A dominant second set wasn't enough as St. Ambrose saw its 2018 season come to a close with a 25-14, 16-25, 25-14, 25-13 loss at Saint Xavier in a quarterfinal match of the CCAC Tournament Tuesday night.

The Bees end the year with a 12-21 record.

Down 1-0, SAU put everything together in the second against the tournament's top seed. Behind three early kills from Riley Hummert and two apiece from Devan Porter and Jessica Hemm, the Bees raced to an 11-2 lead. An ace from Amber Tomlin was followed by a Hemm block to push the lead to 14-3. The advantage remained double digits until the very end as St. Ambrose evened the match at 1-1.

But the Bees went quietly from there.

The third set was tied at 6-6 following a Hemm kill, but Saint Xavier (25-9) won the next nine points to take control. The Cougars won the first four points of the fourth set and led 8-1. Another Tomlin ace and three SXU errors brought the deficit to 9-6 but the Bees would get no closer as Saint Xavier pulled away to advance to the CCAC semifinals.

Porter was the lone Bee to record double-figure kills, finishing with 14. She also collected eight digs.

Hummert finished with eight kills and 12 digs. Hemm had seven digs and Rachel Dion added four.

Morgan Twing led the team in both assists (20) and digs (13). Tomlin registered 12 assists. Emma Marshall ended the year with 11 digs.