Oral Roberts University suffered their second loss in a row on Saturday afternoon, a 3-1 setback at the hands of Central Arkansas at the Prince Center. The loss drops ORU to 13-4 (5-2 Southland Conference).

The Bears (15-3, 7-0 SLC) took the match by scores of 25-20, 20-25, 25-19 and 25-22.

ORU had won their first five Southland matches before dropping a five-setter to Northwestern State on October 5.

Sara Pope led the Golden Eagles with 12 kills, while Laura Taylor added eight kills, eight digs and 34 assists. On the defensive end, Kylie Johnson paced ORU with 11 digs.

Kylie Hartman led the Bears with 16 kills, and Scout Brooks had 12. Libero Shelbee Berringer had 21 digs to pace all players.

UCA hit .223 for the match and held the Golden Eagles to a .174 hitting percentage.

The opening set was close for awhile before a 5-0 UCA run, kicked off by a Brooks kill, gave the home team a 17-12 lead. ORU could not rally, and a Paige Gantar kill at set point gave the Bears a 25-20 victory.

But ORU did make a stand in the 2nd set. Luara Rosa had two kills as part of a 4-0 run that staked the visitors to a 12-9 lead. The Golden Eagles scored the final four points of the period, capped by a combined block from Taylor and Jovana Poljasevic, to win the set, 25-20.

Central Arkansas controlled the 3rd set throughout, taking a 17-10 lead on a Fulani Petties kill. The Bears continued to hold the edge and won the set, 25-19, with Alicia Dittrich smacking a kill on set point.

Down 9-4 in the 4th set, ORU scored five straight points, capped by a Pope kill, to tie the set at 9-all. But the Bears regained control, with Hartman tallying two kills in a three-point stretch to guide her team to a 20-13 lead. The Golden Eagles fought off four match points before an attack error ended the match with UCA winning the final set, 25-22.

Rosa ended the match with nine kills, while Bruna Silva and McKenna Qualls had 10 digs each.

The loss is ORU's second straight to the Bears and dropped the Golden Eagles two games off the pace in the Southland Conference regular season table.

ORU continues their three-game road trip on Thursday, October 17 against Nicholls State. First serve in Thibodaux, La., is scheduled for 7 pm CT.