It wasn't easy, but the St. Ambrose women's volleyball team is heading to Sioux City, Iowa, and the NAIA National Championships.

The Queen Bees outlasted the College of the Ozarks in five sets in a National Championship opening round match at Lee Lohman Arena Saturday afternoon. Set scores were 16-25, 25-17, 15-25, 25-16, 15-9 in favor of SAU.

The College of the Ozarks (26-11) came out strong and dominated the first set before SAU returned the favor in the second. The third set was more competitive until the Bobcats went on a 10-1 run midway through the set to grab a 16-9 lead. The Bees were able to force a fifth set after winning the final seven points of the fourth set.

St. Ambrose punched its ticket to Nationals with a strong fifth set. The Bees won the first two points of the decisive set and never looked back. The lead was 14-6 before the Bobcats won three straight, but Amy Royer's 17th kill of the match sealed the win.

Royer was one of five Bees to finish with double-digit kills. Catherine Wildner finished with 13, Megan O'Shea added 12 and Kait Gallagher and Tori Matzen each chipped in with 11. Lauren Aderman had a team-best 37 assists.

Jennifer Nichols led all players with 19 kills in a losing effort. Veronica Barrientos had 12. Paige Flowers finished with a match-high 47 assists.

Now the Bees will make the trip across the state to Sioux City for the 2009 NAIA Volleyball National Championship presented by Siouxland Sports Medicine Foundation. SAU is one of the final 24 teams who will be placed into six pools for round-robin pool play Dec. 2-4. The top two teams from each pool advance to the single-elimination bracket starting Dec. 4. Final pool assignments and the schedule will be announced on Sunday by 6 p.m.

Championship point, courtesy St. Ambrose University TV-11