Nacogdoches, Texas – Central Arkansas dropped their first two games of the season on the road to a couple of familiar foes.
The Sugar Bears fought valiantly as they took on two championship programs in a doubleheader to start the season.
UCA (0-2) battled two-time defending Sun Belt champion Texas State in a five-set thriller and then fell in four sets to conference for Stephen F. Austin in their second match of the day.
Against Texas State, the Sugar Bears were mired in an 0-2 hole and nearly completed a miraculous comeback with senior Amanda Beaton leading the way.
Beaton finished with a team-high 24 kills and ten digs for the Sugar Bears, who fell behind early but clawed their way back into the match.
UCA got the ball rolling early, scoring three consecutive points as they scored three straight points off a couple of Texas State miscues, the last on a kill by sophomore Alexis Stumbough.
But with score tied 18-18, the Bobcats would close out the set on a 7-2 run.
Texas State would also roll to a win in the second stanza before UCA came storming back on a 10-3 spurt to secure the third frame.
With confidence from the 3rd set, the Sugar Bears took advantage of more Texas State errors and also captured the fourth frame to force a fifth and deciding set.
In the deciding set, the Bobcats were able to rally and cement a hard-fought victory 18-16.
“Our match versus Texas State was one that I’ll remember for a very long time.” said Newberry. ”After being down two sets, we made a couple of adjustments and were able to gain heavy momentum for the next two sets.
At the end of set five, we had game point twice and we were in two rotations that have caused us trouble throughout the match.
Senior Bailey Waddington accumulated a team-high 50 assists while fellow senior Emily Doss led the Sugar Bears with 21 digs and junior Ravin Rhodes was a force down low with three blocks.
“We didn’t capitalize on a couple of chaotic moments like we have been doing in practice and that mattered at the very end.” said Newberry.
“Amanda Beaton and Lexi Miller both had incredible matches today. They both seemed to be unstoppable throughout most of all five sets. Texas State had several big-time attackers and I thought our defense was able to finally make some changes and come up with some high-level plays.”
In the second match against SFA, Beaton paced the Sugar Bears with eleven kills and a pair of aces while Stumbough added eleven digs in the four set (12-25, 15-25, 25-21, 17-25) loss to the Lady Jacks.
“We had a slow start versus SFA, it definitely looked like our fatigue level set in early from the previous match.” Newberry said. “Madi Bowles really stepped up in the third and fourth sets. We definitely look forward to getting back in the gym on Monday to get ready for our match versus Little Rock.”
UCA will host their first couple of home games this weekend against Little Rock at 6 p.m. on Friday, and then Arkansas State on Saturday at 6 p.m. at the Farris Center.
Faulkner County Focus Sports 