Eutectics challenge Bees, but St. Ambrose prevails

ST. LOUIS, MO - To finish out the HOA Challenge, UHSP needed a win to finish above .500 for the weekend. Looking for their third straight win over St. Ambrose, the Bees instead delivered a 31-29, 25-19, 25-17 win over the Eutectics to even the all-time series between the two at 2-2. SAU had better than double the hitting percentage that UHSP had and featured four players with eight kills or more in the win.

GAME HIGHLIGHTS:

• In such a tight match, this one came down to success at the net. St. Ambrose registered 42 kills on 101 opportunities with only 18 errors, recording a hitting percentage of .238. UHSP had 31 kills with 21 errors on 98 chances for a .102 hitting percentage.
• Kam Dixon was electric for SAU with a team-high 12 kills against just four errors, hitting .364 for the match.
• Grant Hoover led UHSP with 11 kills, but had seven errors for an attack percentage of .148. Hoover added six digs a solo block and a pair of assisted blocks.
• Ethan Karban had 10 digs for SAU. They had a collective 37 digs to 33 for UHSP.
• Michael Bos and Pedro Zang each had nine kills for the Bees, but Charlie Flynn was their most efficient attacker with eight kills, two errors and a hitting percentage of .462.
• Zach Gavrick was the Eutectics most reliable attacker (.250) with seven kills and two errors in 20 chances. He added a club-high eight digs.
• RJ Dilks had 13 assists for UHSP while Demitrius Allen had 12.
• UHSP had a 17-12 lead in the opening set until a 5-1 run by SAU pulled them to within one at 18-17. UHSP still led 22-20 after a couple of kills from Cooper Hansen, but SAU scored three straight to take a 23-22 lead. With the Eutectics leading 29-28, the Bees got kills from Michael Bos and Charlie Flynn sandwiched around a service ace from Ethan Karban to take the set, 31-29.
• Set two was tied four different times early on with the Bees scoring four in a row and later taking four of five points to lead 18-14. UHSP got a kill from Grant Hoover along with a trio of SAU hitting errors to pull within one at 19-18. But St. Ambrose scored six of the final seven to claim the second set, 25-19.
• The Bees sprinted to huge early leads of 7-1, 8-2 and 11-3 in the third. The Eutectics had a late 4-0 run with a kill from Hansen, an ace from Xavier Gamayo and two Bees errors to get within six at 21-15. A 4-2 run by SAU closed out the match.

UP NEXT:

Following a 1-2 run in the HOA Challenge, the Eutectics (2-2) are idle for nine days until they travel to Culver-Stockton (0-5) to open their Heart of America Athletic Conference slate on Tuesday, Feb. 11 at 7:00p. The Wildcats will host St. Ambrose along with St. Mary of the Woods in a tri-match next Saturday before they meet the Eutectics. UHSP's next home contest is the following Friday, a Valentine's night matchup against another Heart opponent in Ottawa.