CONWAY, Ark. – The University of Central Arkansas beach volleyball team is preparing to head down to the campus of the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, Florida. The No. 8 seeded Bears will face a tough draw with the No. 1 seeded Stetson.
The Bears capped the regular season with a win over Southern Miss, but then UCA dropped three straight games to Tulane and the host UAB. The Blazer Beach Bash was not an overwhelming success for the Bears, but they did get the upper hand against the Golden Eagles for the first time this season in three tries.
The Stetson Hatters clinched the No. 1 seed in the ASUN tournament with a record of 18-14. The Hatters won the ASUN tournament and have managed to stay in the AVCA rankings for the duration of the 2023 campaign and are currently sitting at No. 18. While Stetson's record was only four games over .500, the Hatters navigated a grueling schedule. 10 of Stetson's 14 losses on the year came against ranked opponents, including a loss to the national runner up in Florida State. The Hatters earned some quality wins on the season as well, With wins against Texas, Utah, No. 12 Florida Atlantic, No. 16 South Carolina, and at No. 11 Georgia State.
A matchup to keep an eye on is Shae Henson and Karin Zernickova, finishing with a 21-11 record as the No. 1 pair for the Hatters. Carolina Ferraris and Anete Namike have nailed down the No. 2 spot with a 20-5 record and a 23-8 overall record. This will be the inaugural matchup between the Bears and Hatters, and it couldn't come at a bigger stage for this young Bears team.
The Bears head down to Jacksonville, Florida to take on Stetson on Friday, April 21st at 8:00 a.m. You can follow along on both ESPN+ and a live stats link, both can be found on ucasports.com.
