Houston, Texas – The Central Arkansas Beach Bears opened play at the Southland Conference Showcase on Friday, dropping a pair of matches in the seeding round of the tournament. The Bears fell to New Orleans 3-2 in the afternoon, before closing the day with a 3-2 loss to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
The day's first match saw the Privateers (6-16) take the first pint of the day, as Blessing Dunn and Brianna Vega took down
Stephanie Pollnow and
Kimberly Schnars 21-17, 21-16, before Rhyan Rand and Madison Miller took the exhibition match with a 21-19, 21-18 win over
Shelby Holmes and
Mackenzie Dear.
MC Rogers and
Delaney Driver would take the number five match to send it to the break even at 1-1, scoring a 21-15, 15-21, 15-10 win over Maxine Walsh and Ally Carr.
Megan Nash and
Haley Tippett would give Central Arkansas (12-7) a lead in the second half, taking the number one match 21-12, 22-20 over Cara Sander and Victoria Corcoran, but UNO would get the point back at the number threes, were Kaitlyn Grice and Jordan Schumacher scored a 12-21, 21-14, 15-7 win over
Kristine Hjembo and
Colene Hamilton.
Jessica Martinez and
Aly Brinkley took the first match of the decisive number two match 22-20, but Veronica Corcoran and Rachel Kuhn would rally, locking up the match for UNO with 21-12 second set win and a 15-12 third set.
In the day's second match, Pollnow and Schnars would would open things up with a 21-10, 21-13 win over Olivia Rook and Chloe Simon at the fours, and Dear and Holmes would add a 21-18, 21-14 defeat of Maya Daukas and Gabriella Johnson in the exhibition match, but the match would enter the break even at 1-1 after the Islanders (10-9) got an 11-21, 21-16, 15-7 win from Naomi Overstreet and Jenna Krenek at the number five slot.
Hjembo and Hamilton would open the second half for the Beach Bears with a 21-15, 21-13 win over Madi Fitzsimmons and Demi McInnis, but TAMUCC would take the final two matches, getting a 21-14, 14-21, 15-13 win from Rachel Young and Madison Green at the twos and a 21-15, 17-21, 17-15 win from Selina Marolf and Abigail Devido at the top spot.
Central Arkansas opens the bracket portion of the Showcase, where they will be the number-four seed, tomorrow morning at 9:00 AM, against fifth-seeded Abilene Christian. The winner will face top-seeded Houston Baptist at 1:00 PM, while the loser will play either second-seeded TAMUCC or third-seeded UNO at 3:00 PM.
