Jonesboro, Arkansas – The Central Arkansas Sugar Bears returned to action on Thursday night, beginning their appearance in the 2016 A-State Invitational against host Arkansas State. The Sugar Bears struggled with the serve on the night, picking up eight service errors and falling victim to seven A-State aces to drop the match 3-0.

The first set saw Arkansas State (5-3) grab an early 9-5 lead before Central Arkansas (3-5) evened the set at 10-10. From that point, the Red Wolves would build a 16-12 lead to force a timeout from the Sugar Bears, who then took advantage of three straight A-State attack errors to cut the Red Wolf lead to 17-15. That was as close as the Sugar Bears would get in the set, as the Red Wolves would make three straight 2-for-1 trades to close out the set with a final score of 25-19. Central Arkansas hit just .067 in the set, but took advantage of three blocks from both Rachel Sharp and Nicole Peters to keep it within reach.

Central Arkansas roared out to an early lead in the second set, taking a 9-4 lead to force a timeout from the Red Wolves. A-State took advantage of the pause, going on a 4-0 run to cut the UCA lead to 10-8, before the Sugar Bears got another streak to push the lead out to 14-9. The Red Wolves responded in kind, using a 7-2 run to even the match at 16-16 and cause UCA to take their first timeout of the set. After the teams traded points to push the set to 23-23, A-State got a kill from Brentlee Weaver and a UCA error to extend their lead to 2-0 in the match thanks to a 25-23 win in the set. The Sugar Bears pushed their hitting percentage to .314 in the set, led by Haley Tippett, who tallied five kills on a .556 percentage, and Samantha Anderson, who hit .364 with six kills.

In the third, it was A-State's turn to open on a run, as the Red Wolves jumped out to 6-1 lead. Central Arkansas would rally to cut the ASU lead to 10-9, but that would be as close as the Sugar Bears would get, as the Red Wolves would outscore UCA 15-8 from that point to take the match with a 25-17 win in the third set. Central Arkansas got just six kills in the final frame, as Sharp collected three, Megan Nash had two, and Amanda Beaton added one.

On the night, Anderson led the way for the Sugar Bear attack, tallying eight kills, while Tippett added seven, and Sharp chipped in with five. Elizabeth Armstrong picked up a double-double for UCA, dishing out 21 assists and adding 10 digs, while Amanda Dimon tied for the team-lead with 10 digs of her own. The Sugar Bears tallied nine blocks as a team, led by Peters, who collected four.

Central Arkansas continued play in the A-State invitational tomorrow afternoon at 3:30 PM, taking to the court to battle UT-Martin.