UCA volleyball falls in three-set battle to Southern Miss

OXFORD, Miss. — Central Arkansas volleyball couldn’t finish off a wild third set on Saturday and dropped a 3-0 decision to Southern Miss on the road in the Rebel Classic.

The final set scores were 25-18, 25-17 and 35-33, and that late surge in the third almost flipped the whole match.

UCA hung with the Golden Eagles early in set one and tied things up at 6-6.

Sophie Skinner and Greyson Button teamed up for a block, and McKinzee Haas and Sarah Carnathan matched them with one of their own.

Southern Miss then ripped off three straight service aces from Allie Hazelwood to jump ahead 16-8. Nicole Sargent kept swinging with three kills in the set, but the Golden Eagles closed it out 25-18.

Set two started rough for the Bears, who let Southern Miss open with a 4-0 service run. The Bears didn’t fold though.

Olivia Kremer served a strong stretch that included an ace and a kill from Carnathan off a Skinner set, and Fiona VanDyke’s kill on a Cameron McDaniel assist put the Bears up 9-8.

Southern Miss answered from there and took the set 25-17.

Sugar Bears push set three to the wire

The third set is where things got interesting.

UCA fought all the way to a 25-24 lead on a block from Sargent and Button, then kept trading points with Southern Miss deep into extras.

Button, Kennady Martindale, Haas and Carnathan all scored after the game reached 26-26, and Kremer added another ace at 31-31.

Southern Miss finally grabbed the last two points to win the set 35-33 and take the match.

A few Bears stood out in the loss.

Sargent and Carnathan each finished with eight kills, and Martindale added eight more.

Sargent hit .300 on the night with two blocks, while Button chipped in five kills and six total blocks for a team-high eight points.

McDaniel led all players for UCA with 16 digs, and Kremer wasn’t far off with 12 digs to go with her three aces. Brandsma ran the offense with 18 assists.

As a team, the Bears finished with 37 kills but hit just .105 compared to Southern Miss’s .226 clip on 51 kills.

UCA did win the blocking battle 9-5, though errors and lower hitting efficiency made the difference in the end.

The Bears fall to 0-4 on the year and will turn around fast, taking on Ole Miss on Sunday at noon to close out the Rebel Classic.

That match streams on SECN+ with live stats posted online.