Lake Charles, Louisiana – The Central Arkansas Sugar Bears closed out a short two-match road trip on Saturday morning, taking on the McNeese Cowgirls. A slow start saw the Sugar Bears drop the first set 17-25, before rebounding to win the next three 25-20, 25-17, 25-23 to improve to 20-5 on the season and 10-2 in Southland Conference play.

The first set saw McNeese (7-20, 5-7 SLC) lead wire-to-wire, building an 8-3 lead that Central Arkansas was unable to overcome despite three kills each from Kellen Dunn and Samantha Anderson.

McNeese again took an early lead in the second set, going up 6-4 before a 6-0 Central Arkansas run, highlighted by three Anderson kills, put the Sugar Bears up 10-6. Central Arkansas would build the lead to would keep the lead at five points before a 4-0 run pushed it to 22-14. After McNeese rolled off a 4-0 run of its own, Central Arkansas took three of the final four points to even the match at 1-1. Anderson tallied eight kills in the set and Central Arkansas got five kills from Emily Doss to hold McNeese to a .140 hitting percentage.

McNeese got a kill from Caitlin Sharrock to take a 1-0 lead in the third, but the that would be the only time the Sugar Bears played from behind in the set, as they would break a 2-2 tie with a block from Anderson and Alanna Bramwell and consecutive kills from Savanah Allen to take the lead for good at 5-2. Central Arkansas dominated the set, getting a 4-0 run and adding a pair of 4-1 streaks, while hitting .467 and holding McNeese to a negative attack percentage. Elizabeth Armstrong passed out 13 assists in the set as Allen had five kills and Dunn and Anderson each picked up four.

The Sugar Bears carried that momentum over to the fourth set, building a 10-4 lead before McNeese took control with a 5-0 run to go up 16-14. That lead was short-lived however, as Central Arkansas won five of the next six points to take the lead. The teams would trade the next few points before McNeese took two in a row to tie things up at 23-23, but UCA got back-to-back kills from Anderson to end the match. Anderson and Allen each pulled down a pair of blocks for a UCA defense the limited the Cowgirls to a .195 hitting percentage in the set.

On the night, Anderson turned in a match-high 20 kills and added six blocks, while Allen chipped in 12 kills and five blocks and Dunn had 12 kills and five digs. Armstrong handed out 33 assists to go with nine digs and three blocks, while Doss had 17 digs, Rayna Jefferis had 11 and Haley Tippett had 10.

The Sugar Bears return home for their final two matches at the Prince Center next week, hosting Abilene Christian at 6:00 PM on Thursday night and Sam Houston State at 12:00 PM on Saturday.