St. Ambrose built early leads in every set to defeat Roosevelt 25-18, 25-23, 25-20 Tuesday night inside Lee Lohman Arena. The victory moved the Bees to 6-5 overall and 2-2 in the CCAC.

SAU took the lead for good in the first set on a Jill Kavalauskas kill that broke a 6-6 tie. That was the first of four straight points for the Bees. Mackenzie Grafton followed with a kill and an ace, and Kavalauskas added another kill to open up a 10-6 lead. St. Ambrose led by at least three points the rest of the set.

The Bees led throughout much of the second set. Roosevelt (2-11, 0-5 CCAC) made things interesting late, going on a 9-4 run to tie the score at 23-23. Following a timeout, Meredith Siebers put down a kill and Kavalauskas and Meredith Umland followed with a block to give the Bees the 2-0 lead.

Two kills from Umland, one from Siebers and a pair of Grafton aces gave St. Ambrose a quick 5-1 lead in the third. The Lakers got within two points on several occasions, the last time coming at 22-20. London Williams restored a three-point lead with a kill, and after a Roosevelt error, Amber Tomlin recorded an ace to close out the 3-0 win.

Kavalauskas led way with 16 kills. Grafton collected 10 kills and Siebers finished with nine. Tomlin had a match-best 39 assists and Maicee Pierce led all players with 12 digs. 

SAU had 13 aces as a team, with Grafton recording four of them. Kavalauskas, Siebers and Rachael Dion each had two.

The Bees will take a break from conference play to compete in a two-day tournament hosted by the University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy in St. Louis, Mo., Friday and Saturday.