EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – The Central Arkansas Sugar Bears wrapped up nonconference play on Saturday afternoon as they fell to the Purdue Fort Wayne Mastadons 3-2 in Edwardsville, Illinois. The Sugar Bears (6-7) found themselves in their sixth five-set competition in as many as 13 matches as they came off a full-set thriller against the Cougars last night.
 
Sophomore Lexi Miller led the Central Arkansas attack with a season-high 21 kills while freshman Alexis Stumbough and redshirt-junior Ravin Rhodes contributed 12 and 11. Junior Bailey Waddington led in the assists department with 33 while junior Emily Doss replicated her season-high mark from last night with 31 digs. Doss' back-to-back high-dig performance was enough to earn her third All-Tournament honor of the year as she finished with 79 digs over three matches.
  
BY THE NUMBERS
 
SET 1 – 15 kills, four errors with .234 hitting percentage
 
SET 2 – 10 kills, eight errors with .050 hitting percentage
 
SET 3 – Game-high 21 kills, eight errors with .241 hitting percentage
 
SET 4 – 16 kills, eight errors with 190 hitting percentage
 
SET 5 – 10 kills, six errors with .167 hitting percentage
 
TURNING POINT OF THE AFTERNOON
 
Up 2-1, the Sugar Bears grabbed a 21-18 advantage in the fourth set after a Rhodes kill and Doss service ace. Instead of laying down, the Mastadons responded with a 7-1 run to win 25-22 and force set five. Central Arkansas found themselves near the finish line again in the final set after a service ace from Senior Rayna Jefferis made it 11-all, but a few calls went in the Mastadons favor and they won the match off a 4-1 spurt.
 
UP NEXT
 
The Sugar Bears will return home late Saturday night and spend the week shifting their focus to conference play as they will welcome Houston Baptist and Sam Houston to the Prince Center later this week.