LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The University of Central Arkansas volleyball team dropped a tough match against the Bellarmine Knights on Friday evening. The four-set defeat set the Sugar Bears back to 6-10 overall and now 0-4 in conference play.
Separation was extremely hard to come by in Friday's match with neither team readily able to rip off a long run all night, but especially in the first. That being said, each run by the Sugar Bears was incredibly important. The most crucial run in the first set for UCA came with a narrow 20-19 lead. The Sugar Bears made it 23-19 on a kill by Laci Bohannan, and that was just enough for UCA to take the opening set, as the Knights nearly came back with a run of their own, but UCA emerged with a 1-0 set lead thanks to taking the opening set, 25-23.
The Sugar Bears had an abundance of opportunities to take a 2-0 set lead, but the Sugar Bears weren't able to capitalize. UCA went on a 3-0 run to take a 23-22 lead, and then had set point at 24-23, but the Knights overcame that and stayed alive. The Sugar Bears had a few more set point opportunities at 27-26 an 28-27, but the Knights hit on three straight to take the second set, 30-28.
Having missed out on a chance to take a 2-0 set lead, the momentum really swung towards the side of Bellarmine. UCA did have its first big scoring run of the day, ripping off five straight to take a 14-11 lead. However, Bellarmine would shortly answer that with a 10-1 run to take a 22-18 lead, which would ultimately be too much for the Sugar Bears to overcome, and the Knights took a 2-1 set lead winning the third set, 25-21.
The momentum stayed with the Knights, as they sprinted out of the gate and took a 15-8 lead into the media break, the largest lead by either side to that point in the absolute worst spot for UCA. From there, the Knights didn't need to go on a crazy run, they just fended any chance for a Sugar Bear run to get back into the game. Mackenzie Vernon tried to keep it close at the end, getting three kills down the stretch, but ultimately, the Knights won 25-20.
Vernon surpassed her previous season-high in kills of 15 with a stellar 20 kills Friday night. However, she was the only Sugar Bear to total double-digit kills, as Laci Bohannan was the next closest with nine kills. Caylan Koons finished with 37 assists and 11 digs. Lexie Gregory led the team with 17 digs.
The Sugar Bears will continue the road trip on Saturday, September 30th at 3:00 p.m. at Eastern Kentucky. The Match will be streamed on ESPN+ and as always, fans can keep up with the match on Twitter/X at @UCAVball.