Jacksonville, Ala. – Central Arkansas got off to a bit of a rocky start in ASUN conference play on Friday night, losing to Jacksonville State in four sets.
In the first set, Jacksonville State threw a haymaker, and UCA just couldn't recover, as the Gamecocks got out to a 7-1 lead. Once the Gamecocks took the lead, they wouldn't relent, keeping their foot on the gas the whole way, racing past the Sugar Bears to a 25-11 first set victory.
The second set started much closer, as it was tied 3-3 in the early going. Later, with the score 7-5 in favor of the Gamecocks, JSU would score six unanswered points. Despite all the runs from the Gamecocks, the Sugar Bears used a pair of 4-0 scoring runs to make it a 17-15 advantage for JSU. The Sugar Bear comeback fell just short though, as the Gamecocks always found an answer, and they would win by a score of 25-19.
While still falling short, the Sugar Bears saw a better performance in the second set, although they still had a pretty big hole to dig out of. UCA once again started this set off better, finding themselves up 8-5 early on after three unanswered points. The story of this set for UCA was scoring runs. The Sugar Bears used four runs of three unanswered points and then used a 5-0 run to make it 19-11. These runs propelled Central Arkansas to a 25-19, as an Alexis Stumbough kill finished off the Gamecocks.
The Sugar Bears hoped to storm all the way back and would need a strong fourth set to do so. However, this time, it would be the Gamecocks who would make use of some well-timed scoring runs. The fourth set started off well, with neither team able to pull away at first. However, with the score 11-9 in favor of the Gamecocks, it would be JSU that took the reins. The Gamecocks went on a 4-0 run, making it a 15-9 game, then the two teams would trade scoring chances. Then, smelling blood in the water, the Gamecocks employed two 3-0 runs to put the match on ice, with a score of 25-14.
Mackenzie Vernon played well for UCA, pitching in 14 kills, which led the team. Alexis Stumbough, who had seen fewer opportunities recently, added 10 kills on the evening. Lilly Taylor continued to take advantage of more chances, as she also put up 10 kills. Another player that has been taking advantage of recent opportunities is Caylan Koons, who again put up impressive numbers, as she had 34 assists.
Central Arkansas will continue their start to ASUN play at Kennesaw State Saturday September 24th at 4 p.m., the game will be available to watch on YouTube. You can follow along in every game on Twitter at @ucavball
