After scoring just 12 points in the fourth set, St. Ambrose came back in a big way in the fifth to post a 17-25, 26-24, 25-17, 12-25, 15-9 win over conference-leading Judson Thursday night inside Lee Lohman Arena. It marked the first CCAC loss of the season for the Eagles (19-3, 11-1 CCAC).

The Bees (14-14, 8-4 CCAC) were able to strengthen their hold on second place in the conference thanks to a huge run early in the decisive set.

Judson won the first point of the fifth before St. Ambrose took over. Kills from Alex Horne, Ella Gatz and Mackenzie Grafton, along with a block from Horne and Grafton, put the Bees in front 4-1 and forced an Eagle timeout. But the Been maintained momentum. Hannah Sondag recorded an ace before Grafton posted a big block and back-to-back kills to up the lead to 8-1.

Judson got within four points at 11-7 but a kill from Meredith Siebers and an Eagle hitting error gave SAU some breathing room at 13-7. Meredith Umland's kill gave the Bees a match point at 14-9 and that's all they needed as Sondag and Horne combined on a block to wrap up the win.

St. Ambrose put down 10 kills and had just three hitting errors for a .412 attack percentage in the final set.

Several Bees registered big individual performance. 

Grafton put down a match-best 24 kills. Siebers finished with 19 while Horne and Umland each had seven. Sondag was credited with 51 assists and 18 digs in the victory. Lexi Huntley came up with 14 digs to go along with five assists. Siebers (15) and Grafton (14) also picked up double-digit digs. Adriana Diaz had seven digs. Diaz and Sondag each had three aces while Skyler Kuntzman finished with two.

SAU will play its final home match of the regular season Saturday against Indiana South Bend.