Central Arkansas volleyball falls to Hawaii in straight sets

Central Arkansas volleyball came up short in Honolulu on Thursday, dropping a 3-0 decision to Hawaii by set scores of 25-12, 25-17 and 25-18.

The loss put UCA at 0-6 on the season while Hawaii improved to 5-2.

Bears hitters had trouble finding a rhythm against Hawaii’s defense all night. UCA finished with 23 kills and hit just .027 as a team.

Hawaii racked up 47 kills and hit a much better .288 and Bears committed 20 attack errors compared to only 13 for Hawaii. Hawaii also held the edge in assists 41 to 22 and blocks five to four while the two teams tied with three service aces apiece.

UCA actually opened the match well. Kennady Martindale picked up the first kill off an assist from Cameron McDaniel giving Bears an early 1-0 lead.

Hawaii answered quickly though and built a big cushion from there.

Nicole Sargent and Greyson Button each added late kills as UCA tried to climb back into the opening set. Sarah Carnathan chipped in a block and a kill during that stretch as well.

None of it was enough and Bears dropped the first set 25-12.

UCA showed more fight in the second set. The Bears trailed 10-3 early on but battled back to 13-11 behind kills from Tatelyn Brandsma, Carnathan and Martindale.

Bears push Hawaii late in second set

UCA kept the pressure up and pulled within two again going from down 18-12 to 18-16. Carnathan strung together three straight kills during that run and McKinzee Haas added a service ace for Bears. Hawaii settled down after that and finished the set on a 7-1 run to win it 25-17.

Trinity Hamilton gave UCA some life in the third set with back-to-back service aces putting Bears up 2-0.

Hawaii answered with a 5-0 run to take a 5-2 lead. UCA wouldn’t fold though and two kills from Karlyn Frazier plus a Hawaii attack error tied the set at 5-5.

The two teams stayed even a bit longer tying again at 8-8 before Hawaii pulled away for good. Bears dropped the third set 25-18 closing out the sweep.

Carnathan leads Bears in kills and points

Carnathan paced UCA with a team-high nine kills and 10.0 points to go with a solo block and four digs.

Brandsma ran the Bears offense with a team-high 11 assists and also added four digs and a kill.

Olivia Kremer led UCA defensively with a team-high nine digs.

Hamilton topped Bears with two service aces and Haas finished with a team-high two blocks including one solo along with an ace and four digs of her own.

UCA and Hawaii will meet again Friday in Honolulu with first serve set for midnight Central time. Bears matches will stream on MW+ with audio on ESPN Radio Honolulu and live stats through StatBroadcast.