It wasn't easy but St. Ambrose used a dominating effort in the fifth set to earn its first win of the season, a 25-20, 22-25, 25-14, 23-25, 15-7 victory at Calumet St. Joseph Saturday night.

Unable to close things out in four, and down 5-4 in the fifth, the Bees took control.

Jason Bageanis and Jake Snyder teamed for a block to knot the score at 5-5. Bageanis then followed with three straight kills to put SAU in front 8-5. Another Bageanis-Snyder block capped a 5-0 run to push the lead to 9-5.

After a Calumet point, the Bees went back to work. Skyler Marushige and Richard Reed each had a kill then Snyder and Nick Fox paired for back-to-back blocks to give St. Ambrose control, up 13-6. The Crimson Wave got one point back, but a kill from Reed and a Fox block closed out the Bee win.

In that decisive set, SAU collected 10 kills without a single hitting error. The Bees were equally impressive in the other two sets they won. St. Ambrose had 10 kills and two errors in the opening set and 16 kills and two errors, for a .636 hitting percentage, in the third.

St. Ambrose hit at a .356 clip for the match.

Marushige led the Bees with 16 kills. Bageanis had 13 and Fox added 10 to give SAU three players in double figures. Reed added seven and Jeramie Gutierrez totaled four.

Snyder also put down four kills to go with a team-best 45 assists.

Jesse Moreno was credited with 16 digs. Marushige picked up eight, and Reed, Snyder and Colin Teresi had seven apiece.

Fox, Bageanis and Snyder also led a defensive effort that recorded 14 total blocks.

The Bees, now 1-6 overall and 1-3 in the CCAC, will visit Lincoln College in a conference matchup Tuesday.