Sept. 17, 2010

Box Score

CONWAY, Ark. -

UCA 3, Memphis 0

After sweeping Jackson State in the early match, Memphis had no answer for a potent Central Arkansas offense as the Sugar Bears snapped the Tiger's five-match win streak with a 3-0 decision in Friday's nightcap.

"I have to give credit to UCA," said Memphis head coach April Jauregui. "They are a very good team and should win their conference this year and be an NCAA team. They had a good crowd which created a loud and competitive environment. This was our first real test of the season. Unfortunately we got bested tonight, but you need matches like this to test your team and light a fire inside that we need to fix some things in order to be a top team in our conference."

Memphis was led by 10 kills by Altrese Hawkins, but the Tigers hit just .116 as a team. Meanwhile UCA connect at a scorching .351 clip for the match. The Sugar Bears, led by the middle blocking corps of Taylor Hammonds and Chloe Smith, hit over .300 in all three sets and owned a 46-24 advantage in kills. Hammonds led all players with 12 kills, but more impressively hit .647 with just one error. Smith hit .435 with 11 kills and one error. UCA setter Marissa Collins set a match-high 40 assists.

Senior libero Christine Bach led Memphis with 12 digs. UCA finished the night with a 40-31 advantages in digs.

The Sugar Bears never trailed in either of the first two sets. They got out the gates with the first three points of the opening set and never looked back. Memphis managed to keep it close early. A block assist by Marija Jovanovic and Cassidy Hawkins, and a kill by Jovanovic tied the set twice. But after Jovanovic's strike made it 7-7, the Sugar Bears ran off the next five points to take a commanding 12-7 lead. UCA extended its cushion to seven points before closing the set out 25-19.

Set two was more of the same as UCA raced out to a 9-3 lead. With an eight-point lead in hand, at 18-10, the Sugar Bears quickly extended the advantage to 13 points with a 5-0 run en route to a 25-12 rout.

The Tigers looked to salvage a game in the contest and erased an early six-point deficit to take a 19-18 lead on a kill by Katlin Inglish. A kill by Jovanovic, followed by a setting error gave the Tigers a 23-21 lead late. But UCA was determined to complete it's first-ever win over Memphis and scored on each of the final three serves of the night to pull out the 25-23 decision.

"We can use a match like tonight to our advantage," Jauregui stated. "If we take this lesson and get better, then the loss will help us as we enter conference. We still have a match tomorrow and we need to play well to pick up a win and finish our preseason with a 9-3 record."

The Tigers will conclude preseason action tomorrow when they take on Northwestern State at 11 a.m. Tiger fans can watch the match live by logging on to www.ucagameday.com.