NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Central Arkansas Sugar Bear are headed to the Music City on Thursday to take on the host Lipscomb Bisons in the quarterfinals of the ASUN tournament. The Sugar Bears and Bisons have squared off once already this season, resulting in a four-set win for Lipscomb.
The Sugar Bears come into Nashville at 19-10 and are the fifth-seeded team in the tournament thanks to an 11-5 ASUN record. UCA will be looking for a slight bit of revenge against the Bisons, after losing on Oct 21st at Lipscomb. Earlier on Wednesday, the Sugar Bears received excellent news as Caylan Koons was named to the ASUN All-Freshman team. Koons led the Sugar Bears with 857 kills on the season, which was good for seventh in the conference.
The Lipscomb Bisons, coached by Brandon Rosental enter at 15-12 on the year. Don't be fooled by the fact that the Bisons are only 3 games over .500, they had a grueling non-conference schedule. The Bisons finished 12-4 in conference, gaining the fourth seed in the ASUN tournament.
Lipscomb cleaned up in the ASUN postseason awards, with five players claiming awards on Wednesday. Junior Caroline Stogner claimed a spot on the All-Conference Second team while leading Lipscomb in kills with 302 kills and shared a stake of the lead in service aces with 38. Sophomore Addi Pelham landed a spot on the All-Conference Third team and was second on the team with 270 kills on the season. The Bisons had three girls earn a spot on the All-Freshman team in Sophia Hudepohl, Courtney Jones, and Berkley Mischler. Hudepohl led the Bisons and was fifth in the ASUN with 996 assists on the year.
Central Arkansas will take on Lipscomb in the Quarterfinals of the ASUN tournament on Thursday, November 17th at 7:00 p.m. The game will be streamed on ESPN+ and you can also follow along on Twitter at @ucavball.
