Conway – The Central Arkansas Sugar Bears returned home for the first time in 17 days opening a three-match home stand by welcoming the league-leading Stephen F. Austin Ladyjacks to the Prince Center. The match was everything that was promised, featuring 29 ties and 14 lead changes, but the Sugar Bears ultimately fell to the Ladyjacks for the second time this season, 23-25, 19-25, 25-20, 23-25.

The contest was hotly contested from the start, with Central Arkansas (16-5, 6-2 SLC) and Stephen F. Austin (21-2, 8-0 SLC) trading points a runs to the tune of eight ties and three lead changes. The largest lead of the set belonged to UCA at 12-8, but the Ladyjacks erased that deficit with a 6-0 run, before going taking a 20-17 lead. Back-to-back kills from seniors Savanah Allen and Haley Tippett would even the set at 21-21, but SFA took four of the final six points to take a 1-0 lead in the match. Defense was the name of the game in the first set, with SFA outhitting UCA .026 to .020, as Tippett and sophomore Emily Doss each tallied seven digs and junior Rayna Jefferis added five, while Peyton Redmond had eight for Stephen F. Austin.

SFA took a 6-2 lead to open the second set before freshman Lexi Miller capped a 3-0 UCA run with back-to-back kills to put the Sugar Bears up 11-9. SDA took four of the next five points to retake the lead for good in the set, closing it out with a 7-2 run to push the lead to 2-0. Tippett continued to lead the Sugar Bears adding six kills and four digs to her count for the match.

After hitting .020 and .094 in the first two sets, Central Arkansas turned in the best offensive set either side would have on the night in the third, hitting .303 with 14 kills and just four errors on 33 swings. SFA would take the first three points of the set, before UCA rallied to take a 5-4 lead, which they would eventually extend to 11-8. The Sugar Bears would continue to roll, pushing the advantage all the way to eight at 20-12, before the Ladyjacks fought back, cutting the UCA lead to three at 22-19. The Sugar Bears would stave off the rally though, taking three of the final four points to take the set. Tippett would hit .312 with seven kills in the set, while junior Elizabeth Armstrong made her first appearance since September 22^nd, handing out five assists.

The fourth set was the hardest-fought of the night, with 10 ties and four lead changes. SFA would again take the early lead, this time at 4-1, and would build an 11-6 advantage, before Central Arkansas rallied again, getting a huge block from Allen to take a 14-13 lead. The teams would trade then trade points, playing to a 23-23 tie, before SFA got kills from Makenzee Hanna and Haley Coleman to end the match. Senior Samantha Anderson had five kills in the set, while Doss and senior Amanda Dimon each had four dig.

On the night, Tippett turned in her 11^th double-double of the season with a match-high 22 kills and 16 digs, and Anderson added 13 kills. Sophomore Bailey Waddington handed out a match-high 30 assists, while defensively, Doss had a match-high 18 digs and Anderson and redshirt freshman Ravin Rhodes had three blocks each.

The Sugar Bears return to action on Thursday night, hosting Nicholls at 6:00 PM.