Jonesboro, Arkansas – The Central Arkansas Sugar Bears continued their appearance at the A-State Invitational on Friday afternoon, taking on the Tulsa Golden Hurricane. The Sugar Bears hit just .097 on the night, falling to the Golden Hurricane by a final score of 3-1.

The first set saw Tulsa (7-1) leap out to a 12-4 lead to force a time out from the Sugar Bears (3-6), who would call their second timeout of the set following an even 4-4 run that saw the Golden Hurricane lead 16-8. After Tulsa extended its lead to 20-11, the Sugar Bears attempted to rally, getting a 5-1 run to cut the lead to 21-16, before Tulsa closed out the set with a 5-1 run to earn the 25-17 win. In the set, Central Arkansas got three kills from sophomore Nicole Peters and two from junior Megan Nash.

Central Arkansas rebounded in the second, forcing a timeout from Tulsa after opening the set with a 6-1 run. A further 5-2 run pushed the Sugar Bear lead to 11-5, before the teams traded points to push the match to 15-8. Tulsa would reel off four straight points to cut it to 15-12 UCA, and would eventually even the set at 21-21, before a 4-0 UCA run, punctuated by a pair of service aces from Nash, evened the match at 1-1.The Sugar Bears got four kills from senior Rachel Sharp and three from sophomore Kellen Dunn in the set, as freshman Elizabeth Armstrong dished out 10 assists.

The third set was even early, as the Sugar Bears broke a 7-7 tie with a 3-0 run, before a 5-0 streak from Tulsa forced a UCA timeout. UCA would tie the set at 12-12, before Tulsa pulled away for the 25-20 set win. Armstrong was even better in the third, delivering 14 assists, as UCA got six kills from Dunn, five from Sharp, and four from freshman Samantha Anderson.

Central Arkansas grabbed the first point of the fourth set, but that would be the only lead they would have, as Tulsa secured the match with a  25-22 win. Dunn again led the Sugar Bear attack, tallying five kills in the set.

On the night, Dunn led the Central Arkansas offense, tallying a career-high 15 kills, while Anderson and Sharp each pitched in with nine. Armstrong marshalled the attack, passing out a match-high 39 assists. Defensively, the Sugar Bears got double-digit digs from freshman Rayna Jefferis (14), sophomore Amanda Dimon (12), and Armstrong (10). At the net, Peters picked up eight blocks and Anderson added six.

Central Arkansas closes out the tournament against UT-Martin tomorrow at 10:30 AM.