Houston, Texas – The Central Arkansas Sugar Bears closed out the road half of their 2017 schedule on Thursday evening, looking to stay atop the Southland Conference standings against the Houston Baptist Huskies. The Sugar Bears did just that, sweeping the Huskies 21-17, 25-21, 25-16 to remain in a tie at the top of the SLC standings.
The teams would trade points early in the first set, before a kill from
Megan Nash started an 11-2 run that saw Central Arkansas (23-3, 12-2 SLC) open up a 19-9 lead. Houston Baptist (17-9, 8-5 SLC) would cut the lead to seven points, but a kill from
Samantha Anderson would wrap up the set and give UCA a 1-0 lead in the match. Central Arkansas would hit .371 in the set, getting six kills from Anderson, who hit .455, and three from
Amanda Beaton.
The second set would begin in similar fashion, with the Sugar Bears and Huskies exchanging short runs. Unlike the first set though, neither side was able to take a lead larger than two points until Central Arkansas used a 4-0 run to take a 20-17 lead. The Sugar Bears and Huskies would again trade points briefly, before UCA got kills from Beaton,
Abbie Harry and
Elizabeth Armstrong in a 3-1 run the closed out the set. Armstrong would dish out 13 assists in the set, as Central Arkansas got four kills from Beaton and three each from Anderson and
Kellen Dunn.
The third set continued the trend established in the match's first two, with UCA and HBU playing to a 15-15 tie, before the Sugar Bears took control, closing out the match with a 10-1 that featured three kills from Nash and a pair of aces from Haley Tippet. Central Arkansas hit just .179 in the set, but took advantage of 10 digs from
Amanda Dimon and a pair of blocks from Nash to limit the Huskies to a .122 attack percentage.
On the night, Armstrong passed out 31 assists to lead a UCA attack that got 11 kills from Anderson, eight from Beaton, and seven from Nash. Dimon led the Central Arkansas defense with a match-high 17 digs, while Nash and Anderson each picked up four blocks.
The Sugar Bears, who are currently tied with Stephen F. Austin atop the Southland Conference standings, return home for their final two matches of the regular season next week. Central Arkansas will host McNeese State at the Prince Center at 6:00 PM Thursday night, before welcoming Nicholls State at 12:00 PM on Saturday.
