St. Ambrose goes 3-1 at the Heart of America Challenge
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Culver-Stockton (MO) (0-1, 0-0) | 25 | 23 | 21 | 16 | 1 |
|
St. Ambrose (IA) (1-0, 0-0) | 19 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 3 |
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Graceland (0-5) | 17 | 16 | 25 | 25 | 9 | 2 |
|
St. Ambrose (IA) (4-4) | 25 | 25 | 21 | 22 | 15 | 3 |
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
St. Ambrose (IA) (5-4) | 31 | 25 | 25 | 3 |
|
UHSP (2-2) | 29 | 19 | 17 | 0 |
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
St. Ambrose (IA) (3-4, 0-0) | 20 | 18 | 10 | 0 |
|
#11 Missouri Baptist (1-0, 0-0) | 25 | 25 | 25 | 3 |
SAU competed in the Heart of America Challenge in St. Louis, Mo. this weekend. The Bees won their first match over Culver-Stockton before dropping a contest to No. 11 Missouri Baptist at Carl & Deloris Petty SRC on Friday. St. Ambrose defeated Graceland in close sets with a 3-2 win and UHSP in straight sets at UHSP Gymnasium. The Bees move to 5-4 overall.
St. Ambrose saw Culver-Stockton for a second time this season and still dominated to a 3-1 victory backed by three Bees who held double-digit kill numbers. The Bees had a slow start to open the contest but rallied over the next three sets to win 25-23, 25-21, and 25-16. Kam Dixon (12), Pedro Zang (12), and Cael Anderson (10) all held double-digit kills for SAU. Felipe Prieto ran the offense for the Bees as he collected 32 assists in the match. Charlie Flynn and Michael Bos smacked down eight and nine kills, respectively. Dixon came away with a team-high eight digs this contest. Charlie Flynn accounted for four send backs while C. Anderson added three. As a team, SAU put down 52 kills.
No. 11 Missouri Baptist challenged the Bees, but St. Ambrose held their own against the nationally ranked opponent for the first two sets before the Spartans limited the Bees to 10 scores in the final set. SAU lost in straight sets (20-25, 18-25, and 10-25) to the Spartans. St. Ambrose was shut down compared to the first contest, but Flynn led the offense for the Bees with seven kills and three solo blocks. Anthony Anderson and Prieto each added nine assists.
The Bees started hot but stalled late in the contest before putting away the Yellowjackets in a close 3-2 victory. St. Ambrose dominated both the first and second sets with a 25-17 victory and a 25-16 victory. The Yellowjackets scored the first six points of the third set before the Bees even got on the board. After that run, the Bees never caught the Yellowjackets, but they trailed right behind to drop the set 21-25. The start of the fourth set was all back-and-forth action until Graceland went on another seven point run. The Bees never found an answer but rallied back to tie the set at 21 all and SAU even led 22-21. The Yellowjackets scored the final three-of-four points to win 25-22. The Bees dominated the decision set 15-9 to win the game in five sets.
SAU swept the Eutectics in three sets with an extra-point first set. It took the Bees 31 points to win the opening set. The final two sets were all St. Ambrose as the Bees doubled the number of kills UHSP put down in the final sets. Dixon led the offense with 12 kills and tacked on eight digs. Bos and Zang put down nine kills while Flynn smacked down eight. The attackers did their job as A. Anderson owned 36 assists. Ethan Karban led defesnively with a team-high ten digs. Bos and Dixon each contributed 13 points for the Bees.
SAU looks ahead to use this momentum and host Dordt this week in Lee Lohman Arena. The first serve is set for 5 p.m. on Tues., Feb. 4th in Davenport, Iowa.