Other Sports
Central Arkansas volleyball outlasts Little Rock in five-set UAC win
Sarah Carnathan posted a double-double and Nicole Sargent closed the fifth set as UCA held off Little Rock on Tuesday.
Nicole Sargent got the last word Tuesday night in Conway.
Her kill off a Tatelyn Brandsma set ended a 15-13 fifth set and gave Central Arkansas a 3-2 win over Little Rock.
It took all five sets: 25-20, 25-21, 22-25, 23-25 and 15-13.
The victory moved UCA to 5-2 in UAC play. The Bears are 5-12 overall.
Little Rock fell to 8-11 and 2-5 in the league.
Down 9-7 in the fifth, UCA found an answer with a 6-1 run for a 13-10 edge.
Sargent hammered two kills during that stretch, and Brandsma slipped in an ace. When the Trojans crept within 14-13, Brandsma went right back to her.
Good choice. Sargent hit .588 on the night with 11 kills on 17 swings.
Carnathan and Kremer lead the way
For the Bears, Sarah Carnathan did a little of everything. She piled up 13 kills and 15 digs for the third double-double of her career.
Throw in three blocks, an ace and an assist, and she totaled 15.5 points.
Then there’s Olivia Kremer, who gave Little Rock fits from the service line. She finished with a career-high five aces to go with 15 digs.
Three of them came early. With UCA up 7-5 in the first set, she served five straight points during a 6-0 run that made it 13-5.
Carnathan closed that set with a kill for a 25-20 win.
In the second, the Bears scored the final four points. Kremer sealed it with another ace.
Little Rock also couldn’t get much past the middle. Karlyn Frazier and McKinzee Haas each stuffed six blocks, and Haas hit .462 while she was at it.
Trojans force a fifth
Then things got messy.
UCA led 20-18 in the third on a Carnathan kill. Little Rock scored three straight to go ahead, then closed with three more, capped by an ace, for a 25-22 win.
The fourth looked familiar. The Bears dug out of a 15-11 hole with four straight points but couldn’t finish.
A Little Rock service error made it 24-23. Bella Cherry’s kill still handed the Trojans a 25-23 set.
UCA hit .136 with 33 errors. That’s not usually how you win a match. The Bears did it anyway.
Edging Little Rock 55-54 in kills and 11-9 in aces helped. So did Brandsma’s 43 assists and Trinity Hamilton’s 16 digs. Ella Chaney chipped in nine kills.
Next up, UCA hosts Tarleton State at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Prince Center on ESPN+.
