Conway – The Central Arkansas Sugar Bears opened the home portion of their Southland Conference schedule on Tuesday afternoon, welcoming the Northwestern State Lady Demons to the Prince Center. The Sugar Bears struggled offensively on the day, seeing the attack percentage drop in each set as they fell to the Lady Demons by scores of 25-19, 25-15, and 25-22.

"We came out with a game plan and we didn't execute," said UCA head coach Jeni Jones Chatman after the match. "I want to give credit where it's due, because Northwestern put us in a tail-spin, mentally, but we have to do a better job of not letting that happen. It's something we've worked on, but as a young team it's something that we continue to have to work on."

The Sugar Bears (8-8, 2-2 SLC) hit a solid .261 in the first set, getting three kills from sophomore Samantha Anderson and two from sophomore Haley Tippett, but the Lady Demons managed a .321 attack percentage thanks to five kills from Madeline Drake and nine assists from Natalie Jaeger.

In the second set, UCA would see its hitting percentage fall to .185, while the Lady Demons (8-10, 3-0 SLC) ratcheted up their percentage to a blistering .550 thanks to 12 kills and just one error on 20 attacks. Junior Megan Nash and freshman Abbie Harry lead the way for the Sugar Bears with five kills each, while freshman Elizabeth Armstrong gathered 11 assists.

Neither team was able to get much going offensively, as Central Arkansas outhit the Lady Demons .143 to .079 in the set, but NSU take advantage of seven Sugar Bear service errors to make up for it. Tippett led the Sugar Bears with four kills behind a .400 attack percentage, while Nash added three kills and Anderson and Harry each picked up a pair.

On the night, Armstrong handed out 27 assists, as Nash led the Sugar Bears with eight kills and four blocks. Tippett collected seven kills and seven digs, while Harry also tallied seven kills. Sophomore Amanda Dimon collected a team-high nine digs.

"Abbie came in and did a great job for us tonight, she was a real bright spot," said Chatman. "Going into the third set, she was hitting .571 and she was terminating at a high level and getting some blocks."

Central Arkansas returns to the court on Saturday at noon, hosting Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

"In our conference, and with the way the schedule is set up, it only gets tougher," said Chatman of the Sugar Bears' match-up with the Islanders. "Top to bottom, the conference is way better than it was last year, so each night is going to be a battle."