Playing for the sixth time in four days and against the No. 10-ranked team in the country proved to be too much for the Bees to overcome as St. Ambrose fell to Lourdes 25-20, 25-19, 25-18 Sunday afternoon in Lee Lohman Arena.

The Bees played the Gray Wolves even for large stretches of the match. SAU trailed just 18-16 in the second set following a Dan Rice kill before Lourdes (12-4) won five of the next six points to take control.

In the third, St. Ambrose led as late as 10-9 on another Rice kill. Jeramie Gutierrez knotted the score at 13-13 with a kill of his own. That's when the Wolves won three points in a row and maintained the lead the rest of the way.

Jason Bageanis led the Bees with eight kills. Gutierrez had six. Rice and Mikolaj Zielonka had four apiece, and Skyler Marushige and Richard Reed each had two.

Jake Snyder registered 25 of the team's 27 assists. Reed picked up six digs while Marushige, Colin Teresi and Jesse Moreno each had three.

St. Ambrose, now 8-11 on the year, will return to conference play Tuesday when they host Trinity Christian.