Central Arkansas volleyball falls in three sets to Colorado

Central Arkansas dropped another game in Colorado Saturday night, losing 3-0 to No. 23 Colorado at the CU Events Center in Boulder.

The final set scores were 25-13, 27-25 and 25-18. UCA fell to 0-2 while the Buffaloes moved to 2-0.

The second set turned into the night’s biggest battle.

UCA tied things early at 2-2 after McKinzee Haas slammed home a kill off a set from Sophie Skinner.

From there the Sugar Bears kept building, stacking up blocks and kills to push ahead 22-20. A kill from Sarah Carnathan and a block from Haas and Nicole Sargent gave UCA set point.

Colorado wasn’t ready to let go though. Avery Bolles served up an ace to knot the score at 24-24. UCA answered right back and grabbed set point again at 25-24.

But after a timeout the Buffaloes found their rhythm and ripped off three straight points to steal the set 27-25 and take a 2-0 match lead.

Set three saw the Bears keep fighting even with the match slipping away.

Ella Chaney came up big with several kills set up by Skinner while Greyson Button and Carnathan chipped in scoring runs of their own.

UCA hung around at multiple points in the set. Attack errors piled up though and let Colorado build separation it wouldn’t give back.

The Bears made one more push late, scoring three points in a row to try to force extra pressure. A hard Colorado kill closed things out at 25-18 and finished the sweep.

Set one didn’t start well for UCA either.

Colorado jumped out to a 4-0 lead before the Bears clawed back on a Colorado service error and a block from Haas and Tatelyn Brandsma to make it 4-2.

Kills from Sargent and Chaney kept UCA in the fight for a while. UCA tried to rally late behind two Skinner-to-Sargent kills but a big Colorado swing from Inés Losada closed the set 25-13.

Sugar Bears’ top performers show fight despite loss

Sargent led UCA with 6 kills on a sharp .385 hitting percentage to go with 5 block assists and 8.5 total points.

Chaney posted a team-high 7 kills and added 6 digs for 7.5 points. Haas chipped in 4 kills at a .375 clip with 5 block assists.

Cameron McDaniel anchored the back row defense with 11 digs while going a perfect 1-for-1 hitting.

As a team the Bears finished with 28 kills and 8 total blocks but hit just .043 as a squad compared to Colorado’s .273.

The Buffaloes also held edges in assists, aces and total points across the match.

UCA doesn’t have much time to dwell on the loss.

The Bears wrap up the Buffs Classic on Sunday at noon against CSUN with the match streaming on ESPN+.