[Women's Volleyball] Perfect week snapped with loss at Saint Xavier

Playing for the third time in five days, the Bees saw their undefeated week come to an end with a 3-0 loss at Saint Xavier Saturday afternoon.

St. Ambrose posted wins over Robert Morris and Governors State earlier in the week, but dropped to 4-5 in the CCAC following the 25-21, 25-18, 25-18 loss to the Cougars.

The Bees' best chance came in the opening set. Rachael Dion had three aces to spark an early 7-0 run that built a fast 8-3 lead. The lead was 11-9 after a Jenny Koerner kill. But then Saint Xavier (7-11, 5-4 CCAC) followed with a 10-3 spurt for a 19-14 advantage.

Kills from Payton Wendt and Brea Cunningham sandwiched another Dion ace to get SAU back into the set. The Bees ultimately caught the Cougars at 20-20 after an SXU error. But St. Ambrose would only get one point the rest of the set, that coming on a serving error, as Saint Xavier grabbed a 1-0 lead.

Momentum carried into the second set as the Cougars raced to a 5-0 lead and the Bees never seriously threatened the rest of the set.

SAU stayed close in the early stages of the third before a 6-1 run turned a 9-8 deficit into a 15-9 hole. The Bees never got closer than four points after that.

St. Ambrose totaled just 23 kills against 24 hitting errors. Koerner led the way with six kills and Dion added five. Abby Happ finished with three.

Amber Tomlin recorded 15 assists and Grace McGrath picked up 13 digs.

The Bees (5-13) will return home to host Indiana South Bend Tuesday at 7 p.m.