The University of Colorado at Colorado Springs volleyball team came into this season knowing their schedule was going to open tough. Friday's first game at the Rockhurst Classic against hosting team Rockhurst (4-1) was no exception and the Mountain Lions struggled as they dropped the opener 3-0.

"The opening schedule is as difficult as we could make it," said Jessica Wood. "I want to be as prepared as we can for the RMAC. We haven't seen any weak teams and we will not see any weak teams."

The Mountain Lions spent Game 1 adjusting to the heat and working the kinks out of their game. Their eight attack errors versus Rockhurst's two allowed Rockhurst to comfortably hold the lead throughout the game taking the game 30-20

In Game 2, the Mountain Lions were unable to overcome Rockhurst's amazing offense and defense. The Hawks hit .381 while the Mountain Lions were only able to amass .186. Despite this the Mountain Lions managed to stay close, losing the game by only 30-25.

"We were setting a little tight," said Wood, "but they are a great blocking team in general."

Game 3 found the Mountain Lions unable to get a rhythm they were comfortable with in the game until they managed to pull ahead for the first time in the match at 12-11. The rest of the game was a back and forth fight but Rockhurst managed to take the game, and the match, 32-30.

Brooke Akers led the Mountain Lions (1-5) with 15 kills on 29 attempts and four blocks. Heidi Fehringer managed 9 kills on 17 attempts.

Rockhurst was led by Audrey Boese with 15 kills on 34 attempts. Savannah Leeper led the Hawks defense with six blocks while managing five kills on 11 attempts. Emily Crowley rounded out the Hawks with eight kills on 16 attempts and 21 assists.