Conway – The Central Arkansas Sugar Bars opened play in the 2017 UCA Classic on Thursday night, hosting the Arkansas State Red Wolves at the Farris Center. ASU took the first set 25-17, before the Sugar Bears rallied to take the next three sets 25-20, 25-20, 25-23, 25-11 to earn the 3-1 win, their first over ASU since 2006.

The Red Wolves (3-5) grabbed the lead to open the match, building a 10-6 lead, before the Sugar Bears (7-0) got a 6-3 run to cut it to 13-12. That would be as close at it would get though, as Arkansas State would remain in front for the rest of the set, limiting UCA to an .077 hitting percentage. Samantha Anderson was the lone bright spot for the UCA attack in the set, tallying six kills while hitting .667.

The second set saw the two sides struggling to create much separation, as ASU held a slim 15-12 advantage midway through, but Central Arkansas would take advantage of four kills from Abbie Harry to go on a 9-0 run and take a  21-15 lead. The teams would trade points to close out the set as the Sugar Bears evened the match at 1-1. Harry collected a set-high seven kills, as Elizabeth Armstrong had 11 assists.

Arkansas State built a 5-2 lead to open the third set, but the Sugar Bears would rebound again, tying it at 10-10. After the Red Wolves took three of the next four points, the Sugar Bears would double them up over the remainder of the set to take the 2-1 lead. Harry would add four kills, and the Sugar Bears would get three each from Anderson and Megan Nash in the set, while defensively Haley Tippett had four digs.

The final set followed a similar pattern early, with the teams playing to an 8-8 tie, before Central Arkansas took control, closing out the match with a 17-3 run. In the set the Sugar Bears hit .364, getting nine kills from Anderson and three more from Harry, while limiting ASU to an .079 clip thanks to five digs from Emily Doss and a pair of block assists from Anderson and Savanah Allen.

On the day, Central Arkansas put forth a solid defensive effort, as Tippett had 14 digs, Kelly Douglas had 12, and Doss had 10, while Allen had six blocks and Nash and Anderson each added four.

"I think our defensive success was due, in part, to our service pressure," said UCA head coach Jeni Jones Chatman. "I think we did really well behind the end line of putting them into positions that they didn't want to be in, and when you're doing that you're setting yourself up to be in the right spots defensively. I know the digs per set doesn't really show it for Emily, but I thought she was amazing tonight. She covered so much of the floor, no just defensively, but with her serve receive, and her serving was really on point tonight."

Offensively, Anderson picked up a match-high 22 kills and hit .541, and Harry chipped in with a career-high 15 kills, as Armstrong handed out 41 assists.
 

"Abbie did a phenomenal job, and we've seen flashes of that in practice," said Chatman. "We had both outside hitters struggling tonight, so to be able to make a change and have it work was everything. Between her and Samantha getting us started off on a really solid offensive note, and then having Savanah and Megan follow suit, we were able to start playing more organized volleyball on our side of the net."

The Sugar Bears continue play in the Classic tomorrow evening, taking on the Southern University Lady Jaguars at 7:30 PM before closing out their appearance against Central Florida at 12:30 PM on Saturday.

"Any time you can play at home and win, that's great, but to do it against an in-state rival is huge. Not only from a momentum standpoint, but also from a school spirit standpoint," said Chatman. "I'm excited about our next couple of matches. We've started doing some really good things. We've certainly got some things to improve, but we're starting to get a little more efficient, a little more consistent. We've got to get better with our start, and we'll look to get better at that from match to match."