Houston, Texas – After a relatively show opening day at the Southland Conference Showcase, the Central Arkansas Beach Bears rebounded with a strong showing in the first day of bracket play. The Bears opened with a 5-0 sweep of fifth-seeded Abilene Christian, then edged out top-seeded Houston Baptist 3-2, before fatigue caught up with them in a 3-0 loss to number three New Orleans.
Central Arkansas (14-8) wasted no time against Abilene Christian (2-17), with
Mackenzie Dearand
Shelby Holmes opening things up with a 21-16, 21-15 win over Marybeth Sandercox and Sofia Resendiz at the fives and
Delaney Driver and
Stephanie Pollnow adding a 21-17, 21-15 defeat of Brooke Riley and Lauren Walker at the four spot.
Megan Nash and
Haley Tippett continued the rout at the top slot, defeating Eighmy Dobbins and Katelyn Mueller 21-10, 21-13, and UCA got another point at the threes, where
Kristine Hjembo and
Colene Hamilton took down Kennedy Shelstead and Amy Weiss 21-16, 21-9.
Jessica Martinez and
Aly Brinkley wrapped things up for Central Arkansas at the two spot, scoring a 21-11, 21-18 win against Kendall Bosse and Jacey Smith.
The day's second contest was a much closer affair, with three of the six matches going three sets. Pollnow and
Kimberly Schnars opened the match for the Bears, taking the sixth contest 18-21, 21-18, 16-14 over Meagan Carter and Jordyn Miller, but Houston Baptist (13-15) would take the first point, thanks to a 12-21, 21-17, 15-10 win from Danielle Wheeler and Mikayla Vivens at the fives. Driver and
MC Rogers would get the point back for Central Arkansas, taking the number four tilt 22-20, 19-21, 15-9 against Brennan Miller and Kali Fluke. Jessica Wooten and Aeriel Horton would put the Huskies in front, opening the second half with a 21-8, 21-9 win in at the top position, but Central Arkansas would rally to take the remaining two points for the win, getting a 21-15, 21-16 victory from Hjembo and Hamilton at the threes and a 27-25, 21-11 victory from Nash and Tippett at the twos.
The third match of the day, and the fifth of the tournament for the Bears, saw a worn-down Central Arkansas struggle to get anything going. Dear and Miller took the number six match with a 21-18, 21-9 win over Madison Miller and Rhyan Rand, but a lineup infraction awarded New Orleans (8-17) the number five match by forfeit. The Privateers then added a point at the fours, where Blessing Dunn and Brianna Vega defeated Pollnow and Driver and 21-17, 21-19. Rachel Kuhn and Victoria Corcoran secured the match for the Privateers at the number two position, taking out Brinkley and Martinez 21-12, 21-17. With a match still to be played on the day, the match was called after the Privateers locked up the win.
Central Arkansas returns to action tomorrow morning at 9:00 AM, taking on Houston Baptist, with the winner remaining alive in the bracket.
