Natchitoches, Louisiana – The Central Arkansas Sugar Bears found themselves in a battle on Saturday afternoon, facing off with the Northwestern State Lady Demons. The Sugar Bears punched their ticket to the upcoming Southland Conference Volleyball Tournament, taking down the Lady Demons 3-2.

Central Arkansas (13-13, 7-7 SLC) grabbed a quick 5-1 lead to open the match before Northwestern State (12-17, 7-7 SLC) stormed back to even the set at 13-13 and force a Sugar Bear timeout. UCA would take seven of the next 11 points to build the lead back to 20-17 and cause the Lady Demons to take a timeout of their own. UCA would come out of the break by pushing the lead out to 23-19 to force another break from Northwestern State, who got the next two points to cut the lead to 23-21 and cause the Sugar Bears to take the final timeout of the set. After the final stoppage, the teams would trade points, with UCA grabbing a 1-0 lead in the match thanks to a 25-22 win in the set. The Sugar Bears hit .367 in the set, with sophomores Haley Tippett and Samantha Anderson each tallying four kills.

In the second set, it was Northwestern State's turn to take the early lead, forcing a timeout from the Sugar Bears after taking a 9-5 lead. Central Arkansas would cut the lead to 14-13, before tying the set at 14-14 following a timeout from the Lady Demons. With things tied up at 16-16, Northwestern extended the lead to 20-17, eventually evening the match at 1-1 with a 25-21 win. Anderson and fellow sophomore Savanah Allen each picked up four kills in the set, while freshman Elizabeth Armstrong nearly collected a double-double, passing out 12 assists and digging eight Lady Demon attacks.

The third set again saw a team build a 9-5 lead to force a timeout, with the Sugar Bears grabbing the lead. The Lady Demons would cut it 10-9 following the break, before a 7-0 UCA run pushed it to 17-9.The Sugar Bears would retake the lead in the match thanks to a 25-18 win in the set. Megan Nash was nearly unstoppable in the set, hitting .778 while tallying a set-high seven kills

Continuing the trend established in the previous two sets, Northwestern State would build an 8-5 lead to open the set, causing the Sugar Bears to take their first timeout. UCA would explode out of the stoppage, taking a 10-9 lead, in part thanks to three Lady Demon errors to force Northwestern State to take a pause of its own, but the Sugar Bears continued their momentum, building their lead to 14-11 to force another timeout from the Lady Demons. Central Arkansas would extend the lead all the way to 19-12, before Northwestern State roared back to even the match at 2-2 with a 25-23 win. Tippett led the way with four kills, as Central Arkansas hit just .027 in the set.

The decisive set saw the Sugar Bears open on a 6-2 run to force a timeout from the Lady Demons, but the damage was done, as Central Arkansas took the set by a final of 15-11 to wrap up the 3-2 win.  The Sugar Bears hit .471 in the set, making just one hitting error on 17 total attacks. Anderson added four kills to her count, while Tippett pitched in three and Nash contributed two.

On the night, the Sugar Bears outhit the Lady Demons .253 to .213. Anderson led the Central Arkansas attack with 17 kills and a .467 attack percentage, while Tippett added 16 and Nash finished with 14. Armstrong earned her seventh double-double of the season, passing out 53 assists and digging 14 attacks, while sophomore Amanda Dimon led the Sugar Bears with 19 digs. Tippett picked up 13 digs of her own for her 12^th double-double of the season, while freshman Rayna Jefferis collected 13 digs and a match-high five aces. Nash led the Sugar Bears at the net, picking up a match-high four blocks, while Allen added three and Tippett had two.

Central Arkansas closes out the regular season with a pair of matches at home next week. The Sugar Bears will battle Sam Houston State in the Farris Center at 7:00 PM on Thursday night, before finishing with Stephen F. Austin at the Prince Center at noon on Saturday.