The St. Ambrose hopes for a CCAC Tournament bid took a bit of a hit with the Bees' 25-22, 25-23, 16-25, 25-22 loss at Roosevelt Thursday night.

The loss drops the team to 7-21 overall and into a three-way tie for ninth place in the conference with a 6-9 league mark, one game behind eighth-place Saint Xavier. The top eight teams make the postseason tournament.

As has been the story several times this season, SAU had its chances Halloween night.

The Bees trimmed a 20-13 deficit in the opening set to 23-21 on a Madisyn Johnson kill. But despite another Johnson kill to keep the margin at two points at 24-22, St. Ambrose saw its first-set rally come up short 25-22.

St. Ambrose fell behind 17-11 in the second set before again making things interesting. Kills from Jenny Koerner and Rachael Dion provided the final two points of a 10-5 run that brought the Bees to within 22-21. The teams traded hitting errors before Roosevelt (11-16, 6-9 CCAC) closed things out for a 2-0 lead.

SAU put everything together in the third set. Jill Kavalauskas had four early kills, Koerner had a kill, and Jessica Hemm recorded an ace and two blocks, one with Koerner and one with London Williams, to open up a 9-4 lead.

St. Ambrose never let up. Kavalauskas put down seven kills in the set, against just one hitting error. Koerner had five kills as the Bees were never seriously threatened in claiming the set.

SAU maintained a slim lead throughout the early stages of the fourth set. The team's last lead came at 14-13 although the set was tied as late as 21-21 after a Dion kill. But the Bees would win just one more point, that coming on Kavalauskas's 14th kill of the night.

Koerner matched Kavalauskas with 14 kills in the loss. Johnson and Brea Cunningham each finished with six and Dion added five. The Bees finished with 51 total kills while the Lakers totaled just 42.

Amber Tomlin led all players with 39 assists and added a team-best 11 digs. Emma Marshall was credited with 10 digs and Grace McGrath picked up nine.

The Bees return to action Saturday with a CCAC match at Cardinal Stritch.