St. Ambrose was unable to maintain momentum in losing its home opener to conference foe Cardinal Stritch 3-2 Thursday night. The Bees fell 21-25, 25-16, 22-25, 25-16, 15-6 to move to 1-5 overall and 0-2 in the CCAC.

SAU suffered letdowns after strong play in winning the first and third sets.

After the Wolves (8-6, 2-0 CCAC) pulled away to win the fourth, SAU trailed just 5-3 in the decisive set after an Abby Happ kill. But from there, Cardinal Stritch won seven of the next eight points to seize control.

In the first and third sets, St. Ambrose had a total of 25 kills against just eight hitting errors (.262 hitting percentage) but over the other three sets, the team had a combined 19 kills and 17 errors for a .024 hitting percentage.

The tough loss overshadowed some big individual performances.

Riley Hummert led all players with 17 kills. She also added eight digs. Happ finished with nine kills along with 15 digs. Allie Brent recorded seven kills.

Morgan Twing picked up a match-high 39 assists to go along with her nine digs. Jenna Laxton led the Bees with 17 digs.

Brent and Breanne Cunningham were each in on a pair of blocks.

SAU collected six aces - two each from Hummert and Twing - but the Bees were hurt by nine receiving errors.

The Bees will next step out of conference to host No. 12 Dordt Saturday at 7 p.m.