Conway – The Central Arkansas Beach Bears opened the home portion of their schedule on Saturday hosting the Ottawa Braves and Houston Baptists Huskies at the Beach Bear Sand Courts for the Central Arkansas Invitational. Central Arkansas played to a split on the day, sweeping Ottawa and falling to HBU 3-2.
Central Arkansas (4-1) turned in a dominant performance against Ottawa (0-7), sweeping all five matches played and giving up no more than 15 points in any set.
Mackenzie Dear and
Shelby Holmes got things started for the Beach Bears with a 21-5, 21-9 win over Stefanie Mitchell and Breanna Vail, before
Kristine Hjembo and
Colene Hamilton matched them with a 21-5, 21-9 win over Paige Krone and Mikayla Wheeler at the number fours.
The Bears continued their control after the break, with
Jessica Martinez and
Aly Brinkley taking out Brooke Fearka and Makayla Aspegren 21-7, 21-9 at the number three slot and
MC Rogers and
Delaney Driver scoring a 21-3, 21-4 win over Ayona Tharps and Heather Huesman in the number two match.
Megan Nash and
Haley Tippett closed things out for the Beach Bears, taking their number one match against Adriana Skipper and Caitlyn Cox 21-15, 21-10.
Central Arkansas would control the early half of the day's first match against Houston Baptist (7-9), as
Stephanie Pollnow and
Kimberly Schnars won the exhibition match against Megan Carter and Jordyn Miller 25-23, 21-16, and Dear and Holmes put UCA on the board with a 21-10, 22-20 defeat of Kali Fluke and Brennan Miller in the number five match, before Hjembo and Hamilton closed out the first half with an 18-21, 21-18, 15-13 defeat of Danielle Wheeler and Mikayla Vivens in the number four position.
Needing just one point to secure the match after the break, Central Arkansas was unable to lock up the win, with Martinez and Brinkley dropping the number three match 21-8, 19-21, 12-15 to Bailey Banks and Katy Silveira, and Driver and Rogers falling to Kayla Armer and Tori Hinojosa 12-21, 18-21 at the number twos. Tippett and Nash took the first set of the number one match against Jessica Wooten and Aeriel Horton 21-18, before dropping the next two 13-21 and 12-15.
Central Arkansas hits the road next weekend, opening an eight-match road trip with four at the LSU Beach Invitational. The Beach Bears will take on TexasA&M-Corpus Christ at 2:00 PM on Friday and Texas A&M-Kingsville at 5:00 PM, before battling #11 Arizona at 9:00 AM Saturday and Jacksonville State 11:00 AM.
