New Orleans, Louisiana – The Central Arkansas Sugar Bears opened the final weekend of the regular season on the road, taking on the New Orleans Privateers at UNO's Human Performance Center. As they have so often over the past three weeks, Central Arkansas got a huge performance from
Samantha Anderson, who led the Sugar Bears to their 14
th sweep of the season with 17 kills on a .471 hitting percentage.
Central Arkansas (23-5, 13-2 SLC) and New Orleans (12-18, 6-9 SLC) went back and forth early in the first set, with neither side taking a lead larger than three points until UCA got consecutive kills from Anderson and
Haley Tippett to go up 16-12. The Privateers would even things up at 18-18 before the Sugar Bears took advantage of a pair of UNO errors and an ace from
Elizabeth Armstrong to build a 22-19 lead. UNO would again respond, pulling to within a point at 22-21, but a kill from Tippett, an ace from
Alanna Bramwell, and a Privateer error would give the set to Central Arkansas. The Sugar Bears hit .312 in the set, getting six kills from Anderson and four each from Tippett and
Kellen Dunn.
UNO took the first four points to open the second set, but UCA countered to take an 8-6 lead, which they eventually built to 17-12. The Privateers would make things interesting, cutting the advantage to 17-15, but the Sugar Bears were able to rally back, doubling up UNO over the final 12 points to take a 2-0 lead in the set. Central Arkansas, who cleared the first set without a block, adjusted in the second, tallying a pair of solo blocks and six assisted blocks, along with seven digs from
Emily Doss to hold UNO to an .069 hitting percentage.
Central Arkansas continued to roll early in the third, taking a 10-5 lead and extending it to 14-8 before the Privateers clawed back with a 7-1 run to even the set at 15-15. Central Arkansas was able to close things out however, trading short runs before finishing the match with a kill from Anderson. Anderson again turned in a six-kill set, while Doss added six digs.
In addition to Anderson's match-high 17 terminations, UCA got eight kills each from Tippett and Dunn, while Armstrong turned in 26 assists, two blocks, and two aces. Defensively
Savanah Allen had three blocks and Doss finished with a match-high 14 digs.
Central Arkansas closes out the regular season on Saturday morning at 11:00 AM, taking on the Nicholls Colonels.
