St. Ambrose rallied from a 12-9 deficit in the fifth set and fought off a pair of match points before ultimately falling at St. Francis (Ill.) 25-27, 26-24, 18-25, 25-19, 17-15 Thursday night.

The Bees never led in the decisive set as the Saints quickly built a 3-0 lead. Kills from Emma Marshall and Rachael Dion, and a block from Dion and London Williams helped SAU draw even at 4-4.

From there, the set went back and forth.

USF (19-10, 10-3 CCAC) used a three-point run to break a 9-9 tie and take a 12-9 advantage. Back-to-back kills from Jenny Koerner cut the deficit to a single point and a block from Williams and Brea Cunningham knotted the set at 12-12. The Saints recovered to win two straight points for a 14-12 lead. Kills from Cunningham and Williams erased match points and forced a St. Francis timeout.

The teams exchanged points before Jill Kavalauskas had a chance to give St. Ambrose the lead but her attack fell just wide. With SAU trying to fight off another match point, a miscommunication allowed the ball fall between two Bees to end the match.

The team's seventh loss in a row dropped St. Ambrose to 6-20 overall and 5-8 in the CCAC.

Koerner led St. Ambrose with 21 kills and 18 digs. Kavalauskas finished with 13 kills and 13 digs. Williams (12) and Cunningham (10) also reached double figures in kills. Dion chipped in with seven.

Amber Tomlin led all players with 55 assists and picked up 10 digs. She also recorded four of the Bees' nine aces. Alexis Hayes matched Koerner with 18 digs and Marshall collected 17 digs.

SAU will return home to host Calumet St. Joseph Tuesday at 7 p.m.