Hammond, Louisiana – The Central Arkansas Sugar Bears continued a four-match road trip on Thursday night, travelling to Hammond, Louisiana to take on the Southeastern Louisiana Lady Lions. The Sugar Bears turned in a dominant performance on the night, hitting .355 and limiting SLU to a .179 attack percentage to earn a 25-14, 25-19, 25-21 sweep.
Central Arkansas (18-3, 7-2 SLC) roared out of the gates, taking the first five points of the match and building an 8-2 lead to force a timeout from Southeastern Louisiana (2-21, 0-9 SLC). The Sugar Bears would push the lead to 16-6 before trading points with the Lady Lions to cruise to a 1-0 lead in the match. UCA hit .458 in the set, getting three kills each from
Megan Nash,
Amanda Beaton, and
Abbie Harry.
The second set was much more hotly-contested; with UCA taking a 10-8 lead before a 5-0 run from the Lady Lions saw SLU go on top by a tally of 13-10. The Sugar Bears would rally, however, taking nine of the next 12 points to take a 19-16 lead and cause SLU to call for timeout. The stoppage would do nothing the slow down Central Arkansas, as the Sugar Bears took six of the final nine points to head into the break up 2-0.
Haley Tippett led a UCA defense that held the Lady Lions to a .122 attack percentage in the set, tallying give digs, and
Alanna Bramwell led the Sugar Bears at the net with a pair of blocks.
UCA again started strong, opening the match by winning eight of the first 11 points. SLU would even the set at 10-10, but the Sugar Bears would take seven of the next 10 points to open up a 17-13 lead and force a timeout. The Lady Lions took four of the first five points out of the stoppage to cut the UCA lead to 18-17, but Central Arkansas would reel off a quick five-point run to extend the advantage to 23-17. SLU would take the next three points to pull to within three points at 23-20 and cause the Sugar Bears to take a timeout, but a pair of kills from Tippett would wrap up the match.
Elizabeth Armstrong passed out 16 assists in the set, as Nash And Tippett each had four kills.
On the night, Armstrong handed out 33 assists to go along with six digs, two kills, two aces, and two blocks, while Nash hit .467 with a team-high nine kills and three blocks. Samantha Anderson added seven kills, and Central Arkansas got six each from Harry and Beaton. Defensively,
Amanda Dimon tallied a team-high 10 digs and Tippett chipped in with eight, while Bramwell and Beaton each had two blocks.
Central Arkansas wraps up its road trip on Saturday, heading to New Orleans, Louisiana to take on the New Orleans Privateers. The match is set to begin at noon.
