After letting a big lead slip away in the third set, St. Ambrose made sure it didn't happen again.

The Bees dominated the last two sets in defeating Cardinal Stritch 25-20, 23-25, 23-25, 25-16, 15-6 Tuesday night in Lee Lohman Arena.

With the match tied at a set apiece, SAU went up 18-12 on a Nick Fox kill midway through the third. But Cardinal Stritch (9-2, 7-2 CCAC) responded with six straight points to pull even. The Bees recovered and went up 23-20 on a Skyler Marushige kill, but they would not score again in the third as the Wolves won the next five points.

St. Ambrose (9-12, 4-4 CCAC) immediately took back momentum by winning four of the first five points of the fourth. The lead continued to grow and a Jason Bageanis kill put the score at 20-11 late. The Bees were able to close out the set and force a decisive fifth a handful of points later.

Marushige had a kill and combined for two blocks with Fox as SAU removed much of the drama in the fifth by claiming the first five points. CSU closed to within 7-4, but a kill from Jaylen Clark and a Stritch hitting error extended the lead to 9-4. After the Wolves got a point back, the Bees won six of the final seven to close out the win.

Marushige and Clark led St. Ambrose with 15 kills each. Fox finished with 14 and Bageanis had 11. Those four combined for 55 of the team's 59 kills. They also totaled just 16 hitting errors.

Jake Snyder led all players with 52 assists. Avery Clark had a match-best 10 digs. Jaylen Clark had eight, Drew Hamlin recorded seven and Ricardo Ubior picked up five.

Bageanis and Fox were each involved in eight of the team's 19 blocks.

The Bees will next step out of conference play to host William Penn Thursday at 4 p.m.