St. Ambrose dropped a non-conference matchup against Clarke 27-25, 22-25, 25-19, 17-25, 15-9 on Saturday afternoon inside Lee Lohman Arena. The Bees are now 15-11 on the year. 

After falling in the first set, SAU was able to rebound in the second. Down 10-7 in the set, the Bees rattled off five straight points - three from Clarke errors and two from Jill Kavalauskas kills - to gain a 12-10 lead. The Pride would tie it up at 18-all, but a kill from Meredith Siebers, and two straight blocks from Jessie Hemm and Kavalauskas, gave St. Ambrose a 21-18 advantage. Kavalauskas would finish off the set with another kill to tie the match at 1-1. 

Clarke jumped out to an early lead in the third set, winning the first four points. A block from London WIlliams and Rachel Dion made it 5-3, but the Pride got the next five points to take it to 10-3. The Bees got within three points at 17-14 but could get no closer as Clarke regained the advantage.

Meredith Umland had two kills to help SAU to a 9-2 lead early in the fourth set. Later, after the Pride closed to within 16-12, the Bees went on a five-point run that ignited a larger 9-5 run that forced the decisive fifth set.

But after a Siebers kill tied the final set at 2-2, Clarke won the next four points and controlled things from there. SAU was as close as 7-5 before the Pride again pulled away for the win.

Kavalauskas finished with 22 kills, and Siebers had 14 to go along with 19 digs. Mackenzie Grafton was one shy of double-digit kills, notching nine. Amber Tomlin registered a game-high 43 assists and added 14 digs. Maicee Pierce finished with a game-high 21 digs. 

SAU will return to CCAC play next Tuesday when they travel to face Trinity International University.