Conway – The Central Arkansas Sugar Bears took to the court at the Farris Center on Saturday afternoon looking to extend their season by handing the top-seeded Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders their first loss to a Southland Conference opponent since November 11, 2014. While that match saw the Sugar Bears take down the Islanders in the semifinals of the Southland Conference Tournament, a repeat was not in the cards on Saturday, as the Sugar Bears fell to the Islanders 3-1.

The first set was tight through the early going, with neither side taking a lead larger than two points until Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (23-7) used a 4-0 run to take a 15-10 lead and force a timeout from Central Arkansas (16-14). The Sugar Bears cut the lead to 15-14, before another short run from the Islanders pushed it back out to 18-14 and the Sugar Bears took their second timeout. The pause wouldn't do much for the Sugar Bears, who found themselves in a 1-0 hole in the match as the Islanders took the set 25-20. Sophomore Haley Tippett led the Sugar Bears in the set, picking up four kills and four digs.

The Islanders opened the second set with an 8-4 run to force a UCA timeout before eventually extending the lead to 11-5. The Sugar Bears would rally though, tying the match at 15-15 to force the Islanders to take their first timeout of the set. The Sugar Bears and Islanders would trade points over the remainder of the set, until UCA broke a 23-23 tie with back-to-back kills from Tippett and sophomore Samantha Anderson to even the match at 1-1. Freshman Elizabeth Armstrong had a big set for UCA, handing out 17 assists, as Anderson collected six kills and Tippett add five to her count.

TAMUCC opened the third set with another big run, building a 9-2 lead. That start would prove to be the difference, as Central Arkansas would outscore the Islanders 18-16 over the remainder of the set, with TAMUCC taking a 2-1 lead with a 25-20 set win. Anderson and Tippett again led the Central Arkansas attack, with three and two kills each, and freshman Abbie Harry also picked up a pair of kills.

The fourth set saw the Islanders continue their string of hot starts, as they would build an 8-2 lead and force a timeout from the Sugar Bears. Again the start would make all the difference, with Central Arkansas hold a 20-17 edge over the rest of the set. The rally would fall short however; as TAMUCC would close out the match with a 25-22 win in the fourth. Anderson added four kills to her total, while sophomore Kellen Dunn and junior Megan Nash also tallied four kills each.

On the night, Anderson collected a match-high 14 kills and added four blocks and three digs, while Tippett closed out the season with her 15^th double-double, with 13 kills and 14 digs. Nash was the final Sugar Bear with double-figure kills, pairing 10 kills with four blocks and Armstrong finished the match with 43 assists and nine digs. On the defensive front, sophomore Amanda Dimon tallied a team-high 16 digs, while freshman Rayna Jefferis added 15, and senior Rachel Sharp had 12. At the net, sophomore Savanah Allen tied for the team-high with four blocks.

"We as a program were able to come together a few weeks ago, and say 'we're not going to do this anymore, this isn't who we are," said UCA head coach Jeni Jones Chatman, whose Sugar Bears saw a six-match winning streak come to an end on the day. "I'm so proud of the fight this team has shown; in the gym every day and in our matches. We had an attitude, where it didn't matter what the number in front of our opponent was, we were just focused on the next match."

On Anderson, who collected 37 kills over the eight sets the Sugar Bears played in the tournament, Chatman said, "She had a great tournament. She was a great teammate, and she worked incredibly hard to always have an answer, whether we were in system or out of system. Last night, she did as good of a job as I've ever seen of finding a way, every single time. And I thought she did just as good of a job this afternoon. Her kill number today might not reflect that, but she was definitely still a go-to player for us today. I'm so proud of her progression throughout the season."

Chatman finished by speaking of the future of her program: "It's exciting, the fact that we're only graduating one player and we've got the bulk of our team back next season and we've now created a tradition among our players. The message has been sent that this is the level you have to play at to play here. I hate that we're losing Rachel, she's a leader and a teammate that would go above and beyond for anybody, so we're going to miss that. But it's just been so fun to see this team compete and evolve day in and day out, and I'm so excited to continue to see that."