Conway – The Central Arkansas Sugar Bears opened their final week of play at the Prince Center this season in dominant fashion, picking up their 13^th sweep of the season 25-19, 26-24, 25-21. Samantha Anderson continued her recent hot streak, hitting .457 with 17 kills to lead the Sugar Bears.

Central Arkansas (21-5, 11-2 SLC) took the first two points of the match and never looked back in the first set, refusing to relinquish the lead the entire way. The Sugar Bears would get two separate 4-0 runs in the set, using the second to build a seven-point lead at 24-17, before a kill from Anderson closed out the set.  She would finish the set with eight kills, while Central Arkansas got five digs from Emily Doss and three each from Bailey Waddington and Amanda Dimon to limit Abilene Christian (13-13, 10-4 SLC) to a .179 hitting percentage.

The Wildcats would finally grab their first lead of the match thanks to a kill from Marybeth Sandercox to open the second set, and ACU and UCA would battle back-and-forth for the entire set, which featured 11 ties and five lead  changes. Central Arkansas would take its first lead of the set at 4-3, before a 5-0 run gave Abilene Christian a 9-5 lead. ACU would extend its lead to 14-10, but the Sugar Bears would rally, using a 5-0 streak of their own to take a 17-15 lead. A 4-0 ACU run immediately put the Wildcats back on top, 19-17, but UCA would rally again, tying things up at 21-21, 22-22, and 23-23. A kill from Katelyn Mueller gave ACU set point, but the Sugar Bears took advantage of an error and followed with back-to-back kills from Anderson to take the set. The Central Arkansas defense again came through, as Doss and Haley Tippett had five digs, Dimon had four, and Waddington added three to limit ACU to a .119 hitting percentage.

The third set started off similarly to the second, with ACU take a 2-0 lead, UCA responding to go up 3-2, but that would prove to be the only lead change of the set, as the Sugar Bears would build an 11-5 lead. A 4-0 run would give Central Arkansas match point at 24-16, but ACU rolled off five straight points to cut the Sugar Bears advantage to 24-21, before a block from Savanah Allen and Elizabeth Armstrong stopped the rally and ended the match. Central Arkansas, got four kills from Anderson and three from Kellen Dunn, but it was the defense that again led Central Arkansas, with Doss adding seven digs, Allen picking up three blocks, and Ravin Rhodes, Anderson, and Armstrong each adding a pair to hold the Wildcat hitting percentage to -.044.

Anderson ended the night with 17 kills and two blocks. Tippett and Allen each added eight kills and contributed defensively in different ways; Tippett with 11 digs and Allen with seven blocks. Waddington tallied 34 assists and seven digs on the night, while Doss finished with 17 digs.

Central Arkansas will close out the home portion of its schedule on Sunday at noon, hosting Sam Houston State in a battle of teams tied for second place in the Southland Conference. The Sugar Bears will also use the match to celebrate the careers of five seniors, in Anderson, Tippett, Allen, Dimon, and Dunn.