Conway – The Central Arkansas Sugar Bears closed out the 2017 regular season at the Prince Center on Saturday afternoon, playing host to the Nicholls Colonels. After taking the time to honor senior
Megan Nash, the Sugar Bears got down to business, picking up their 15
th sweep of the season with a 25-13, 25-17, 25-20 win.
"Megan has been a force for four years," said UCA head coach Jeni Jones Chatman of her lone senior. "She's kind of the ultimate student-athlete. She gets it done in the classroom, she's had a 4.0 every semester but one, she's been Student-Athlete of the Year twice. And then the numbers that she puts up, the presence that she brings to the floor, and the intensity that she brings in our gym daily; you can't say enough about that leadership, that work ethic, and that buy-in mentality. Since I got here, she's been bought in from day one. That's so important, because if you aren't bought in then you aren't going to be at your best, and she's been bought in from day one. That mean's the world to me, because I came in new, and she could have made a different choice."
The first set was close early, with the Colonels (4-25, 2-14 SLC) taking advantage of a pair of Sugar Bear (24-4, 13-3 SLC) to take an 8-7 lead, before Central Arkansas took over, taking 18 of the next 22 points to take the set and a 1-0 lead in the match.
Samantha Anderson led the UCA attack, hitting .833 with five kills and three set, while
Savanah Allen added four blocks and
Amanda Dimon had four digs.
After trading early one-point leads in the second set, Central Arkansas would take control, using a 6-1 run to grab a 9-5 lead using another 6-1 lead later in the set to open the advantage up to 20-11. The Colonels would cut the lead to five on multiple occasions, but a kill from Anderson and a block from Allen and
Haley Tippett would close out the set and give the Sugar Bears a 2-0 lead in the match. Nash and Tippet would control the set, with Nash picking up four kills, six digs, and two blocks, while Tippett turned in three kills, four digs, and three blocks.
In the third Central Arkansas would again take control with a run, this time firing off four-straight points to break an 8-8 tie and force a timeout from the Colonels, who would battle back to even it at 15-15 before another 4-0 UCA run put the Sugar Bears up for good. A Nicholls error and a kill from Anderson would close out the match. UCA would hit a red-hot .394 in the set, gitting four kills from Anderson and three each from Allen, Nash, and
Elizabeth Armstrong. Tippett continued to excel on both sides of the ball, adding seven digs and a block, while Dimon had five digs.
On the day Central Arkansas hit .297 and held the Colonels to an attack percentage of just .068. Anderson hit .667 with a match-high 10 kills and six blocks, while Nash added seven kills, eight digs, and three blocks, and Tippett pitched in with six kills, a match-high 13 digs, and four blocks.
"Haley hasn't hit that well in a while. We have other six-rotation players in our gym, but Haley is the one right now that's in that position," said Chatman. "Her offensive numbers have not been there, but I think she's had a mentality shift. It started with her back-row attack, and she kept that momentum as she stayed in the front row. I think she did a much better job of staying tall when she was hitting the ball, rather than just trying to crush the ball. I thought she used her eye sequence really well to move the ball around."
"I'm really proud to see what Savanah has been able to accomplish since she got back," said Chatman. "She's worked really hard to get back from that injury. She started off the season really well, and was doing some really good things before that, so I'm glad she's back on the floor."
Central Arkansas will return to action on Friday, November 17
th at 4:00 PM, in the first round of the 2017 Southland Conference Volleyball Tournament. The Sugar Bears, who earned the second seed in the tourney, will face off with the seventh-seeded McNeese Cowgirls, with the winner advancing to face off with either host and third-seed Texas A&M-Corpus Christi or sixth-seeded Sam Houston State in a semifinal match set for 2:30 PM on Saturday. The winner of that match will advance to the Championship Match at 3:05 PM on Sunday.
"It's tournament time," said Chatman. "We're excited, we're ready to play in the tournament, and have a great week."
