Houston, Texas –The Central Arkansas Beach Bears saw the 2018 season come to a close as play came to a close at the Southland Conference Showcase. The Beach Bears opened the day with a 3-1 loss to Houston Baptist before closing out the year with a 5-0 sweep of Abilene Christian.
Against the Huskies (14-15),
MC Rogers and
Delaney Driver gave Central Arkansas (15-8) an early lead, taking out Kali Fluke and Brennan Miller 21-19, 23-21 in the number four contest. That would be all that UCA, playing its sixth match in three days, could muster, as HBU took the fives, ones, and twos to close things out.
The Bears rallied to end the season on the right foot though, winning all six matches without dropping a set against ACU. Rogers and Driver again opened things up for UCA, scoring a 21-6, 21-7 win over Brooke Riley and Lauren Walker to close out the year with a record of 16-8, before
Mackenzie Dear and
Shelby Holmes picked up a 21-13, 21-8 win over Lexie Rawls and Makenzie Kelsey to finish with a record of 17-6.
Kimberly Schnars and
Stephanie Pollnow ended the first house with a win at the fives, defeating Paris Cosley and Sofia Resendiz 21-15, 21-13 to finish the season with a 12-5 mark.
Kristine Hjembo and
Colene Hamilton continued the rout out of the break, putting an exclamation point on a 20-3 record with a 21-8, 21-8 defeat of Kennedy Shelstead and Amy Weiss at the threes, and
Jessica Martinez and
Aly Brinkley followed with their fifth win of the season, a 21-5, 21-17 defeat of Jacey Smith and Kendall Bosse at the twos.
Megan Nash and
Haley Tippett closed things out for Central Arkansas at the ones, finishing the year with a 16-9 record thanks to a 21-15, 21-13 defeat of Eighmy Dobbins and Katelyn Mueller.
The 2018 season, the second in Central Arkansas history, ends as an unquestioned success, with Central Arkansas' 15 wins ranking second among Southland Conference schools and its .625 winning percentage coming in at over one hundred points higher than any other SLC school. Of the six pair that Central Arkansas used at least 10 times, five have won at least 12 matches and four tallied 16 or more wins.
