St. Ambrose dropped matches to two of the nation's best Saturday at a tournament hosted by Grand View. The Bees fell to No. 18 Saint Francis (Ind.) 25-22, 23-25, 25-20, 25-20 and to No. 24 Providence (Mont.) 25-23, 25-22, 25-22.

SAU nearly took the opening set in the first match of the day. A Devan Porter kill gave the team a 22-19 lead but that would be it as Saint Francis rattled off the next six points. The Bees returned the favor in the second. After the Cougars grabbed a 19-13 lead, the Bees scored 12 of the next 16 points. Porter, Riley Hummert and Jessica Hemm each had two kills, Rachel Dion had a kill and a pair of blocks and Morgan Twing recorded an ace during the late run that evened the match at a set apiece.

But USF (23-7) would grab big early leads in the next two sets that SAU could not overcome.

Porter finished with a match-high 17 kills. Hummert had 11 and Abby Happ registered 10 as the Bees finished with 10 more kills (50-40) than the Cougars.

Twing and Amber Tomlin each picked up 17 assists. Emma Marshall (23) and Tomlin (10) reached double digits in digs.

Hours later, St. Ambrose lost its second straight to a top-25 foe.

SAU went toe to toe with Providence in each of the sets but the Argonauts were able to do enough late to win in three.

Porter again led the Bees with 16 kills. Hummert finished with 11 kills and 10 digs. Twing and Tomlin paced the team with 19 and 13 assists, respectively. Twing also collected 12 digs and three aces while Marshall had 10 digs.

The Bees (7-17) will return to CCAC play Tuesday with a home match against Judson scheduled for 7 p.m.