HUNTSVILLE, Texas – The Central Arkansas Sugar Bears continued their red-hot play on Saturday afternoon as they defeated the No. 3 Sam Houston State Bearkats (14-12, 10-4 SLC) 3-2 at the Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum. The Sugar Bears (14-13, 8-6 SLC) increased their SLC winning streak to five and punched their ticket to the SLC Tournament that will be held in Conway on November 22-24.
 
Senior Abbie Harry led the Sugar Bears with a game-high 20 kills and 12 digs while junior Amari Mitchell and freshman Alexis Stumbough added 16 and 10 kills. Senior Elizabeth Armstrong led both sides with 31 assists while junior Emily Doss surpassed 500 digs on the year with 19 on the afternoon. She now has 514 on the season, surpassing her previous season-high of 513 in 2018. Senior Rayna Jefferis also played well on the back line as she tied her season-high with 14 digs.
 
SET ONE – The Bearkats grabbed the first real lead of the day as they converted an early 4-1 spurt to lead 7-4. The Sugar Bears came right back with a nice response as two kills from Stumbough and one from Mitchell sparked a 5-1 run to grab the 9-8 edge. The next 17 points proved to be a tight battle as eight ties occurred and brought the score to 17-all. The set shifted toward the visiting side on the next point as Central Arkansas got back-to-back kills from Mitchell and Harry to ignite a 4-0 run and grab the late 21-17 lead. The Bearkats came close to tying it a few points later as a 3-0 spurt drew them within two at 23-21, but a huge block from Armstrong and Rhodes and a Bowles kill solidified the 25-21 win.
 
SET TWO – After the home team jumped out to an early 6-3 lead, the Sugar Bears converted a 4-0 run behind two Mitchell kills to take their first lead at 7-6. The Bearkats wasted no time in regaining the lead though as a 4-0 run of their own gave them the 11-8 advantage. After a Harry kill made it 13-12 Sam Houston, both teams swapped points over the next eight that led to a 17-16 Bearkat advantage. Down 20-18, Central Arkansas got a Harry kill and block from Harry and Rhodes to tie it at 20-all. The home team attempted to pull away after a 2-0 run made it 22-20, but the Sugar Bears got two straight Bearkat errors and back-to-back Harry kills to end the set on a 5-0 run and steal it 25-22.
 
SET THREE – The Bearkats responded to the 2-0 deficit well as they jumped out to an early 10-3 lead. The Sugar Bears would claw back and pull within one at point 35 as a Sam Houston service error made it 18-17, but two straight Central Arkansas errors forced the visiting team to call timeout at 20-17. The Sugar Bears came out of the timeout strong with two straight kills from Stumbough and Mitchell to make it 21-20, but the Bearkats converted two straight kills of their own and won the set 25-20 on a 4-0 run.
 
SET FOUR – Like the third set, Sam Houston started strong and grabbed an early 8-2 advantage. After a home kill made it 10-5, the Sugar Bears got three straight Bearkat errors that sparked a 5-0 spurt to make it 10-all. Sam Houston took control of the set at point 28 as back-to-back Bearkat kills and a home block gave them the strong 22-18 advantage late. The Sugar Bears would pull within three after a Stumbough kill made it 23-20, but two straight Bearkat kills forced a fifth set as Sam Houston won 25-20.
 
SET FIVE -- After the home team created the first separation for a 6-4 lead, the Sugar Bears grabbed the narrow 7-6 lead after a kill from redshirt-sophomore Ravin Rhodes and two straight blocks capped a 3-0 Central Arkansas run. The set and match shifted toward the visiting team in a major way after Sam Houston tied it at 9-all as two kills from Mitchell and one from Harry highlighted a crucial 5-0 run to make it 14-9. The Bearkats flashed one final sign of life as they stormed back with a 4-0 spurt to make it 14-13, but Harry's twentieth kill of the afternoon solidified the win for the Sugar Bears at 15-13.
 
With the win, Central Arkansas improved to 9-3 in five-set matches on the year.
 
ASSOCIATE HEAD COACH MARISSA COLLINS ON THE WIN
 
"Today was a great win for us and we are so incredibly proud of this team. They have put in the work, bought into what we're doing and are leaving everything they have on the court each match.
 
It was another full team effort for today's victory. Sam Houston is a good team. We knew that they would make some great plays and dig a lot of balls, so our game plan was to keep the ball in the court and be as low error as possible in our attacking. We made some changes defensively which allowed Jefferis and Doss to put big numbers on the board in digs.
 
Abbie Harry put up 20 kills and Amari Mitchell followed with 16. Both players were huge assets to our offense today. We are beyond proud of the battle this team has showed, and we couldn't have had a better last conference road trip."
 
UP NEXT
 
The Sugar Bears will wrap up regular season play at home next week with matchups against Incarnate Word on November 14 and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on November 16.