St. Ambrose rallied twice to defeat Governors State in five sets Tuesday evening in University Park, Ill. First, the Bees had to rally from a two-set deficit. Then, after forcing a decisive fifth set, the Bees had to overcome deficits of 13-10 and 16-15. 

They did it all in a 19-25, 23-25, 25-20, 25-14, 19-17 victory that got the team back to .500 at 6-6 in conference play. SAU is 14-9 overall.

The comeback got started in the third set. A kill from Rachael Dion broke a 15-15 tie and sparked a five-point run. Maicee Pierce had an ace and Dion and Meredith Siebers combined on a block that ultimately gave the Bees a 20-15 lead. GSU closed to within 20-18 but kills from Siebers and Jill Kavalauskas helped restore a 23-18 lead and the Bees closed out the set from there.

The fourth set was less dramatic. A 6-0 run, aided by kills from Siebers, Amber Tomlin and Dion, built a 16-9 lead, and started a larger 13-2 spurt that helped St. Ambrose cruise into the fifth set.

The final set was tight from the start. The Jaguars (4-10, 3-7 CCAC) built a slim 5-3 lead early but otherwise the teams traded points to get to a 9-9 tie. Governors State won three straight points to grab a 12-9 lead and two points later, had a 13-10 advantage.

Two Mackenzie Grafton kills, sandwiched around a GSU hitting error, pulled SAU even. Tomlin followed with an ace to give the Bees their first of four match points. The Jaguars had their only match point at 16-15, a point that was quickly erased by a Siebers kill. Finally, after another Siebers kill had given St. Ambrose an 18-17 lead, the Bees were able to take the win following a final Governors State attack error.

Grafton and Siebers led SAU with 17 kills apiece. Kavalauskas and Meredith Umland each had nine. Dion put down seven and Jessie Hemm added three.

Tomlin paced the team with 46 assists and 17 digs. Hannah Sondag was credited with 11 assists.

Kavalauskas (14), Pierce (12) and Siebers (12) all registered double-digit digs. Skyler Kuntzman finished with three digs in limited action.

The Bees are off for a week before returning home to host Olivet Nazarene next Tuesday night.