GRAND JUNCTION -- Behind 32 digs by Laura Meeter and an epic Game 4, the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs improved to 11-1 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference with a 3-2 (22-30, 30-25, 22-30, 40-38, 15-11) win over the Mesa State Mavericks Friday evening.

Down two games to one, the Mountain Lions had two shots at game point at 29-27 but could not convert. With middle blocker Heidi Fehringer playing in the back row for the first time this season because it had run out of substitutions, UCCS faced three match points but fought them off -- twice with kills by Diane Sheldon and once with a kill by Lindsay Myers. A block by Fehringer and Stephanie Laband gave UCCS a 39-38 lead and a kill by Fehringer kept the refuse-to-lose Mountain Lions alive and forced a deciding Game 5.

Game 5 was tied 8-8 when Laband, Sheldon and Brooke Akers strung together consecutive kills followed by a block by Akers and Laband. Mesa State rallied to shrink the deficit to 12-11, but UCCS answered with another kill by Akers before forcing a pair of hitting errors to seal the match.

It was UCCS' third straight road win, all by 3-2 scores.

Sheldon led the Mountain Lions with 19 kills, while Akers (18), Lauren Orth (12) and Laband (11) all joined her in double figures. Akers participated in seven blocks (two solo), while Andrea Weedman supported Meeter on defense with 18 digs.

Meeter passed Melissa Clark for second place on the UCCS career digs list, trailing only current teammate Weedman. Meeter now has 1,486 career digs. Her 32 digs Friday were the most by a Mountain Lion this season and were tied for the seventh-best single-match total in school history.

As rugged as the match was, the journey there was equally taxing. The team's chartered bus broke down twice, the second time along the highway west of Glenwood Springs. The Mountain Lions were able to hitch a ride on another bus, arriving at Brownson Arena just in time.

The Mavericks dropped to 10-10, 6-6 in the RMAC. They came into Friday's match having won five of their past six.

"Mesa looks good," said UCCS coach Jessica Wood. "Their record does not reflect their strength."

The same could be said of UCCS, which improved to 13-8 overall. The Mountain Lions have now won seven straight, one short of the school's all-time record, and 11 of their past 12.