DAVENPORT, Iowa --- St. Ambrose University knocked the University of St. Francis women's volleyball team from the ranks of the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference unbeatens by handing the Fighting Saints a 25-19, 25-23, 25-14 setback Tuesday night.

USF (3-8, 2-1 CCAC) had opened the league season with a pair of wins before dropping the decision to St. Ambrose (7-8, 2-1).

Six ties were a part of each of the three sets, but the Saints gained the lead on only a few occasions, including just once by more than one point.  The Fighting Bees went on an 8-2 run following a seven-all tie to gain the first-set win.

In Set 2, SAU opened with the first three points before the Saints responded with the next five in a row.  A string of eight straight points following an 11-all tie put St. Ambrose in command.  The Bees also led 22-12 before St. Francis took advantage of numerous SAU miscues to cut the deficit to 22-19.  The Saints eventually got the margin down to one point (24-23) before St. Ambrose closed out the set.

The hosts then used a .556 attack percentage in Set 3 to claim the victory.  Leading 16-12, they scored nine of the final 11 points for the match win.

Taylor Connolly and Gabriela Oliveira each had eight kills for USF with Kaylie Sippel providing 23 assists.  Leah Talley led the defensive efforts with 15 digs followed by Abby Sippel's ten.

Notes: Connolly's eight kills tied a season high for her … St. Ambrose's 11 service errors were offset by USF's nine reception errors in the match … Judson now remains as the only league unbeaten at 4-0 ... The Saints are at Indiana University Northwest for another conference affair on Thursday at 7 pm.

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