Conway – The Central Arkansas Sugar Bears returned to action at the Prince Center for the second time this week on Thursday night, hosting the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders. After a slow start that saw them drop the first set 22-25, the Sugar Bears rallied to take the next three 25-23, 25-22, 25-16 for the 3-1 win.

The first set saw the teams establish a highly-competitive match that would feature a total of 21 ties and nine lead changes on the night, with seven and three coming in the first frame. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (3-13, 2-1 SLC) built an 11-5 lead, before Central Arkansas (12-4, 2-1 SLC) used an 8-0 run to rake a 13-11 lead. UCA would hold the advantage until AMCC rolled off three straight points to take a 20-19 lead. The teams would trade the next four points, before the Islanders closed out the set with a 4-1 run.  Senior Kellen Dunn led Central Arkansas with six kills in the set, while sophomore Emily Doss had eight digs.

UCA would take the first four points of the second set, but the Islanders would rebound to take a 7-6 lead before the teams played to a 19-19 tie. UCA took five of the next seven points before a pair of Islander points cut the lead to 24-23, causing a Sugar Bear timeout. Following the stoppage, senior Samantha Anderson picked up a kill to close out the set. Senior Haley Tippett collected a team-high five kills in the set.

The Islanders stormed out of the gate in the third set, taking the first five points and eight of the first nine, before Central Arkansas battled back, eventually reeling off seven points in a row to take a 20-17 lead. AMCC took the next four points to retake a 21-20 lead, before a kill from Anderson capped a 4-1 UCA run and closed out the set. Anderson added six kills to her total on just nine swings, hitting .556 in the set, while sophomore Bailey Waddington had 13 assists for the second straight set.

The fourth set saw the sides play to a 15-15 tie, before the Sugar Bears took control, winning 10 of the final 11 points to close out the match. Senior Savanah Allen let the UCA attack, knocking down eight kills on 12 swings with no errors for a .667 hitting percentage, while Waddington added 14 assists and Doss picked up five digs.

"I'm so proud of the fight we showed tonight," said UCA head coach Jeni Jones Chatman. "Doss, Bailey, and Rayna Jefferis all got on rolls serving tonight, so I'm proud of what we did there. And then Savanah Allen; from a blocking standpoint, to attacking, she's really taken to heart some of the things we've been working on her with. And Sam Anderson came on so strong after set one."

For the match, Waddington keyed a Central Arkansas attack that featured four players with double-digit kills, handing out 51 assists to go with four digs and a pair of aces. Allen hit .500 and turned in a team-high 15 kills and three blocks, while Anderson added 14 kills and three digs, and Dunn pitched in with 10 kills. Tippett picked up her seventh double-double of the season, tallying 12 kills and 13 digs, while Doss had a match-high 25 digs.

"It's huge to have that sort of versatility," said Chatman. "We've been talking about how we're due for a good team performance. We've had some matches with really good individual performances, and sometimes that results in wins, but when you're playing good teams, you need multiple attackers on, and we finally got that tonight."

Central Arkansas closes out a three-match week on Saturday, hosting Houston Baptist at 12:00 PM.

"HBU always has incredible defense, and that tradition doesn't graduate from their program. They go after it every match, so we're expecting a battle," said Chatman.