[Men's Volleyball] Bees win three of four at Gray Wolf Invitational

St. Ambrose took three of four matches at the Lourdes Gray Wolf Invitational over the weekend. The Bees rallied for a 3-2 win over Siena Heights, a team receiving votes in the NAIA top-10 poll, before falling to host and No. 6-ranked Lourdes in five sets on Friday. Saturday, SAU defeated Robert Morris 3-0 and St. Andrews 3-2.

St. Ambrose 3, Siena Heights 2 (22-25, 19-25, 25-22, 28-26, 15-13) - stats
Down 2-sets-to-0 in the first match of the day, St. Ambrose rallied for a 3-2 win over Siena Heights Friday morning. The Bees came through late in each of the final three sets. In the third, SAU built a 20-14 lead only to watch Siena Heights take a 22-21 lead. Kills from Scott MacGillis and Avery Clark put the Bees back in front, and back-to-back aces from Dylan Herridge extended the match. St. Ambrose led 14-6 early in the fourth before SHU fought back. The Saints eventually tied the set at 23-23 and held match points at 25-24 and 26-25. Kills from Clark and MacGillis helped the Bees fight off the match points, and after a Siena Heights hitting error, a Jason Bageanis kill forced a decisive fifth set. SAU trailed by as many as three points early in the fifth and the Bees still found themselves down as late as 10-9. With the set tied at 12-12, a MacGillis kill and a Saint error, gave SAU a match point, and two points later, a MacGillis kill capped the comeback win.

MacGillis finished with a match-high 25 kills. Bageanis had 13 and Clark finished with 12. Skyler Marushige added six. Jake Snyder led the team with 54 assists, and Herridge (14), MacGillis (11) and Logan Havens (10) all finished with double-digit digs.

No. 6 Lourdes 3, St. Ambrose 2 (26-28, 25-12, 25-17, 19-25, 15-13) - stats
Hours after defeating Siena Heights 3-2, St. Ambrose played another five-setter, this time falling to No. 6 Lourdes. After claiming the fourth set to extend the match, the Bees found themselves down 3-0 quickly in the fifth. The deficit was 8-4 midway through the set before SAU rallied by taking five of the next seven points. A Jason Bageanis kill ended the run that trimmed the margin to 10-9. Lourdes regained a two-point lead before a kill from Jake Snyder and a Gray Wolves' hitting error evened the set at 11-11. After the teams traded points, a Snyder ace gave St. Ambrose its first lead of the set at 13-12. But that would be it for the Bees as the Wolves scored the final three points to close out the match.

Scott MacGillis led St. Ambrose with 15 kills. Bageanis had 11, Avery Clark finished with six, and Skyler Marushige and Jeramie Gutierrez each had five. Snyder was credited with a team-leading 42 assists. Logan Haves and Dylan Herridge both had double-digit digs with 11 and 10, respectively.

St. Ambrose 3, Robert Morris 0 (25-20, 25-17, 25-23) - stats
After getting extended to five sets in both matches Friday, the Bees defeated Robert Morris 3-0 to start play Saturday morning. The Bees used a balanced attack with seven different players each recording at least two kills. Jason Bageanis and Myles Hudson led the way with six kills apiece. Scott MacGillis had five, Dom Marshall recorded four and Jake Snyder ended with three. Snyder led the team with 16 assists. Hari Khaira had seven assists and Dylan Herridge finished with four. Herridge (7), MacGillis (6) and Logan Havens (6) led the Bees in digs. Snyder, Havens and Tim Owens each had two of the team's nine aces.

St. Ambrose 3, St. Andrews 2 (25-22, 18-25, 25-17, 23-25, 15-9) - stats
For the third time in four weekend matches, the Bees played a five-set match. And they earned their third win of the weekend with the 3-2 decision over St. Andrews. Consecutive blocks by Jake Snyder and Jason Bageanis started the fifth set to get St. Ambrose off to a fast start. Then after falling behind 3-2, the Bees got a kill from Scott MacGillis before back-to-back St. Andrews hitting errors gave SAU a 5-3 lead. Leading just 7-6, SAU put together a decisive five-point run behind two kills from MacGillis and a block from Myles Hudson and Dom Marshall to take a 12-6 advantage. Kills from Marshall and Jeramie Gutierrez and a final St. Andrews hitting error ended the match.

MacGillis led the team with 20 kills. Bageanis collected 15. Snyder had 44 assists and Dylan Herridge led the Bees with eight digs.

The Bees, now 9-7 overall, return to CCAC play Tuesday night when they host Trinity Christian at 7 p.m.