A five-point run midway through the fifth set proved to be the difference as St. Ambrose took down Olivet Nazarene 21-25, 25-22, 27-25, 21-25, 15-8 Friday night in Lee Lohman Arena.

After the Tigers pulled away late in the fourth to send the match to a decisive set, the Bees held a slim 7-6 lead in the fifth.

A kill from Charlie Flynn opened up a two-point lead and that was followed by an ONU hitting error forcing a Tiger timeout. Pedro Zang followed with back-to-back kills before Kam Dixon put down a kill of his own to extend the lead to 12-6.

A final Olivet Nazarene timeout barely slowed the Bees' momentum.

After ONU got one point back, Dixon and Zang had consecutive kills for a 14-7 lead. Two points later, Flynn had a final kill to close out the victory.

The fifth set ended up being the most lopsided as none of the first four sets was won by more than four points. SAU finished with 10 kills and just two hitting errors in the fifth while ONU had three kills against a pair of errors.

The teams split the first two sets and the Tigers led 21-18 in the third. Kills from Flynn and Zang and a Felipe Prieto ace came during a 4-0 run that gave the Bees a 22-21 lead. The teams traded points from there with a Zang kill fighting off a set point to knot the score at 25-25. That was followed by a solo block from Michael Bos to give St. Ambrose (11-9, 4-1 CCAC) a set point of its own. SAU capitalized as Cael Anderson hammered a kill to give the Bees a 2-1 lead.

Olivet Nazarene (7-8, 2-2 CCAC) rallied from an early deficit in the fourth to extend the match before St. Ambrose controlled the fifth.

Zang and Dixon each collected 20 kills and double-digit digs in the win. Zang picked up 11 digs while Dixon corralled 10.

Bos was credited with 12 kills and Flynn added 10. Cael Anderson and Kainalu Ka'ahanui each added three.

Prieto led all players with 46 assists. Anthony Anderson and Ethan Karban each handed out eight assists. Karban led the team with 14 digs.

St. Ambrose will return to action Saturday by hosting a tri-match beginning at 11 a.m. The Bees will face No. 2 Saint Xavier to begin the day. That will be followed by a Saint Xavier-Clarke match before the day ends with SAU facing Clarke around 3 p.m.