Bees stumble in three sets at Saint Xavier
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
St. Ambrose (IA) (7-12, 2-5) | 19 | 20 | 22 | 0 |
|
Saint Xavier (IL) (9-9, 5-0) | 25 | 25 | 25 | 3 |
St. Ambrose came up short in trying to hand Saint Xavier its first conference loss of the season. The Bees fell at the Cougars 25-19, 25-20, 25-22 Tuesday night in Chicago.
SAU fell behind early in each of the first two sets. The Bees were able to stay within striking distance, but came up short each time.
Two kills from Grace Beitzel and single kills from Alexa Orozco, Mackenzie Grafton and Kennedy Hugunin helped St. Ambrose (7-12, 2-5 CCAC) to a fast 5-3 lead in the third set. The set was tied as late as 9-9 before Saint Xavier (9-9, 5-0 CCAC) used a four-point run to take the lead for good.
A Grafton ace had the Bees within two points at 17-15 before the Cougars ripped off three straight points to build a 20-15 advantage. After that SAU got as close as two points twice, the last time coming at 24-22, before SXU was able to close out the victory.
Grafton and Orozco led St. Ambrose with nine kills apiece. Beitzel finished with seven and Kenia Diaz Vega was credited with three. Hugunin, Trenyce Bonner and Sofia Pabon Velazquez each put down two kills.
Ines Marques had a team-best 20 assists. Diaz Vega (six) and Haley Doucet (four) combined for 10.
Diaz Vega and Orozco led the team in digs with 18 and 13, respectively.
The Bees will return home to host Olivet Nazarene Thursday.