St. Ambrose ran into a Saint Xavier team on the wrong night and saw the season come to a close Thursday night in the CCAC Tournament semifinals in Chicago, Ill.

The Cougars, the CCAC regular-season champions and current No. 3-ranked team in the country, could do little wrong in their 25-17, 25-17, 25-20 win that ended the Bees' season.

St. Ambrose finished the year with a 20-12 record, marking the most wins for the team since a 21-10 campaign in 2018.

SAU trailed just 10-9 in the opening set before SXU used a five-point run as part of a larger 9-2 spurt to take control. The Cougars hit .450 in the opening set, finishing with 11 kills and just two errors. The Bees hit .111 in the opener with 10 kills and seven errors. 

Saint Xavier (27-3) didn't record its seventh hitting error until the third set and finished with just nine total in the match.

St. Ambrose played tough and grabbed a 15-13 lead on a Michael Bos kill midway through the second set. But SXU again caught fire, winning 12 of the next 15 points, to take the set.

The Bees got off to another strong start in the third matching the nationally-ranked Cougars point for point. SAU built a two-point lead as late as 18-16 before stalling. Saint Xavier capitalized by winning nine of the last 11 points to advance to Saturday's championship match against Governors State.

Pedro Zang led the Bees with 11 kills. Bos finished with seven. Kam Dixon had three, Ian Cordes two and Charlie Flynn added one.

Anthony Anderson finished with team highs of 19 assists and six digs. Ethan Karban registered four assists and four digs. Zander Larson came up with three digs.