Conway – The Central Arkansas Sugar Bears were back in action on Tuesday night, welcoming the Houston Baptist Huskies to the Prince Center for a Southland Conference match. The Sugar Bears trailed just three times in the entire match, taking down the Huskies in straight sets.

Central Arkansas (7-9, 3-1 SLC) jumped out to a 12-5 lead in the first set to force a Houston Baptist (8-9, 1-2 SLC) timeout. The Break did nothing to slow down the Sugar Bears' moment, as the Huskies were forced to call another timeout trailing UCA 20-9. HBU came out of the break on a 3-0 run to force a timeout from Central Arkansas. The Sugar Bears cruised for the rest of the seat, taking first set 25-17.

"We started out strong tonight, which is something that we've really been hammering home during practice," said Central Arkansas head coach Jeni Jones. "It was nice to see us set the tone not just for the first set, but for the entire match."

The Sugar Bears opened the second set even more strongly, forcing a timeout from the Huskies at 9-2. Central Arkansas exploded out of the break with a 4-0 run, causing HBU to take its second timeout trailing 13-2. The break did nothing to slow down the Sugar Bears, as the extended their lead in the match to 2-0 thanks to a 25-14 win in the set.

Houston Baptist took two of the first three points in the third set for their first lead of the match. The teams traded runs for the remainder of the set, but the Sugar Bears came out on top, securing the win in the match with a 25-20 win in the set.

On the night, the Sugar Bears hit .a blistering .341 for the set. Central Arkansas shared the wealth offensively, with four players tallying at least seven kills. Junior Fulani Petties and senior Heather Schnars led the way for the Sugar Bears, with each collecting nine kills, while junior Rachel Sharp and sophomore Megan Nash each chipped in seven kills. Senior Amy South contributed to all facets of the game, doling out a match-high 29 assists, while digging six HBU attacks and serving up a pair of aces. Nash and Petties tied for the match-high with three blocks a piece, while freshman Allie Kemp dug a match-high 15 attacks.

"Amy did a really nice job of being consistent and running the floor," said Jones of the Central Arkansas setter. "She's loving playing back row defense. I think she's one of the best setters in the country at playing defense, and she views it as a challenge when teams attack at her."

The Sugar Bears return to action on Thursday, hosting New Orleans at 7:00 PM. "New Orleans is a very physical team," said Jones of the Privateers. "They're very well-coached, so we know that we're going to have our hands full. We need to come out like we did tonight to have a good showing."