It wasn't easy but St. Ambrose won its home opener over Culver-Stockton in three sets Wednesday night. The Bees needed second- and third-set rallies in their 25-23, 28-26, 26-24 victory.

The first set was competitive throughout with neither team building a lead larger than three points. With the score knotted at 20-20, SAU took advantage of back-to-back Culver-Stockton errors to build a 22-20 advantage. Kills from Alexa Orozco and Grace Beitzel maintained the two-point lead at 24-22 before a final C-SC hitting error two points later closed out the set.

The Wildcats raced to a 15-7 lead midway through the second set. Two Orozco kills, an ace from Jamie Neumiller and a block from Ella Karmenzind and Hannah Krouse cut the deficit in half at 15-11. Minutes later, two Adriana Diaz aces, kills from Krouse and Sofia Pabon, and a block from Krouse and Beitzel came as part of a six-point run that tied the set at 18-18.

Culver-Stockton (0-1) regained a two-point lead before St. Ambrose came back with five straight points, highlighted by a pair of Pabon kills, to take a 23-20 lead. The Wildcats responded with three in a row to pull even. The teams traded points from there with Marta Barriguinha giving SAU its third set point with a kill for a 27-26 lead. Ines Marques followed with an ace to give the Bees the set.

St. Ambrose fell behind by as many as seven points at 22-15 late in the third. A kill from Pabon gave the Bees a point and turned things over to Diaz. Diaz, the reigning CCAC Defensive Player of the Week, proceeded to serve SAU into the lead, totaling three aces and a kill during a 9-0 spurt. Krouse had two kills and Beitzel added one, while Krouse and Pabon also teamed for a block, that put the Bees in front 24-22.

Victory wouldn't come easy as C-SC fought off two match points to tie the set at 24-24. But following a Wildcat serving error, Beitzel put down team-leading 13th kill of the night to wrap up the win.

Beitzel was the only player to finish with double-digit kills. Krouse finished with nine, Pabon had seven, Orozco ended with six and Olivia Falborg came up with five. Diaz, Barriguinha and Emily Hickerson each had one kill.

Diaz led all players with 14 digs and five aces. Marques recorded a match-best 24 assists with Haley Doucet adding 13. Marques also registered seven digs. Barriguinha, Doucet and Kennedy DeBaillie had five digs apiece. Krouse was credited with five total blocks. Marques, Doucet, Neumiller and Olivia Hoskins each had one of the team's nine aces in the win.

St. Ambrose will open CCAC play with a home match against Indiana Northwest Wednesday at 7 p.m.