Conway – The Central Arkansas Beach Bears returned to action at the UCA Beach Tournament, sponsored by Smoothie King, with a pair of matches on Friday. In the day's first game, UCA edged out Houston Baptist 3-2 before picking up its second sweep of UT Martin in as many days.
The day's first match saw
Abbie Harry and
Kimberly Schnars drop the No. 6 match 21-11, 21-16 to Hannah Lewis and Morgan McDaniel, before
Amy South and
Mackenzie Dear fell in the No. 5 match 20-22, 21-12, 20-18.
Kellen Dunn and
MC Rogers would send the Beach Bears (13-3) and Huskies (11-12) into the break even at 1-1, taking down Taylor Livoti and Tiffany Thomas 21-17, 11-21, 15-10.
Kate Elman and
Heather Schnars gave the Bears the lead in with a win in the No. 3 match, with a 21-14, 21-10 win over Melissa Fuchs and Bailey Banks, but Kayla Armer and Tori Hinojosa would even things at 2-2 thanks to a 16-21, 21-16, 15-10 win over
Kristine Hjembo and
Stephanie Pollnow in the No. 2 match. With the overall match on the line,
Haley Tippett and
Megan Nash secured the victory for Central Arkansas with a 21-17, 14-21 18-16 win over Jessica Wooten and Aeriel Horton in the No. 1 match.
The day's second match was a much smoother affair, as the Beach Bears swept UT Martin (0-15) without dropping a set. Injuries saw Harry and K. Schnars, South and Dear, and Dunn and Rogers all win by forfeit, before Elman and Schnars got things started in earnest with a 21-6, 21-11 win over Jemima Idemudia and Macy Reigelsperger at the No. 3 slot. Hjembo and Pollnow picked up a 21-12, 21-5 win over Rachel Noffsinger and Hayley Gray at the No. 2 position, before Tippett and Nash defeated Macy Catlett and Hannah Phillips 21-15, 21-11 to close out the match.
"We had another hard-fought match against HBU this morning during some crazy weather, especially during the fours, fives, and sixes," said UCA head coach Jeni Jones Chatman. "I'm really proud of our ones, threes, and fours for securing the win for us. We followed that up with a solid performance against UT Martin and had some nice offensive production out of all of our pairs. Now we're looking forward to a great day tomorrow when we take on ULM and recognize our great senior class."
Central Arkansas will close out its inaugural season tomorrow at 11:00 AM, taking on the ULM Warhawks. Following the match, the Bears will honor seniors Kate Elman, Heather Schnars, and Amy South, who will be participating in their final match.
