Houston, Texas –vThe Central Arkansas beach volleyball team opened play at the Houston Baptist Invitational on Friday night, taking on the host Huskies at Third Coast Volleyball Club. The Beach Bears continued their dominant start to their inaugural season, taking down HBU 4-1.

Abbie Harry and Kimberly Schnars got things started for Central Arkansas (8-1) winning the first set of the exhibition match 21-14 before Hannah Lewis and Morgan McDaniel won the second 22-20. The UCA pair bounced back though, cruising to a 15-11 win in the third set to push their record to 4-0 on the season. The no. 5 match saw Amy South and Mackenzie Dear drop to 2-2 on the year with a 21-18, 21-12 loss to Madison O'Brien and Danielle Wheeler, but Kellen Dunn and MC Rogers evened the match at 1-1 heading into the break with a 21-16, 10-21, 15-10 win over Taylor Livotti and Tiffany Thomas. The win saw the duo move their record to 4-1 on the season.

Kate Elman and Heather Schnars gave UCA the lead in the first match out of the break, rallying from a 20-22 first set loss to Bailey Banks and Melissa Fuchs to take the second set 21-17 and the third 15-13, keeping their record a perfect 9-0 in the process. In the no. 2 match, Kristine Hjembo and Stephanie Pollnow pushed their record to 2-3 21-17, 21-17 win over Kayla Armer and Victoria Hinojosa, before Haley Tippett and Megan Nash closed things out with a 21-17, 23-21 defeat of Jessica Wooten and Aeriel Horton in the no. 1 match to push their record to 4-1 on the season.

Central Arkansas returns to the court for a pair of matches tomorrow, taking on #16 Tulane at 9:00 AM and Texas