Conway – The Central Arkansas Sugar Bears opened the home portion of their Southland Conference schedule on Monday, hosting the Houston Baptist Huskies at the Prince Center. The Sugar Bears saw three players turn in double-digit kills and got 13.0 team blocks to take out the Huskies 25-20, 25-22, 25-27, 25-15.

Houston Baptist (10-5, 2-1 SLC) took five of the match's first seven points before the Sugar Bears rallied, capping a 5-0 run with an ace from Rayna Jefferis and a kill from Haley Tippett to take an 11-7 lead. The Huskies would then stage a rally of their own, battling back to a one-point deficit when a kill from Jessica Wooten cut the UCA lead to 17-16, but Central Arkansas got another 5-0 run to push the lead to 22-16 before wrapping up the first set with a kill from Samantha Anderson. Central Arkansas hit just .152 with nine total kills in the set, but got 6.0 team blocks and 13 digs to take a 1-0 lead in the match.

Where the first set saw just two ties and one lead change, the second set was a more competitive affair, with the Huskies and Sugar Bears playing to eight ties and trading the lead four times. UCA built a 9-4 lead to open the set and force a timeout from Houston Baptist, but the Huskies took advantage of the stoppage, taking a 12-11 lead with kills from Bailey Banks and Wooten. A 4-1 run saw UCA retake the lead, before the HBU got a 4-1 streak of its own to go back in front. The lead would be short-lived however, as Central Arkansas took the next five points to take a 22-18 lead and put the set out of reach. The Sugar Bears upped their swinging percentage to .324 in the set, getting five kills from Abbie Harry and four each from Tippett, Anderson, and Megan Nash, as Elizabeth Armstrong passed out 15 assists.

As back-and-forth as the second set was, it failed to match the excitement of the third, which featured 16 ties and eight lead changes. The sides would trade points throughout the match, with neither team able to build a lead larger than two points until HBU got a kill from Wooten and took advantage of a UCA attack error to go on top 20-17. Following a quick exchange of two-point runs, the Sugar Bears got three straight to take a 24-23 lead, but the Huskies closed things out with a 4-1 run to cut the UCA lead to 2-1 in the match. Tippett added four kills to her tally, to go along with five digs.

Central Arkansas refused to continue the pattern established in the match during the fourth set, opening things by taking eight of the first 10 points and never looking back. The Sugar Bears rolled to the 3-1 win, hitting a blistering .444 in the set while holding the Huskies to an attack percentage of just .091. Anderson paced UCA with five kills, while Tippett added four.

"HBU is a good, solid team year after year," said UCA head coach Jeni Jones Chatman. "You know what you're going to get from them year in and year out. They definitely put us in situations tonight where we had to fight and claw, and so give them a lot of credit."

The offensive balance thatChatman has talked about all season long was on display in the match, as Tippett and Anderson each collected 13 kills and Harry added 12, as Armstrong passed out 41 assists. Tippett completed the double-double with a team-high 12 digs, and UCA got a shot in the arm from Alanna Bramwell, who hit .500 with three kills and added a match-high six blocks in her second career start.

"When you think about Alanna, you think about work ethic," said Chatman. "She may not always bring the offensive side of the game, but we always know that she will give everything she's got. Every day in practice she's always asking question and looking for ways to be better. I'm really proud to see her have the blocking match she's had tonight, because so much of that is effort."

"It's really good to see," said Chatman of UCA's balance in the attack. "Something that's going to be important as we move forward is establishing a middle offense. We've had it at times this year, but that'll be something that we look forward to getting better at."

The Sugar Bears return to action on Saturday at noon, hosting the Northwestern State Lady Demons at the Prince Center.