St. Ambrose went on the road and battled one of the conference favorites in Judson Thursday night, and the Bees suffered their first CCAC loss 25-19, 25-19, 23-25, 25-16.

"Unfortunately, it goes down as a loss, but in reality, we learned a lot about ourselves today," SAU head coach Ray Green said. "We competed hard, played well-rounded as a team, and enjoyed the match through its ups and downs. We are very excited about our progress and potential for the season."

After dropping the first two sets, St. Ambrose battled back in the third. Trailing by two points early and down 9-8, the young Bees went on a 5-0 run. Kills from Nick Fox and Jon Guch, and a block from Fox and Cael Anderson, helped SAU go in front 13-9. 

The Bees were able to hold off several Eagle runs from there. Judson (5-1, 2-0 CCAC) got as close as a single point four times late in the set, but each time St. Ambrose had the answer.

After a 3-0 run cut the margin to 20-19, Dan Rice put down a kill. Then at 21-20, it was Fox's turn. His kill put SAU in front 22-20. After the teams traded points, Richard Reed had a big service ace to give the Bees three set points, up 24-21. Judson was able to erase two of those before Fox ended the set with another kill.

St. Ambrose (2-3, 2-1 CCAC) carried that momentum into the early stages of the fourth set. Kills from Reed, Guch and Fox helped SAU enjoy a 7-6 lead. But a four-point Judson run gave the Eagles a lead they would not relinquish. A Rice kill cut the deficit to 15-13 before a 7-0 spurt allowed Judson to pull away.

Fox had a huge night for St. Ambrose, finishing with 14 kills and just one hitting error for a .565 hitting percentage. Rice added nine kills, Guch had eight and Reed finished with three. Anderson, Matt Pettke and Mikolaj Zielonka each chipped in with two.

Ethan Chausse led the team with 27 assists. Anthony Anderson was credited with eight. 

Jesse Moreno picked up 13 digs in the loss.

The Bees will take a break from conference play to visit Quincy Saturday.