Houston, Texas – The Central Arkansas beach volleyball team returned to the court at Third Coach Volleyball Club for a pair of matches in the Houston Baptist Beach Invitational on Saturday afternoon. The Beach Bears opened the day with a loss to sixteenth-ranked Tulane before rebounding with a sweep of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
Abbie Harry and
Kimberly Schnars got things started against the Islanders (0-9) in the exhibition match, taking down Naomi Overstreet and Chloe Thorpe 21-16, 21-19 to push their record to 5-0 on the year, before
Mackenzie Dear and
Amy South improved to 3-3 with a 21-12, 21-19 win over Morgan Williams and Kristyn Nicholson in the No. 5 match.
Kellen Dunn and
MC Rogers sent UCA (9-2) into the break with a 2-0 lead, defeating Kelsee Felux and Claire Karstens 21-14, 21-12 in the no. 4 match to move to 4-2 on the year.
Following the break,
Kate Elman and
Heather Schnars continued the rout, taking out Morgan Carlson and Mallory Morran 21-18, 21-12 in the No. 3 position to bring their record to 10-1 on the year, while
Kristine Hjembo and
Stephanie Pollnow improved to 3-4 by defeating Madison Woods and Madison Fitzsimmons 21-13, 21-10.
Megan Nash and
Haley Tippett capped the sweep in the No. 1 slot, scoring a 21-16, 17-21, 15-12 win over Brittany Gilpin and Madison Green. The win pushed the UCA pair's record to 5-2 on the year.
Against the Green Wave (17-8) the Beach Bears suffered just their second loss of the season, falling 5-0. Dear and South dropped the No. 5 match 21-15, 16-21, 15-12, and Dunn and Rogers were defeated 21-15, 21-14 in the No. 4 match. Elman and Heather Schnars were suffered their first loss of the season in the No. 3 match, 21-19, 12-21, 15-13, before Hjembo and Pollnow fell 21-8, 21-12 at No.2. Nash and Tippett dropped the No. 1 match 21-18, 21-14.
"I was glad to see us regroup and put together some good wins in our second match today," said UCA head coach Jeni Jones Chatman. "We have grown a lot over the past few weekends, and we're looking forward to another good day tomorrow."
Central Arkansas will close out the weekend with another pair of matches tomorrow, taking on Texas A&M-Kingsville at 9:00 AM before facing off with #7 LSU at 3:00 PM. The
No. 1 match will be televised by Cox Sports TV (Conway Corp. channel 148) at 4:00 PM.
