UCA drops five-set Senior Night battle to North Alabama

CONWAY, Ark. — Central Arkansas volleyball led North Alabama 8-4 in the fifth set Friday night and still lost.

The Lions came back to win that set 15-13 and took the match 3-2, spoiling Senior Night for UCA.

Set scores were 23-25, 25-16, 25-21, 23-25 and 13-15.

The Sugar Bears are now 9-15 overall and 9-5 in the United Athletic Conference. North Alabama improved to 20-7 and 10-4.

That one’s going to sting for a while, mostly because Nicole Sargent had about as good a night as she’s ever had.

The senior opposite had 18 kills, a new career high. She’d set her old mark in the previous match, so she’s now done it in back-to-back outings.

Sargent hit .517 and added six digs and three blocks for 19.5 points.

Plenty of help around Sargent

Ella Chaney filled up the box score again with 14 kills, 16 digs and three aces. She finished with 17.5 points.

Greyson Button gave North Alabama trouble at the net. She had 11 kills and six blocks, one of them solo, for 14.5 points.

Sophie Skinner handed out 31 assists and picked up 12 digs. She also had five kills on five swings for a 1.000 hitting percentage.

Olivia Kremer led the back row with 20 digs. Most of the damage came late in sets.

UCA won the second set 25-16 and the third 25-21. The Lions took the other three.

The Sugar Bears got off to a quick start in the decider. Sargent had three early kills, and a Trinity Hamilton ace followed by a Chaney kill pushed the lead to 8-4.

North Alabama chipped away and tied it 9-9. A point later, the Lions were in front 10-9. UCA tied it twice after that before Skinner put down a kill for a 12-11 lead.

North Alabama then missed a serve, which made it 13-12. The Lions scored the last three points to win 15-13. That made three sets Friday that North Alabama won by two points.

Late leads in other sets

The fourth set went about the same way. The Sugar Bears were up 23-21 and two points from winning the match.

North Alabama scored the next four and took it 25-23.

The first set ended close, too. UCA tied it 23-23 on a North Alabama attack error, but the Lions won the next two points.

The third set was the exception. After a 2-2 start, Chaney and Sargent each had a kill and Chaney added an ace to make it 5-2.

Button, Tatelyn Brandsma and Chaney kept adding points from there, and back-to-back Sargent kills made it 22-17.

North Alabama got within 23-21. A Lions service error and a Sarah Carnathan kill off a Brandsma set closed it out 25-21 for the Sugar Bears.

Seniors honored before the match

Before the first serve, UCA honored five seniors: Greyson Button, Sarah Carnathan, Trinity Hamilton, Nicole Sargent and Sophie Skinner.

Sargent had the career night, while Button and Skinner put up big numbers of their own.

Hamilton’s ace helped spark the fifth-set run, and Carnathan’s kill ended the third set.