St. Ambrose couldn't build off a fast start and dropped its second straight CCAC match, falling in three sets to Olivet Nazarene Thursday night in Lee Lohman Arena.

The 27-25, 25-21, 25-15 loss dropped the Bees to 7-4 overall and 2-2 in conference play.

Four early Meredith Siebers kills got SAU off to that fast start, and when Riley Epperson and Payton Wendt combined on a block, the Bees led 15-9 in the first set. Olivet Nazarene (3-0, 3-0 CCAC) reeled off a five-point run to get back into the set. St. Ambrose recovered and kills from Epperson, Rachael Dion and Amber Tomlin restored an 18-15 advantage. But leading 19-16, the Bees stalled. The Tigers won four straight points to take the lead.

The teams traded points until back-to-back kills from Siebers and Tomlin gave St. Ambrose two set points at 24-22. But the Bees were unable to capitalize as the Tigers won five of the next six points to claim the set.

SAU also led in the middle stages of the second set. A Dion kill had the Bees in front 14-11 and the team led as late as 16-15 on a Jessica Hemm kill. But St. Ambrose would win just five more points the rest of the set as Olivet Nazarene grabbed a two-set lead.

The Bees ran out of steam in the third. ONU jumped to a 7-2 lead early and led 17-6 en route to the straight-sets win.

Siebers led all players with 14 kills and 14 digs. Dion finished with nine kills, Tomlin had six and Hemm added four.

Tomlin led the team with 25 assists and also picked up nine digs. Maicee Pierce also collected nine digs and Alexis Hayes recorded seven.

The Bees return to action next Thursday with a CCAC match at Lincoln College.