New Orleans, Louisiana – The Central Arkansas Sugar Bears closed out a four-match road trip on Saturday, heading to New Orleans, Louisiana to take on the New Orleans Privateers. The Sugar Bears rolled on the day, hitting .338 to sweep the Privateers 25-21, 25-19, 25-14 for their 12
th straight-set win of the season.
New Orleans (9-13, 3-7 SLC) took a 3-1 lead to open the match, but the Central Arkansas (19-3, 8-2 SLC) would rally to take over at 8-7. The sides would trade the next few points, before an 8-2 UCA run gave the Sugar Bears a 17-11 lead. The Privateers would cut the lead to four points on three separate occasions, but UCA would fend off the rally each time to take a 1-0 lead in the match. Central Arkansas hit .419 in the set, with
Elizabeth Armstrong handing out 16 assists and
Samantha Anderson tallying four kills.
The Privateers would again take a 3-1 lead to open the second set, and again, the Sugar Bears battled back, using a 6-0 run to take a 13-7 lead. The Privateers would pull to within two points at 20-18 to force a UCA timeout, but the Sugar Bears would explode out of the stoppage, taking five of the next six points to take a 2-0 lead in the match. Central Arkansas hit just .160 in the set, but used nine blocks to limit the Privateers to a .115 attack percentage.
Megan Nash led the Sugar Bears with three blocks in the set, while
Alanna Bramwell and
Amanda Beaton each added two.
UNO would make it three-for-three in the third set, taking a 3-2 lead, but UCA would again respond, using a 5-0 run to take a 7-3 lead. Central Arkansas would cruise through the rest of the set, getting 7-1 and 5-2 runs to pick up the sweep. UCA hit .429 in the set, getting three kills each from Anderson, Beaton, and
Abbie Harry.
On the day, Harry led the Central Arkansas attack, hitting .462 with a match-high 16 kills, while Anderson hit .625 with 11 kills, as Armstrong passed out a match-high 34 assists. Defensively, Nash had five blocks and Bramwell had four, while
Amanda Dimon had six digs.
Central Arkansas returns home for a pair of matches at the Prince Center next week. The Sugar Bears will host Abilene Christian at 6:00 PM on Thursday night, before welcoming Sam Houston State at 12:00 PM on Saturday.
