The Colonels’ volleyball team snapped a four-game losing streak but failed to take a weekend sweep as they fell in Saturday’s match against the Sugar Bears of Central Arkansas.”I’m really looking forward to playing Central Arkansas on Saturday. They really are a phenomenal team,” head coach Chris Laird said the night before the game. “They’ll be a tough test. But, hopefully, if we play the way we can, it’ll be a good match.”
The Colonels proved Saturday’s match to be a good one when they nearly pulled off an upset against the number one conference-ranked Sugar Bears but fell 3-1 in a tight match.
After falling 2-0, the Colonels battled back and nearly forced the 23-3 Sugar Bears to a fifth set. The Sugar Bears took the first two sets with scores of 13-25 and 19-25.
The Colonels showed heart and resilience in the third set by coming out strong. Looking to avoid the straight set loss, the Colonels out-hit UCA .375 to .163 en route to a 26-24 win that saw nine tie scores and five lead changes along the way.
Sophomore outside hitter Rachel Yezak posted four of her team-high 11 kills in the third set, while senior Manieka Golden posted five more with a .500 hitting average. Senior Rachel Spreen hit .600 without an error.
The Colonels took control of the fourth set early thanks to a 13-9 opening run. The Sugar Bears tied it 19-19 and closed out the game on a 6-2 run to win the set 25-21 and win the game 3-1.
The Colonels fell to 10-15 for the year and 4-7 in conference play.
Friday night the Colonels snapped a four-game losing streak when they beat Northwestern State 3-0 in Stopher Gym.
Freshman middle blocker Jasmine Harris hit .700 without an error and had a hand in four blocks, while Yezak had finished just three kills shy of a double-double.
“It feels great to get a win at home,” Laird said. “I’m really proud of the girls because they had opportunities to let Northwestern State come back, and they didn’t. We didn’t panic, and we showed good composure tonight. I think we did some excellent things tonight. We executed the way we expect to during a match.”
The Colonels started off strong in Friday’s match against the Demons of Northwestern State and won the first set 25-22. The Colonels won a close second set 25-21 and followed up the third set with a 25-22 win to give the Colonels a 3-0 victory.
“I’m very pleased with our girls playing as hard as they did,” Laird said. “The fans tonight were great, and I hope they can come out and help us tomorrow.”
The Colonels will resume play tomorrow against Texas-San Antonio at 7 p.m. in Stopher Gym.
