Conway – The Central Arkansas Sugar Bears returned to action on Saturday afternoon, hosting 2015 Southland Conference Champion Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at the Prince Center. Despite battling hard, the Sugar Bears were unable to get much going offensively, falling to the Islanders 3-0.
 
A&M-Corpus Christi (9-6, 4-0 SLC) opened the match on a 7-2 run before the Sugar Bears battled back to cut the lead to 8-6. A 4-0 Islander run forced a timeout from the Sugar Bears, who would chip away at the AMCC lead with a 3-0 run of their own. After the Islanders built the lead up to 21-16, a 7-3 Central Arkansas (8-9, 2-3 SLC) made the scored 24-23 in favor of the Islanders, who closed out the set with a kill from Morgan Carlson. Central Arkansas out-hit the Islanders .300 to .259 in the set, but AMCC took advantage of three aces and four UCA reception errors to make up the diference. Sophomores Haley Tippett and Kellen Dunn each tallied three kills to lead the Sugar Bears in the set.

The second set would prove to be all Islanders, as the Sugar Bears hit -.103. Freshman Loren Washington (1.000) and junior Megan Nash (.250) were the only UCA players to turn in a positive attack percentage in the set, combining for a pair of kills on five attacks as the Islanders extended their lead in the match to 2-0 behind a 25-13 win in the set.

The third set was a much more even affair, as Central Arkansas took their first lead of the afternoon after taking seven of the first 12 points of the set. The Islanders would score the next four points, however, taking a 9-7. After the Sugar Bears tied the set at 11-11, AMCC would take three of the next four points, taking the 14-12 lead and refusing to relinquish it despite the Sugar Bears cutting it to just one point six times over the remainder of the set. In the end, a 4-1 AMCC run would close out the match. Sophomore Samantha Anderson led the way for UCA in the set, tallying four kills, while Nash added three.

"The unforced errors were just as impactful tonight as they were on Tuesday," said UCA head coach Jeni Jones Chatman, "the only difference is that we had 35 instead of 40. We talk about how each time we step onto the floor it's an opportunity to get better. It's a chance to increase our efficiency, to get better as individuals, to get better as a program, but when it gets down to set three, it's no longer an opportunity, it's the last shot. We've got to become mentally stronger."

On the day, Anderson and Dunn led the Central Arkansas attack, with each tallying seven kills as freshman Elizabeth Armstrong handed out 21 assists. Defensively, Nash and sophomore Nicole Peters each collected three blocks and Tippett dug a team-high six attacks.

Central Arkansas hits the road for a pair of Southland matches next weekend. The Sugar Bears will head to Beaumont, Texas to take on the Lamar Cardinals at 7:00 PM on Thursday afternoon, before taking on the Houston Baptist Huskies at 1:00 PM on Saturday.

"Houston Baptist is a very good team. I don't think they've played the upper half, but I think they're very solid. Going down there, it's always a tough place to play, because the crowd is right there in your ear and it's a great environment. They graduated one player last season, and their setter is phenomenal. And Lamar is a team that has some really strong athletes and they can get scary good at times with their connections, their power, and their speed. We have to do a better job on our side of the net. We have to follow our game plan better, as far as what we have to do defensively, and until we make those adjustments the errors are going to stay the same. "