UCA volleyball falls to Denver in four-set season opener

Central Arkansas volleyball dropped its season opener to Denver in four sets Friday at the CU Events Center in Boulder, Colo.

Denver won 26-24, 25-17, 25-19 and 25-11 to open its year 1-0 while UCA fell to 0-1.

The first set started well for the Bears. McKinzee Haas and Nicole Sargent sparked an early 4-0 run built on Denver attack errors. Ella Chaney and Sarah Carnathan then helped stretch that lead to 11-3.

Denver would not stay down though. The Pioneers clawed all the way back to tie it at 24-24 before closing out the set 26-24.

UCA found life again midway through set two. A kill from Tatelyn Brandsma got things going and Haas followed with more pressure before a Cameron McDaniel service ace tied the score at 7-7.

The Bears briefly led 9-7 but Denver answered with a strong stretch of its own, including a key ace from Madison Winkler, and took the set 25-17.

Bears bounce back in third set

UCA found its footing in set three. The Bears jumped out to a 14-8 lead thanks to kills from Karlyn Frazier and Carnathan along with a service ace from Sophie Skinner.

Denver tried to chip away but UCA kept adding points, including more aces from McDaniel and Haas. Two straight kills from Haas closed the set out at 25-19 and cut Denver’s match lead to 2-1.

The fourth set slipped away early. Haas opened with a kill to tie things at 1-1 but Denver took over from there.

Annie Hopkins and Chaney trimmed the gap to 8-4 with a pair of kills but Denver kept pushing and led 13-7.

UCA called timeout at 11-7 hoping to change the momentum. Frazier and Carnathan answered with kills of their own to cut into the lead but Denver capitalized on UCA errors down the stretch and closed out the match with a 25-11 set win.

For the match UCA finished with 40 kills as a team. Denver’s offense was steady all night and hit .313 as a team, which was a big reason the Pioneers were able to close out sets when they needed to.

Haas leads the way for UCA

Haas had the best night of anyone on the floor for the Bears. She finished with 12 kills, four total blocks and an ace for 15.5 total points.

Frazier chipped in seven kills and two blocks for 10.5 points and Carnathan added 10 kills and an ace worth 11.5 points.

Brandsma ran the UCA offense from the setter spot and racked up 19 assists to go with two kills of her own. Her distribution kept the Bears in system for most of the match even when Denver’s block started causing problems.

UCA doesn’t have much time to think about the loss.

The Bears head to Colorado for a Saturday match at 7 p.m. CT in Boulder with the game streaming live on ESPN+. A quick turnaround against another tough opponent gives UCA a chance to pick up its first win of the season right away.

Dropping the opener is never the way a team wants to start things off but there were bright spots to build on.

Haas looks ready for a big freshman season and Carnathan and Frazier gave UCA steady scoring all night.

The Bears will look to carry that into Boulder for round two.