CONWAY, S.C. – The University of Central Arkansas beach volleyball team dropped two more decisions to open the Coastal Carolina Invitational. While UCA remained competitive early, the day at the beach was very unforgiving for the Bears as the team fell to 2-12 to open the year.
UCA 2 – TUSCULUM 3
UCA remained competitive in Friday morning's match with the Pioneers, but ultimately came up just short. The Beach Bears got out to an early 2-0 lead, as
Madelyn White and
Audrey Cathcart got out to a fast start and gave UCA a 1-0 lead early in the No. 5 spot.
Ella Weilert and
Liliana Irizary found themselves on the right side of a three set decision, winning the third set 15-7. Ultimately things came down to the pair of
Anna Collums and
Payton Sproule, who battled back to win the second set 21-15 after dropping the opening frame, but the Pioneers won the decisive third set 15-11 to close out the match. UCA now drops to 0-2 all time against Tusculum, dropping matches in back-to-back seasons.
UCA 0 – COASTAL CAROLINA 5
In the No. 1 spot for the Bears,
Brooke Kuball and
Katie Atkinson were competitive in the first set, as Coastal eventually took it 21-18, but the Bears were no match for the Chanticleers on Friday afternoon, as Coastal took home a big sweep to start off their weekend. Collums and Sproule also held in tough in their match in the No. 2 spot, but the pair of Blazek and Plutnicki were too much for the pair of Bears to overcome. UCA also fell to 0-2 all time against the Chants, but they will have a chance to return the favor tomorrow morning.
UCA will run it back on Saturday, March 16
th against Coastal Carolina at 9:00 a.m. and then Tusculum again at 11:00 a.m. To keep up with all things Beach Bears, follow @UCABeachVB on Twitter/X.
