Memphis, Tenn. – The Central Arkansas Sugar Bears closed out this weekend's appearance at the Memphis Invitational by squaring off with Chicago State on Saturday. UCA dropped the first set 25-22, before taking the next three by scores of 25-22, 25-21, and 29-27 to defeat the Cougars 3-1.

The first set saw the teams engaged in a back-and-forth battle, as Chicago State (0-3) jumped out to a 7-4 lead before Central Arkansas (2-1) rallied to go on top by a score of 13-11. The set continued on in the same manor, with UCA pushing out to a 20-17 lead thanks to a 6-0 run, before CSU closed out the set with an 8-2 streak. CSU outhit UCA .351 to .167 in the set, as senior Rachel Sharp and sophomore Savanah Allen were the only Sugar Bears to hit over .250.

The second set followed a similar flow, as the teams traded short runs throughout. Central Arkansas managed a hitting percentage of just .133, but took advantage of four total blocks and eight Cougar errors to hold CSU to an .074 mark. Sharp and sophomore Haley Tippett each collected four kills in the set, while Allen picked up three blocks.

The third set saw both teams improve their attach percentage significantly, as Chicago State hit .323 and Central Arkansas turned in an even more impressive .353 mark. Every Sugar Bear who got multiple attempts in the set hit at least .429, led by freshman Abbie Harry, who had two kills on two attacks for a perfect 1.000 hitting percentage, and freshman Samantha Anderson, who tallied four kills on six attempts.

In the fourth set, the Sugar Bears grabbed a 10-6 lead, before a CSU run cut it to 12-11. The sides then traded points until the Cougars took a 17-16 lead, when UCA got a 4-0 run to take a 20-17 lead. After a 4-1 CSU streak to even the match at 23-23, the teams would again trade points, until Central Arkansas got a 4-1 run of their own to close out the match. In the set, Sharp put up six kills, while junior Megan Nash added five.

For the match, Central Arkansas had four players pick up double-digit kills, led by Sharp's 15. Tippett pitched in with 14, while Anderson and Nash each added 10. Tippett completed the double-double with 12 digs, while sophomore Amanda Dimon tied for the team-high with 12 of her own. The offense was keyed by freshman Elizabeth Armstrong and junior Kristine Hjembo, who passed out 27 and 19 assists, respectively. Central Arkansas collected nine team blocks in the match, led by Allen, who picked up six.

After the match, Armstrong and Tippett were named to the All-Memphis Invitational Team. Armstrong averaged 5.38 assists per set while adding 19 digs, five kills, and a pair of service aces, while Tippett proved to be a jack-of-all-trades, averaging a team-high 3.92 digs while ranking second on the team with averages of 2.46 kills and 0.31 service aces.

Central Arkansas opens the home portion of its schedule this week, hosting the UCA Volleyball/Crain Automotive Invitational at the Farris Center. The Sugar Bears will face off with Southland Conference foe Incarnate Word at 4:00 PM on Thursday night former Southland opponent Oral Roberts at 7:00 PM on Friday, before playing Alcorn State and Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday.