In a battle of the top two teams in the conference, St. Ambrose came up a few points short. After controlling the first set, SAU fell at Saint Xavier 18-25, 25-20, 25-18, 26-24 Tuesday night.

The loss dropped the Bees to 14-5 overall and 6-2 in the CCAC. St. Ambrose, which entered the match in sole possession of second place, fell into a three-way tie for second with Trinity International and Indiana South Bend, teams SAU has already claimed head-to-head victories over this season. Saint Xavier (14-4) maintained its lead atop the conference with a perfect 9-0 league mark.

Despite dropping the second and third sets, the Bees appeared poised to extend the Cougars to a decisive fifth set. SAU led the fourth 21-17 following a Mackenzie Grafton kill. The lead was 22-20 after an Alexandria Horne kill, and the Bees earned a set point at 24-23 on a block from Grafton and Meredith Umland.

But St. Ambrose would not score again. Saint Xavier won the final three points to wrap up the 3-1 win.

The loss came after a strong start for the Bees.

With the opening set tied at 15-15, SAU won 10 of the next 13 points. Jill Kavalauskas, the reigning CCAC Attacker of the Week, had two kills and Umland and Meredith Siebers each added one as part of the 10-3 run that closed out the set.

That momentum carried into the second set as St. Ambrose raced out to a 13-9 lead. But the Cougars ripped off seven straight points to take a 16-13 lead and they maintained the advantage from there.

Leading just 19-18, a late six-point run closed out the third set for Saint Xavier. And the Cougars ultimately took the win a set later.

Kavalauskas led St. Ambrose with 10 kills. Grafton and Horne each had nine, Siebers finished with eight and Hannah Sondag was credited with six.

Sondag also led the team with 36 assists. Maicee Pierce had a team-high nine digs. Kavalauskas had eight and Grafton and Sondag picked up six apiece.

St. Ambrose will look to bounce back next Tuesday when the Bees host Governors State.