St. Ambrose played its best volleyball when it mattered most and that was enough for the Bees to advance to the semifinal round of the CCAC Tournament.

SAU outlasted St. Francis 25-23, 19-25, 25-23, 20-25, 15-12 in a tournament quarterfinal Tuesday night in Lee Lohman Arena. The Bees will visit top-seed Viterbo Thursday night.

In a match that saw the Saints out-hit and actually outscore the Bees, St. Ambrose came up big late.

After hitting just .114 through the first four sets, SAU hit .316 in the fifth, putting down nine kills against just three hitting errors.

The Bees took advantage of four quick Saint errors, along with a solo block and a kill from Trenyce Bonner, to grab a quick 6-2 lead in the decisive set. Another Bonner kill put the margin at 7-3.

Four different players - Alexa Orozco, Kennedy Hugunin, Grace Beitzel and Mackenzie Grafton - had kills as SAU maintained a 12-8 lead. After St. Francis (17-18) closed to within 13-11, a serving error gave St. Ambrose a match point. And two points later, a Grafton kill closed out the win.

The Bees led nearly wire to wire in the first and third sets as well. SAU led by as many as five points in the opening set before USF rallied to take a 17-16 lead. A Bonner kill and a solo block from Hugunin helped St. Ambrose reclaim a 19-17 lead. The Bees maintained the lead until the Saints pulled even at 23-23. A hitting error and a Kylie Brosius block got St. Ambrose on the board first.

In the third, SAU built a 17-7 lead before USF slowly chipped away and ultimately got within a single point at 24-23. Finally, on the fourth set point, Beitzel put down a kill to end the set.

St. Francis controlled much of play in the second and fourth sets. Those two sets were a major reason the Saints finished with a higher hitting percentage (.187 to .133) and more points won (108 to 104).

Bonner had a big night in the win. She finished with 23 kills and led the team with a .241 hitting percentage. Grafton finished with 17 kills, 14 digs and four aces. Orozco had nine kills and 15 digs. Beitzel also ended with nine kills.

Ines Marques led the Bees with 34 assists. Haley Doucet was credited with 23. Kenia Diaz Vega picked up a match-best 32 digs. Hugunin recorded four solo blocks. Adriana Diaz had three aces.

St. Ambrose (16-15) will visit Viterbo Thursday with the winner advancing to Saturday's CCAC Tournament championship match.