Conway – The Central Arkansas Sugar Bears pushed their season-opening win streak to six on Saturday, closing out the UCA Invitational with a 25-17, 25-21, 25-12 sweep of UT-Martin.
The Sugar Bears (6-0) opened the match in dominant fashion, setting the tone by hitting .333 in the first set and limiting the Skyhawks (2-5) to just a .115 hitting percentage thanks to 11 digs and three team blocks.
Elizabeth Armstrong marshalled the offense, handing out 14 assists, as
Haley Tippett (six kills),
Samantha Anderson (four kills), and
Megan Nash (four kills) all hit at least .333. On the defensive front, Nash and Anderson each had a pair of blocks and
Kelly Douglas picked up four digs.
The second set saw Central Arkansas drop its hitting percentage to .216, but the Sugar Bears continued to keep the Skyhawks off balance, holding UTM to a .139 clip. Anderson continued to have the hot hand, hitting .625 and adding five kills to her total. Tippett would chip in with four kills and
Kellen Dunn had a pair, while Douglas had four more digs.
Central Arkansas would turn in perhaps its most dominant set of the weekend in the third, as the Sugar Bears would tally 14 kills on 29 attacks to hit .379 while the Skyhawks could manage just an .079 clip thanks to four team blocks and 10 digs. UCA who got six assists from Armstrong and five from
Bailey Waddington in the set, saw Tippett, Anderson, Dunn, and
Amanda Beaton all hit at least .333 and tally three kills.
Savanah Allen and Anderson would each collect two blocks, while Tippett, Nash, and
Emily Doss each had a pair of digs.
"I think it's so important for our primary players on the floor to maintain when we're making changes," said UCA head coach Jeni Jones Chatman. "
Abbie Harry came in and did a good job, we made some changes with the middles, and there at the end with Beats and Bailey taking the floor, we have good players in our gym, and it's awesome to have those players get in-game experience. I'm really pleased to see those guys come in and keep that effort up, but a big part of that is our starters taking care of business as well."
On the day, Tippett collected a match-high 13 kills and added six digs and three blocks, while Anderson hit a blistering .706 to chip in with 12 kills and a match-high four blocks. On defense, Douglas had eight digs to lead the Sugar Bears, who also got six from Doss.
"I think Samantha just started relaxing more today," said Chatman. "She was very narrowly focused the last two matches, and I think she allowed herself to be a bit more broad today, to process things better based on where we're digging the ball and where the pass is coming from. Normally she does a really good job of that, and she definitely did a good job of it last weekend in Buffalo, but I think she just allowed herself to focus."
Following the match, Tippett was named Tournament MVP and Allen and Dunn earned All-Tournament honors. For the tournament, Tippett averaged 4.00 kills, 2.80 digs, and 0.90 blocks while fielding 40 serves without an error. Allen hit .303 with 1.60 kills per set and 0.90 blocks, while Dunn hit .317 to average 2.70 kills and 0.50 blocks.
"Haley's come a long way, even since the Purple and Gray scrimmage, from a maturity standpoint," said Chatman. "Last weekend she was pretty good, and this weekend she went to a whole other level, not only in her efficiency, but in her mentality. It's so good to see, because we have to have that from a player that's on the floor for all six rotations. Last year, Kellen was always a low-error attacker, but she didn't always find ways to point-score, and this year she's found a way to be a point-scorer and be extremely low error. I'm really proud of her for stepping up. And with Savanah, like we talked about yesterday, I've been challenging her to be a presence on the floor, and she's starting to buy into the fact that she can be, and is, that player."
The Sugar Bears continue their homestand next weekend, hosting the UCA Classic at the Farris Center.UCA will face Arkansas State at 7:00 Thursday night, Southern at 7:30 Friday night, and Central Florida at 1:30 Saturday afternoon.
"It'll be a great tournament," said Chatman of the Sugar Bears' second-straight home tournament. "I love the fact that we were able to get two home tournaments this year. With our conference schedule you travel back and forth with that, but to be able to get to play on our campus is great. Our fan support was phenomenal on Thursday and I think it was really good again today, and I think that's going to be very important next week because we've got three tough matches."
