MONROE, La. – The University of Central Arkansas beach volleyball team dropped two tough matches on Friday in the Pelican State. While the Bears were competitive in both matches, they ended up dropping both matches on the day. The Bears now stand at 4-17 on the season with two more matches on Saturday in Louisiana.
UCA 2 – ULM 3
Young Bears Madelyn White and Audrey Cathcart got UCA on the board after the Warhawks had taken the first match. White and Cathcart dropped the opening frame but rallied to take the second and picked up a gutsy win in the decisive set, 18-16. UCA then took a 2-1 lead off the back of a gritty two set victory by Naya Tan and Anna Linskey. The pair took the opening set 25-23 and then was able to clutch up and take the second set 22-20. The Bears No. 1 pair of Brooke Kuball and Katie Atkinson represented the clincher, but ultimately fell to the No. 1 pair for the Warhawks, 21-16 and 21-18, tight losses for UCA. The Bears have now lost to ULM in three straight seasons, but still hold a narrow 7-6 edge in the all-time series.
UCA 2 – EKU 3
The Bears were not able to settle the score against the Colonels, having lost to EKU last weekend. White and Cathcart were able to get UCA on the board with a three-set victory. The pair of young Bears dropped the opening frame, but came back in the latter two sets to clinch their second victory of the day. The Usual suspects for UCA did the rest of the damage for the Bears as Anna Collums and Payton Sproule won in three sets. The pair rebounded after losing the first set 21-15, then won tight matches in the second and third sets. UCA now falls to 0-2 all time against EKU with each of the matches occurring in the past week.
UCA will be back in action on Saturday, March 29th at 12:30 when they take on their neighbor, the Hendrix Warriors. The Bears then close things out in Monroe with the Tarleton Texans at 2:30 p.m.
