New Orleans, Louisiana – The Central Arkansas Beach Volleyball team found itself with a full slate on Saturday, as weather yesterday forced the Beach Bears to take to the courts three times. UCA opened the day with a 3-2 win over New Orleans, before falling to #8 LSU 5-0 and #19 Tulane 4-1.
The day's first match began with
Delaney Driver and
MC Rogers taking down New Orleans' (3-13) Brianna Vega and Madison Miller 21-17, 21-12 in the number four match, and
Kimberly Schnars and
Stephanie Pollnow adding a 21-10, 24-22 victory against Jordan Schumacher and Kaitlyn Grice at the threes. The Privateers would battle back, thanks to a 21-15, 21-15 win at the top spot from Cara Sander and Victoria Corcoran and a 17-21, 21-14, 15-7 win in the number two tilt from Veronica Corcoran and Rachel Kuhn to even the match at 2-2, before
Kristine Hjembo and
Colene Hamilton cut the UNO rally short at the number five slot, defeating Maxine Walsh and Ally Carr 22-24, 21-8, 15-11.
Against eighth-ranked LSU (19-9), Central Arkansas (8-5) was unable to get on the board, despite forcing a third set in three of the five matches. Schnars and Pollnow dropped the number two contest 16-21, 18-21 to Haleigh Nelson and Ashley Allmer, and
Jessica Martinez and
Aly Brinkley fell to Claire Coppola and Kristen Nuss 18-21, 14-21 in the number one match. Driver and Rogers dropped the first set of the number four competition against Olivia Powers and Hunter Domanski 9-21, but rallied for a 21-18 win in the second set. Powers and Domanski would extend the Tigers' lead to 3-0 on the day, winning the third set 15-6. The number three match followed the same pattern, with LSU's Megan Davenport and Mandi Orellana taking the first set 21-18,
Megan Nash and
Haley Tippett winning the second 21-12 to force a third, and Davenport and Orellana rebounding with a 17-15 third-set win. The number five match saw Hjembo and Hamilton take the first set 21-14, but the Tigers' Riley Young and Maddie Ligon would rally to take the second 21-17 and the third 15-9 to close out the sweep.
The Bears would continue to show well against ranked teams in the final match of the weekend, falling to the nineteenth-ranked Green Wave (17-11) 3-1 while forcing a third set in three matches. Martinez and Brinkley lost the number one match against Madeline Mertz and Kaylie McHugh 14-21, 10-21, before Hjembo and Hamilton defeated Gabriella Becerra and Rio Frohoff 21-15, 21-15 to even the match at 1-1. Schnars and Pollnow would take the first set of the number two contest 21-9, but Tulane's Anna Chin and Lauren Orlich would win the second 21-12 before taking the third 15-10 to give the Green Wave a 2-1 lead. Lan Nguyen and Tarin Mergener would take the first set of the number three match 21-17, before Nash and Tippett would force a third set with a 21-17 win of their own in the second. Nguyen and Mergener would lock up the match for the Green Wave though, taking the third 15-12. Central Arkansas also took a lead in the number five match, with Driver and Rogers taking the opening set 21-19, but Addie Hermstad and Ashley Delgado rallied to take the second 21-17 and the third 15-13.
Central Arkansas returns home next weekend, hosting Austin Peay and ULM for the Beach Bear Classic. The Bears will face the Governors at 12:30 PM on Friday and the Warhawks at 4:30 PM that afternoon, before again battling APSU at 9:00 AM on Saturday morning. UCA will then close out the weekend with a rematch against ULM, set to begin at 1:00 PM on Saturday afternoon.
