Just days after taking 3-of-4 matches at a weekend tournament in Ohio, with the lone loss coming in five sets to No. 6 Lourdes, St. Ambrose returned home and fell to conference foe Trinity Christian Tuesday night.

The Trolls defeated the Bees 25-23, 25-20, 19-25, 25-23 to drop St. Ambrose to 9-8 overall and 3-4 in the CCAC. SAU defeated TCC in three sets earlier this season.

St. Ambrose appeared in control early Tuesday, leading 21-17 on a Jake Snyder ace late in the first set. Trinity Christian (10-8, 4-3 CCAC) answered with four straight points to tie the score before a Skyler Marushige kill put the Bees back in front. Back-to-back Troll kills were answered by a Scott MacGillis kill for a 23-23 tie. TCC won the next two points to steal the set.

Trinity led throughout much of the second set before SAU rallied to pull even as late as 17-17. But momentum was short lived as the Trolls pulled away late.

Finally, in the third, the Bees climbed back into the match. Leading 21-19, SAU used two blocks from Dom Marshall, the second assisted by Marushige, to get some breathing room. MacGillis and Marushige put down kills to force a fourth set.

It looked like St. Ambrose would be playing a fifth set for the fourth time in five matches when the Bees grabbed a 21-18 lead in the fourth on a Jeramie Gutierrez kill. But two Troll kills sandwiched around three Bee hitting errors, gave Trinity a 23-21 advantage. Two late kills from MacGillis weren't enough as TCC claimed the 3-1 win.

MacGillis led everyone with 19 kills. Marushige and Gutierrez each finished with 10 and Jason Bageanis added six. Snyder was credited with 42 assists, and MacGillis (12) and Dylan Herridge (11) each had double-digit digs.

SAU will host Robert Morris next Tuesday night.