The University of Colorado at Colorado Springs volleyball team opened its conference season with a heartbreaking five-game loss at Western State Friday. CU-Colorado Springs (5-3, 0-1 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) lost to the Mountaineers 3-2 (30-27 18-30, 30-28, 30-22, 17-15) before raucus crowd of 358 at Paul Wright Gym in Gunnison, Colo.

It was the second straight five-game loss for the Mountain Lions who also dropped the final game of the Western State tournament to Dowling College on Sept 4.

The Mountain Lions outhit Western State .128 to .064, but committed 20 costly service errors. Jill Wrenn led the Mountain Lions with 17 kills while Caroline Ottino added 12. Andrea Weedman also had 12 kills to go along with 20 digs.

After CU-Colorado Springs dropped Game 1, it jumped out to a big early lead over the Mountianeers in Game 2. The Mountain Lions scored 16 of the game's first 20 points before cruising to the double-digit victory.

In the decisive Game 5, the two teams traded points until freshman Tynet Calhoun gave Western the lead for good at 16-15 with a smash into the back row. Western State won the match on an attack error.

The victory gave Western State coach Shawn Back the school's all-time career wins record. Back now has a coaching record of 83-48, besting Darin Weber's mark of 82-74.

Lindsey Hillegass had a game-high 50 assists for CU-Colorado Springs and Kelly Olson had 26 digs.