Matched up against one of the CCAC favorites, St. Ambrose stood toe-to-toe with Olivet Nazarene before ultimately falling 25-16, 25-18, 22-25, 25-21.

Down two sets, the Bees showed plenty of fight after falling behind by as many as five points as late as 16-11 in the third. Nick Fox and Ethan Chausse combined for a block that shifted momentum. That was followed by a Richard Reed ace and an Olivet Nazarene error. Fox and Chausse combined for another block to cut the deficit to 16-15 and force a Tiger timeout.

ONU (12-3, 7-1 CCAC) momentarily stopped the run with a point before SAU went back to work. Kills from Jon Guch and Cael Anderson sandwiched around a block from Chausse and Charlie Flynn put the Bees in front 18-17. The teams went back and forth and with the set tied at 20-20, a Tiger serving error gave the Bees the lead for good. An ONU hitting error followed before an ace from Jesse Moreno and a block from Flynn and Guch put the St. Ambrose lead at 24-20. Three points later, another Tiger error gave the Bees the set.

St. Ambrose (4-14, 3-5) got off to a fast start in the fourth, winning the first two points, and trailed by just a single point as late as 16-15 following a Reed kill. But Olivet Nazarene had the answer, winning three straight points to grab a 19-15 advantage. SAU got as close as two points twice late, once on a Chausse ace to trail 20-18 and later on a Tiger hitting error that cut the gap to 21-19. But ONU won four of the final six points to close out the match.

"The boys played well tonight," SAU head coach Ray Green said. "I think we showed growth, passion, and lots of fight. It's exciting to see that we are still moving in the right direction."

After allowing the Tigers to hit at a .385 clip over the first two sets, the Bees limited ONU to a .025 mark over the final two sets. St. Ambrose also upped its play, collecting 20 kills over the last two sets after having just 14 over the first two.

Guch and Reed led SAU with nine kills apiece. Anderson and Fox had seven each. Chausse, who led the team with 23 assists, and Jake Powers each put down one kill. Anthony Anderson was credited with seven assists.

Dillon Markley picked up a match-high 14 digs. Guch had seven. Flynn recorded eight total blocks.

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