St. Ambrose was unable to pull away for the victory yesterday evening in the 3-2 loss in Whiting, Ind. against the Crimson Wave of Calumet. The Bees dropped sets two, three, and five by narrow margins in the loss. This drops SAU to 10-9 overall and 3-1 in CCAC play.

The Bees started hot with a 25-22 win in set one before they were upended 24-26 and 19-25 in the following sets to trail the match 1-2. SAU came away with a clutch 25-23 fourth set victory before ultimately dropping the decision set 10-15.

Putdowns from Pedro Zang and CCAC Attacker of the Week, Michael Bos, started St. Ambrose on the right foot. Kam Dixon joined in on the action to take the 4-3 lead. SAU slowly grew their promising lead to 11-7 after Zang rattled off two consecutive kills. The Bees garnished points off Calumet service errors to take the narrow 13-11 lead. 

A Calumet timeout was forced after Ethan Karban served an unreturnable ball which allowed the Bees a three-point swing. The rest of the way, St. Ambrose was unable to grow their lead larger than three scores. At 24-22, Cael Anderson was able to register an ace for the Bees who grabbed the set 25-22 for the lead.

In the following set, the Bees captured the 12-8 margin after slowly knocking off every Crimson Wave attacking attempt to create an opportunity of their own. Then, CCSJ roared back with a four-string stretch to take the lead at 19-18. A Bee timeout was called late in the set, and SAU responded with the next two points. 

Those back-to-back scores forced a Calumet timeout. The rest of the way, the Bees and Crimson Wave tied on four occasions, the final tie at 24-24. Eventually, Calumet finished out the set with two consecutive scores to win the set in extra points at 26-24.

Both sides were on each others heels the entire way throughout the third set. St. Ambrose took the lead early, but CCSJ gained the 9-8 lead and did not fault the rest of the way. The Bees showed offensive sparks of hope, but the Crimson Wave always answered and took control of the match with the 25-19 set victory.

This put SAU in a must-win situation of the fourth set. Once the Bees took the 1-0 lead, they never trailed until Calumet captured the one-point lead at 20-19. St. Ambrose put up a fight and tied the set at 21 all. In the push of the final four points, SAU outscored the Crimson Wave to win the much-needed set 25-23. This forced a deciding fifth set.

St. Ambrose never found the offensive spark they needed in the final set as CCSJ outpaced the Bees 15-10. SAU came close as they only trailed by two scores, but Calumet rallied to win the next four of five points for the victory. This served the Bees with their first CCAC loss on the year. 

Bos was efficient and put down a team-high 12 kills with only a single error. Zang followed with 10 kills, but struggled on his attempts. Dixon added in nine kills as C. Anderson chipped in seven for the Bees. Charlie Flynn registered six kills on the evening.

Anthony Anderson (20 assists) and Felipe Prieto (16 assists) split time on the offensive side of the ball.

Karban accounted for eight digs to lead the defense.

Flynn came away with two solo blocks. 

Three service aces for Zang led the Bees from behind the service line.

The Bees will take a break for a week and then host conference foe Olivet Nazarene on March 14. The contest is set at 7 p.m. in Lee Lohman Arena.