Davidson, North Carolina – The Central Arkansas Sugar Bears closed out play at the Davidson Wildcat Classic with a pair of matched on Saturday, defeating William & Mary 3-2 and Marist 3-1. Following the matches, senior Haley Tippett was named Tournament MVP, while senior Savanah Allen and sophomore Emily Doss were named to the All-Tournament Team.

The day's first match saw William & Mary (0-2) grab an 8-4 lead in the first set, before a pair of kills from  Allen gave Central Arkansas a 15-13 lead. Following a trade of points, William & Mary got an ace and a pair of kills from Claire Dedrick to go up 19-18 and force a timeout from the Sugar Bears. Central Arkansas stormed out of the stoppage, taking seven of the final ten points to win the first set 25-22. UCA got four kills apiece from Allen and Tippett in the set, while hitting .353.

The second set saw the Tribe again grab an early lead, this time going up 5-1 before the Sugar Bears took advantage of a pair of errors to cap a 6-2 streak and even things up at 7-7. The sides would trade short runs until a William and Mary grabbed four straight points to go up 22-20 and cause a Central Arkansas timeout. UCA got kills from Kellen Dunn and Samantha Anderson to cut the Tribe lead to 24-23, but a kill from Claire Farrell ended the rally and gave the Tribe a 25-23 set win. The Sugar Bears hit just .032 in the set, getting three kills each from Tippett, Anderson, and Allen.

For the first time on the day, it was Central Arkansas who grabbed the lead in the third, as Tippett picked up four early kills to put UCA up 9-4. The Tribe battled back to tie things at 12-12, before a 5-0 Sugar Bear run put UCA up 17-12 and forced a stoppage from William and Mary. Central Arkansas would extend the lead to 20-13 before cruising to a 25-17 set win and a 2-1 lead in the match. Tippett was a force in the set, hitting a blistering .667 and racking up eight kills as the Sugar Bears hit .321.

Central Arkansas would take an 11-7 lead in the fourth set, before William and Mary went on a 7-1 run to go up 14-12. The Sugar Bears took advantage of four Tribe errors to tie the set at 17-17, but that would be as close as they could get, with the Tribe taking the set 25-23 to force a decisive fifth set. Allen and Anderson combined for nine kills in the set, while Central Arkansas hit just .176.

The fifth set saw Williams and Mary take two of the first three points, before Central Arkansas took control, capping a 4-0 run with an ace from Amanda Dimon to go up 5-2 and cruising to a 15-9 win. The Sugar Bears turned in a red-hot .526 in the set, led by Tippett's .800 mark and four kills and Anderson's .571 percentage and five kills.

The match against Marist (1-2) started in similar fashion, with the Red Foxes building a 4-1 lead to open the first set before Central Arkansas rolled off four straight points to take a 5-4 lead. The Sugar Bears would take the match's first timeout after Marist built a 14-9 lead, before a five point run gave UCA an 18-17 edge and forced the Red Foxes to take a timeout of their own. Central Arkansas would then build a 23-19 lead before a Marist rally had to be cut short by back-to-back kills from Allen and Amari Mitchell to give the Sugar Bears a 25-22 set win. Elizabeth Armstrong handed out 15 assists in the set, as Tippett (5), Allen (4), Anderson (3), and Abbie Harry (3) all tallied at least three kills.

The Red Foxes again took an early lead to open the second, building a slight 10-6 lead, before the Sugar Bears battled back to take a 19-16 lead and cause a Marist timeout. Marist would hang around and eventually force set point, before the Sugar Bears sandwiched a pair of kills from Tippett around a Marist error to take the set 26-24 and extend the lead to 2-0. Central Arkansas hit just .206 in the set, but got two blocks each from Tippett and Allen and five digs from Doss to hold the Red Foxes to a .182 mark.
Central Arkansas struggled to get anything going offensively in the first set, falling behind 4-0 before trading points with Marist for the rest of the set, holding the lead just twice in the set, which Marist took 25-21 to extend the match. Allen added five terminations to her tally and Tippett picked up four.

The teams would again trade runs early in the fourth, with Marist eventually taking a 20-18 lead, before Central Arkansas closed things out with a 7-1 run to lock up the victory. Tippett continued to pace the UCA attack, chalking up five more kills and Mitchell added four to her count.

On the day, Tippett totaled 38 kills and 19 digs, while Anderson turned in 25 kills and five blocks and Allen had 22 kills and nine blocks. Anderson marshalled the UCA attack, dishing out 82 assists to go with 17 digs and five kills, while Bailey Waddington picked up 18 assists. Defensively, Doss picked up 36 digs, while Rayna Jefferis dug 15 attacks and Dimon scooped up 14.

The Sugar Bears return to the road next week, heading to Martin, Tennessee to take part in the Skyhawk Invitational, hosted by UT Martin. Central Arkansas will open the weekend against the host Skyhawks at 6:00 PM on Thursday evening, before taking on UAB at 1:00 PM Friday afternoon. UCA will then close out the weekend with a pair of matches on Saturday, taking on Memphis at 11:00 AM and Florida A&M at 3:00 PM.