St. Ambrose held early leads in the first two sets but couldn't hold on in a 25-20, 25-21, 25-18 home loss to Augustana Wednesday night. It was the Bees' second loss to the Vikings in just over a week.

A Nick Fox kill gave SAU a quick 2-0 lead in the opening set. The advantage was 7-5 on a Cael Anderson kill and the Bees maintained a 10-9 lead following a service ace from Jesse Moreno. But up 11-10, SAU surrendered three straight points to Augustana as part of a larger 6-1 Viking run.

St. Ambrose (4-11) got within a point as late as 18-17 on a block from Mikolaj Zielonka and Charlie Flynn before Augustana pulled away.

Kills from Fox and Anderson helped the Bees to a 3-0 lead in the second. SAU led 17-14 on a Colin Teresi kill before three straight Viking points knotted the score at 17-17. The Bees regrouped to go up 20-18 behind kills from Zielonka and Jon Guch and a Teresi ace. But SAU would manage just one more point the rest of the set, that a Guch kill that gave the Bees a short-lived 21-20 advantage. Augustana (8-3) won the final five points for a 2-0 lead.

The third set proved to be the only set SAU would never lead. With the score tied at 5-5, Augustana won three consecutive points and gradually pulled away from there.

Fox led St. Ambrose with seven kills. Guch put down six. Flynn had three, Anderson and Zielonka each had two, and Teresi and Richard Reed recorded one apiece.

Ethan Chausse was credited with 12 assists. Anthony Anderson handed out six. Dillon Markley picked up a team-best five digs with Teresi adding four.

St. Ambrose will visit Culver-Stockton Friday.