A difficult stretch in the schedule continued Thursday as the Bees fell at home to No. 2 William Penn 25-21, 25-16, 25-22. It was the team's second-straight loss to a top-15 opponent.

St. Ambrose battled in each set.

Trailing 19-10 in the first, SAU came back with five straight points. A kill from Mikolaj Zielonka ended the run that closed the gap to 19-15. The Bees ultimately got within three points on four different occasions late, the last time coming at 24-21 following a block from Zielonka and Nick Fox, before William Penn (11-2) closed the set out.

The second set was tied as late as 12-12 after a Fox kill, and the Bees trailed only 19-15 after a Jason Bageanis kill. But WPU won six of the final seven points to take the 2-0 lead.

St. Ambrose made another late run in the third. Trailing 20-13, SAU won four straight points, the last coming on a Bageanis-Colin Teresi block to get within 20-17. The Bees stayed close from there and erased back-to-back match points on kills from Zielonka and Fox to get as close as 24-22 before the nationally-ranked Statesmen earned the win.

Bageanis led SAU with nine kills. Fox had six and Zeilonka and Jeramie Gutierrez each added two. 

Jake Snyder was credited with 15 assists. Jesse Moreno led the team with five digs. Teresi and Richard Reed had three apiece. Fox was in on three of the team's five total blocks.

The Bees, now 2-9 overall, will turn right around and visit Morningside Friday night.