BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The University of Central Arkansas went down to Alabama this past weekend to take place in the Blazer Beach Bash on the campus of the University of Alabama at Birmingham. UCA opened things up with a big win over Southern Miss but faltered in the latter half of the weekend.

UCA 3 - USM 2

UCA opened things up in the Magic City with a massive win over the Golden Eagles. Entering the match, UCA was 1-4 against Southern Miss, including a pair of 4-1 defeats in Hattiesburg a few weekends prior, so this win had to be sweet. The fashion of the victory happened to be sweet as well, as Julia Oravec an Anna Linskey defeated the No. 3 pair of Sandlin and Siakidou for USM in three sets to clinch the match and finally get back in the win column against the Golden Eagles for the first time since the 2019 season.

The Bears got on the board thanks to the efforts of Kayla Cook and Payton Sproule taking down the No. 4 pair in Rough and Perry in two sets. UCA then took the lead with a win from Ryenne Gepford and Bria Garmon, who beat the No. 1 team for USM of Hurnikova and Chudzik in two sets as well.

The rest of the weekend did not unfold as good as the first match did for the Bears. UCA dropped the rest of the matches in 5-0 decisions, as No. 17 Tulane won late Saturday morning as well as late Sunday morning, and UAB closed out Saturday afternoon with a win over the Bears as well. Central Arkansas falls to 0-6 against the Green Wave all-time after being blanked twice this weekend, and now falls to 0-5 against UAB after being edged for the third time in the 2023 campaign. UCA wraps up the regular season at 8-18 and will wait for their seeding and matchup in the ASUN tournament.

Follow along with where and when the Bears will play next weekend at ucasports.com as well as at @UCABeachVB on Twitter.