MONROE, La. – In an oft weather-delayed weekend at the ULM Warhawk Challenge, the University of Central Arkansas beach volleyball squad battled it out with two of the top teams in the Midwest at the ULM Sand Volleyball Courts.

UCA (4-6) was scheduled to play a third match against New Orleans but the contest was canceled due to inclement weather in the Monroe, La. area.

UL MONROE 4, UCA 1

It was a tough opening match for Central Arkansas as they fell behind early and dropped a 4-1 decision to host UL Monroe Friday afternoon.
 

• The Bears' No. 2 paring of Aly Brinkley and Mackenzie Dear earned a 21-19, 21-17 straight-set win to put up the only UCA point of the match. It was the duo's fifth win of 2019.
• In the exhibition match, Kelly Douglas and Hailey Weber held on for a 19-21, 21-18, 15-11 victory. It was the first time these two Bears teamed up all season.
• The top pairing of Haley Tippett and Colene Hamilton went right down to the wire in both sets, but fell just short 20-22, 19-21 to the Warhawk No. 1 combination of Tamara Merseli and Grace Convey.
• Jessica Martinez and Elleson Dunagin teamed up for the first time all season and lost a three-set thriller 15-21, 23-21, 10-15 to the ULM No. 3 pairing.
• UL Monroe's Allie Kemp and Elizabeth Moreland narrowly upended UCA's Kellen Dunn and Faith Hasness by a final count of 21-12, 15-21, 12-15.
• The No. 5 combo of Kelsie Sager and Kayla Cook could not keep pace with the Warhawks' Audrey Brooks and Bailey Smith, falling 16-21, 16-21 in straight sets.

HOUSTON BAPTIST 3, UCA 2

In one of the most closely-contested matches of the season where all five individual matches went to three sets, the Beach Bears dropped a tough 3-2 decision to Houston Baptist early Saturday morning.
 

• Tippett and Hamilton responded to Friday night's setback with a strong 21-13, 13-21, 17-15 victory over the Huskies No. 1 pair.
• In a newly formed pairing for the weekend, Martinez and Dunagin battled back from a first-set loss to take down HBU's Kylie Bryan and Lindsay Harris 19-21, 21-15, 15-12.
• In one of toughest dropped points of the season for UCA, the combination of Brinkley and Dear fell just short in a 19-21, 22-20, 14-16 three-set decision to the Houston Baptist No. 2 pair.
• Hasness and Dunn battled hard to force three set
• s, but came up short in the final frame in their 15-21, 23-21, 10-15 defeat to HBU's Maddie Butters and Conley Harris.
• The UCA No. 5 group of Sager and Cook narrowly missed out on the victory, falling by a final score of 21-19, 12-21, 4-15.
• In the exhibition match, Douglas and Weber could not keep pace with the Huskies pairing of Rayann Rabius and Lauren Huggins. The duo dropped a 19-21, 16-21 decision to round out the morning match.

NEXT ON THE BEACH

UCA will return home to host Houston Baptista and Ottawa University in the UCA Beach Tournament beginning Friday April 12 at 1 p.m. For all things Central Arkansas Beach Volleyball, follow the program on Twitter @UCABeachVB and on Instagram @UCABeachVBall.