The UCA Sugar Bears beach volleyball team traveled to Houston, Texas, in a sandy, two-day tournament, where they played UTEP and University of Texas on Saturday, and Houston Christian and McNeese on Sunday.
Beach volleyball was added as UCA’s 18th varsity sport available to play at the university in the 2016-2017 season and has had its ups and downs since.
This season, the team consists of five freshmen, three sophomores, three juniors, four seniors and one graduate student.
On Saturday the teams began with pool play and UCA (0-4) started the tournament at 10 a.m. by playing the University of Texas at El Paso (3-2).
Each pairing put up a fight against their opponents but ended up taking a loss of 4-1 in total.
Senior Katie Atkinson and senior Kenzie Foley squared up on court seven, winning their second set by 2 points but losing their first and third.
On court six, Junior Anna Linskey and her partner Riley Melton, who is a graduate student, faced up against two UTEP players.
They lost their first set but won the next two resulting in a gain for the Sugar Bears.
The last three pairings of the first matches for UCA lost in two sets each.
Later on in the tournament, starting at 1:30 p.m, UCA faced up against the University of Texas (5-0).
UT came out with the win and beat the Sugar Bears 3-0. Almost every UCA pairing lost against UT in two sets resulting in another team loss on Saturday.
Even so, Linskey and Melton tied in their second set, 12-12, causing a nullification.
With more gameplay starting on Sunday, UCA hit the sand in its third dual against Houston Christian University (3-1) at 10 a.m.
Overall, as a team, they played on courts six, two, and four over the course of the third dual. Each of UCA’s pairs lost against their opponents in two sets, resulting in a team loss of 5-0.
Back at it again on Sunday, the Bears played in their fifth dual competition against McNeese (2-2).
Starting at 12:30 the Bears had Junior Madelyn White and Freshman Reegan Siewert paired up on court six.
They battled hard for a first-set win of 21-16 but lost their next two sets.
Court two saw a great finish from Sophomore Liliana Irizarry and Senior Naya Tan, succeeding the win of both the first and third set.
Later on in the afternoon, beginning at 1:30 p.m., the Sugar Bears took on McNeese on court four. Cathcart and Layzell won their first set but lost the next two sets.
UCA players Atkinson and Foley were a dynamic duo together as they came out on top in a three-set win.
However, the team ended with a 3-2 loss in its final match during the tournament.
Linskey and Melton were unable to pull out a UCA win and lost their first and third sets, winning their second set by 7 points.
The UCA beach volleyball team has its next tournament Feb. 28 – March. 1 in Springfield, Missouri, where they will play Southwest Baptist, Hendrix and Lindenwood.
