HOUSTON – HBU volleyball hit a percentage of .233 to send Southland Conference member, Central Arkansas, home with a 3-1 (25-19, 25-16, 18-25, 25-20) loss, Saturday afternoon in Sharp Gym.

Junior outside hitter Bailey Banks led the Huskies (13-8, 4-1 SLC) offensively with 15 kills on the match, while senior middle blocker Ashlee Vann tallied 12 of her own. Junior middle blocker Blair Gillard had 11 kills and three blocks for the afternoon. Senior outside hitter Melissa Fuchs played well on both sides of the court, as she recorded a double-double with ten kills and 15 digs. Senior setter Kayla Armer tallied 47 assists with five kills. Defensively it was the work of junior defensive specialist Haley Erickson and sophomore defensive specialist Rachel Angeles each recorded 18 digs to help hold UCA (8-11, 2-5 SLC) to a hit percentage of .168.
 
Haley Tippett also recorded a double-double as she led UCA with 14 kills and 19 digs. Samantha Anderson helped offensively with 11 kills while Rayna Jefferis recorded 15 kills and Amanda Dimon had 13. Elizabeth Armstrong handed out 40 assists. 
 
The Huskies led the Sugar Bears in key stats such as kills 57-49, assists 55-48, and digs 71-67, while the Sugar Bears led in total team blocks 7-5. 
 
In the opening set, both teams were matched evenly as they tied eight times with three lead changes. It wasn't until HBU was down 11-13, where the Huskies began to put together a few points at a time to inch their way away from UCA to finish victorious, 25-19, with a team 20 kills.
 
UCA won the first point in the second set, but HBU quickly gained control after they scored the next ten out of 13 points for a 10-4 lead. The Huskies did well defensively as they did not let the Sugar Bears get more than one or two points at a time. The set ended 25-16, with HBU scoring the last three points.
 
The Huskies had a slow start for the third set as they found themselves in a 3-8 deficit before UCA had a service error. HBU was held to a total of six kills and could not capitalize on the 11 errors made by the Sugar Bears. UCA scored the final four points with three kills and one service ace to take the set 25-18.
 
Both teams battled hard in the fourth set, but HBU prevailed as they held UCA to not exceed more than three points at a time. The Huskies took the lead for the final time at 13-12 and scored the next nine of 11 points. Fuchs, Gillard, and Vann finished the rest of the scoring for the Huskies as they took the final set, 25-20.
 
The Huskies will host Abliene Christian at Sharp Gym on Monday at 7 p.m. for a SLC match up and will travel to Corpus Christi, Texas on Thursday to battle against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at 6:30 p.m.