Sugar Bears defeat Little Rock

28 Sep 2022 Sugar Bears defeat Little Rock

Posted at 3:51 PMh in Sports by 501 LIFE

LITTLE ROCK — Central Arkansas got a huge win on the road in Little Rock Tuesday night. The Sugar Bears walked into a tough environment and came out with a big confidence boost headed back into ASUN play.

The Sugar Bears will resume play at 6 p.m. Friday, Sept. 30, at UCA to resume ASUN play against Eastern Kentucky. The game will be streamed on ESPN+, and you can follow the Sugar Bears all season long on Twitter at @ucavball.

At the game this week, the Sugar Bears got off to a hot start in the first set, leading 3-0 right out the gate, but Little Rock quickly answered. UCA couldn’t shake Little Rock and needed to call a time out with the score 11-10 in favor of the Trojans. After the timeout, momentum had shifted completely in favor of the Sugar Bears. They scored five unanswered out of the timeout and that set them up well for the rest of the set. Little Rock was able to tie it up at 19, but after an error by the Trojans, an Alexis McDaniel ace gave the Sugar Bears a two-point advantage, and from there the Sugar Bears never looked back.

The second set was filled with chances to take a commanding lead, but the Sugar Bears allowed the Trojans to hang in the game, and the crowd got invested. The second set was close all the way through, leading up to an Alexis Stumbough ace that made it 23-22 Sugar Bears. That forced a time out from Little Rock, and after the Trojans scored three unanswered to even things up.

In the third set, the Sugar Bears fed off of the crowd’s energy to take a 2-1 advantage. A good bit of Little Rock’s chances in this set came off of errors by UCA that allowed Little Rock to hang in the ballgame. Alexis Stumbough had two big kills down the stretch, and then it was UCA that took advantage of an unforced error as Little Rock served one into the net to help the Sugar Bears seal it, 25-19.

The fourth set saw the Sugar Bears quickly fall in a 6-2 hole, forcing coach John Newberry to take an early time out. UCA scored three unanswered out of the break to get themselves right back in it. UCA wouldn’t tie it up until it was 11-11, and then eventually 13-13. Once the Sugar Bears did get ahold off the lead at 14-13, they wouldn’t let it go. Little Rock made it a little hairy towards the end, getting within one at 24-23, but Alexis Stumbough once again came up big for the Sugar Bears, as she called game with her 19th kill of the night.

Stumbough’s 19 kills tied her high on the year, while Mackenzie Vernon provided 16 kills and led the Sugar Bears for most of the contest. Jamiryana Hall also came through for the Sugar Bears, tallying 14 kills. Caylan Koons breezed past her career high in assists, as she totaled 51 on the night.

The Sugar Bears will head back home this Friday, September 30th to resume ASUN play against Eastern Kentucky at 6:00 p.m. The game will be streamed on ESPN+, and you can follow the Sugar Bears all season long on Twitter at @ucavball.

got a huge win on the road in Little Rock Tuesday night. The Sugar Bears walked into a tough environment and came out with a big confidence boost headed back into ASUN play.

The Sugar Bears got off to a hot start in the first set, leading 3-0 right out the gate, but Little Rock quickly answered. UCA couldn’t shake Little Rock and needed to call a time-out with the score 11-10 in favor of the Trojans. After the timeout, momentum had shifted completely in favor of the Sugar Bears. They scored five unanswered out of the timeout, and that set them up well for the rest of the set. Little Rock was able to tie it up at 19, but after an error by the Trojans, an Alexis McDaniel ace gave the Sugar Bears a two-point advantage, and from there the Sugar Bears never looked back.

The second set was filled with chances to take a commanding lead, but the Sugar Bears allowed the Trojans to hang in the game, and the crowd got invested. The second set was close all the way through, leading up to an Alexis Stumbough ace that made it 23-22 Sugar Bears. That forced a time-out from Little Rock, and after the Trojans scored three unanswered to even things up.

In the third set, the Sugar Bears fed off the crowd’s energy to take a 2-1 advantage. A good bit of Little Rock’s chances in this set came off of errors by UCA that allowed Little Rock to hang in the ballgame. Alexis Stumbough had two big kills down the stretch, and then it was UCA that took advantage of an unforced error as Little Rock served one into the net to help the Sugar Bears seal it, 25-19.