Memphis – The Central Arkansas Sugar Bears celebrated a great weekend at home for the first time in this 2022 campaign. The Sugar Bears beat Louisiana Monroe 3-0 and Southern Illinois in comeback fashion, 3-2, before dropping the last game to Louisiana Tech 1-3 to conclude the Central Arkansas tournament.
The Sugar Bears are hitting the road and headed south to Memphis for the Buff City Brawl. UCA will take on Little Rock on Friday at 9:00 a.m. and then the hosting Memphis Tigers on Friday night at 7:00 p.m., then the Sugar Bears will wrap up with Arkansas-Pine Bluff Saturday morning at 9:00 a.m.
The Trojans of Little Rock are coached by Van Compton and are off to a 2-7 start. Despite the record, the Trojans have a few player to watch for in this matchup. Graduate senior outside hitter Nedima Kamberovic is leading the squad with 71 kills for an average of 2.22 kills per set. At setter, the Trojans have sophomore from Dallas, Sophia Reynolds who has contributed 143 assists thus far. The Sugar Bears have taken three of the last four from Little Rock, and will look to sustain the success, with another matchup in the coming weeks as well.
The host Memphis Tigers are out to a 7-3 start under head coach Sean Burdette, and have a few players that stand out so far. Miaya Smith and Jasmyn Tate are contributing 100 and 99 kills respectively and are a huge factor in the Tigers' success thus far. Setter Loren Robertson has pitched in a staggering 357 kills so far, and is a crucial part of the Memphis attack. The Sugar Bears have won four of the last five matchups against Memphis, but the Tigers took a match from UCA in 2021.
The final opponent this weekend for the Sugar Bears is the University of Arkansas Pine Bluff, who are coached by Gabrielle Floyd, who has led the Golden Lions to a 2-8 record so far. Memphis native Zykia Jones has gotten out to a great start for UABP, as the outside hitter has contributed 87 kills to this point. Another player to watch is Nikole Akamine who has added 137 assists for an average of 5.22 per set. UCA has won seven in a row against UAPB dating back to 2010.
This weekend tournament is a great opportunity for the Sugar Bears against some teams that UCA has had recent success against. You can look for updates on the UCA volleyball Twitter account @ucavball
