Conway – After a successful opening weekend in Memphis, Tennessee last week, the Central Arkansas Sugar Bears are set to open the home portion of their schedule by playing host to four other teams in the 2016 UCA Volleyball/Crain Automotive Invitational this week. All told 10 matches will be played at the Farris Center from Thursday through Saturday, with Central Arkansas featuring in four of them.

The tournament will kick off with the Sugar Bears welcoming Southland Conference foe Incarnate Word to the Farris Center at 4:00 PM this afternoon. Tournament play will continue with four matches set to begin at 10:00 AM tomorrow morning, and the Sugar Bears will cap the day with a match against former Southland opponent Oral Roberts at 7:00 PM. The 2016 version of the Crain Automotive Invitational will finish on Saturday, when five matches will be played. The Sugar Bears will take to the court twice, first against Alcorn State at 12:30 PM, before UCA closes out the tournament against the University of Louisiana at Monroe at 7:30 PM.

Central Arkansas (2-1) opened the season at the Memphis Invitational last weekend, dropping the opener to Belmont by a score of 3-2, before rebounding to take down Memphis and Chicago State by matching 3-1 finals. The Sugar Bears showed balance on offense, as senior Rachel Sharp, junior Megan Nash, and sophomores Samantha Anderson and Haley Tippett all came out of the weekend averaging over 2.00 kills per set. Tippett and freshman Elizabeth Armstrong each earned All-Tournament honors in 2016's opening weekend, with Tippett leading the Sugar Bears in digs per set (3.92) while ranking second in kills (2.46) and aces per set (0.31), and Armstrong handing out a team-high 5.38 assists per set while adding 19 digs, five kills, and a pair of aces.

Incarnate Word (0-3) opened the season at the Hurricane Classic in Tulsa, Oklahoma last weekend, bookending a 3-0 loss to South Dakota with 3-1 losses to Tulsa and Alabama. The Cardinal attack is led by sophomore Autumn Lockley, who has led the squad in kills in all three matches, averaging 3.09 kills per set while hitting .174. Defensively, the Cardinals are led by senior Shaina Garza's 3.64 digs per set and junior Sarea Alexander's 1.45 blocks per set. Central Arkansas holds a 3-1 edge in the all-time series with UIW and has won all three meetings since the Cardinals joined the Southland in 2013.

ULM (0-4) travelled to Knoxville, Tennessee to take part in the Tennessee Invitational on opening weekend. The Warhawks suffered straight-set defeats at the hands of Middle Tennessee, Tennessee, and Cincinnati in the tournament, before falling at Northwestern State by a final of 3-1 on Wednesday evening. ULM is led by seniors Hope Pawlic, who averages 2.85 kills per set, and Kaitlyn Shearer, who is hitting .290 and averaging 2.00 blocks per set. Central Arkansas leads the all-time series with ULM by a score of 3-1, and has won all three meetings between the two teams in the past eight years by scores of 3-0.

Oral Roberts (1-2) took a short road trip to Norman, Oklahoma to open the 2016 season at the Norman Invitational last weekend. The Golden Eagles dropped 3-0 decisions to Oklahoma and UMKC, before closing out the weekend with a 3-1 win over UTEP. The ORU offense funnels through junior Laura Milos, who averages a team-high 5.60 kills per set, while fellow junior Lucija Bojanjac dishes out 9.50 assists per set. On the defensive side of the ball a pair of freshmen lead the way, freshman Maci Matherne digs a team-high 3.75 attacks per set and Taylor Nero averages 1.00 blocks per set. While the Sugar Bears hold a commanding 5-1 lead in their all-time series with the Golden Eagles, the matches have been close, with just one needing only three sets. UCA won the most recent battle between the two by a score of 3-1 in 2013.

Alcorn State (0-0) will be opening the 2016 season this weekend. The Lady Braves are coming off a 2015 season that saw them go 11-24, including a 2-6 mark in the SWAC. Among Alcorn's returning statistical leaders from last season are senior Carol Kiam-Assato, who averaged 3.28 digs and 0.48 aces per set, and senior Sydney Mellom, who hit .190 and passes out 3.23 assists per set last season. Central Arkansas has won both of its meetings with the Lady Braves in straight sets.

Live stats will be available for all ten matches of the 2016 Crain Automotive Invitational; they can be found at http://sidearmstats.com/uca/wvball/. Live streams of all four matches featuring Central Arkansas are available at http://ucasports.com/watch .