NCAA VOLLEYBALL

Arkansas spiked by Wichita State

Arkansas coach Robert Pulliza had the Razorbacks back in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in his four years in Fayetteville.

— Ashley Andrade had a career-high 23 kills as Wichita State came back to defeat Arkansas in five sets Friday in the opening round of the NCAA Volleyball Tournament at Lawrence, Kan.

Wichita State defeated Arkansas 16-25, 25-27, 25-17, 25-23, 15-10 to advance to the second round, where it will face Kansas at 6:30 p.m. today with a chance to advance to its first Sweet 16 appearance.

Elizabeth Field added 14 kills for Wichita State (23-9), while Chelsey Feekin had a career-high 54 assists to go along with 6 kills and 16 digs.

Roslandy Acosta had a career-high 20 kills and 12 digs for Arkansas (22-10), which was making its first NCAA Tournament appearance in six years and its 10th overall. It was Acosta’s seventh game this season with at least 10 kills and 10 digs this season.

Jasmine Norton added 16 kills, 13 digs and 5 blocks for the Razorbacks, while Liz Fortado had 10 kills.

“We knew we would have our hands full with them, and we just saw the reason why,” Arkansas Coach Robert Pulliza said. “That said, I’m very proud of our team. I’m very proud of our season. I’ve had a great journey that I know our players and staff will always remember. We just had a tough one tonight that didn’t come our way.”

Arkansas won three of the first four points in the decisive fifth set, but the teams continued the back-and-forth play that marked a majority of Friday’s match. Fortado’s final kill tied it at 10-10 - the ninth tie of Game 5 - but Wichita State reeled off the final five points to complete its comeback.

Acosta and Norton combined for 12 kills in the first set as Arkansas took the an early lead. Wichita State took an early 7-4 lead in the second set, but Arkansas rallied used a 7-0 run to go ahead 13-8. Wichita State pulled within 21-19, but Arkansas put away the match on Monica Bollinger’s ace that clipped the top of the net and fell to the floor.

WASHINGTON 3, CENTRAL ARKANSAS 0

Kylin Munoz and Cassie Strickland had seven kills each as Washington defeated Central Arkansas 25-13, 25-17, 25-18 Friday night in the opening round of the NCAA Volleyball Tournament in Seattle.

Katy Beals had 19 assists and Jenni Nagueras added 12 as Washington (24-6) advanced to the second round, where it will play Hawaii today.

Washington hit .347 for the game and held UCA to just .032.

Scout Brooks and Jessica Nagy led UCA (30-5) with nine kills each, and Jessica Hays added eight. Marissa Collins had 32 assists for UCA, which was making its first trip to the tournament.

Sports, Pages 21 on 12/01/2012