the set 25-18.
Incarnate Word (2-8, 0-1 SLC) jumped out to a 5-2 lead in the second set, but Central Arkansas rebounded, tying the match at 10-10. From that point on, it was all UCA, as the Sugar Bears took the set 25-20.
In the third set, the Cardinals forced a Central Arkansas timeout after taking an 8-4 lead. UIW took two of the next three points to push their lead to 10-5 before a 5-0 Central Arkansas lead evened the score at 10-10. The sides traded points until UIW went on a 4-0 to take a 20-17 lead and force another UCA timeout. The Sugar Bears got a 5-1 run out of the break to force a timeout from the Cardinals, before kills from senior
Heather Schnars and freshman
Samantha Anderson and an ace from Schnars gave UCA the 25-23 win in the set.
"We came into the match with the kind of mentality that we need to be coming into a match with," said Central Arkansas head coach Jeni Jones. "We set the tone of the match today."
On the day, the Sugar Bears were led by Schnars, who had a match-high 19 kills, and sophomore
Megan Nash, who added 10 of her own, while senior
Amy South dished out a match-high 39 assists. Defensively, Nash paced the Central Arkansas with three blocks and South, Nash, Schnars, and
Corri Hunt each tallied five digs.
"Megan was unstoppable today, we couldn't get her the ball enough," said Jones. "And I think
Rachel Sharp did some really nice things today as well."
Central Arkansas returns to action on Tuesday night, hosting Houston Baptist. "The quick turnaround doesn't change anything," said Jones. "We prepare the same for every opponent: we need to control the ball on our side of the net, but we have come out and set the tone, and when that happens, good things are going to happen."
