COLORADO SPRINGS- One night after seemingly putting it all together, the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs volleyball team served notice that they remain very young and, by consequence, exasperatingly inconsistent.

Lauren Orth had five service aces, including three consecutive in the deciding fifth set, to go along with her 12 kills to lead the Mountain Lions to a 3-2 (25-19, 23-25, 23-25, 25-21, 15-13) victory over the Colorado College Tigers Wednesday evening at the Lions' Den.

With the match tied at two sets each and the deciding fifth set knotted at eight, an assisted block by Kim Boogaard and Jessica Stewart gave UCCS its first lead at 9-8. That brought up Orth's turn at the service line.

"I just had to take a deep breath and serve," said Orth. "I had to take it all in and make sure I relaxed. I had to go out there and just think about the serve and then move on to the next point."

Her first serve hit the net and crawled over for an ace. Her second, a low sizzler, went off the hands of CC's Emily Perkins. The third was played, but sailed into the net.

Molly Crockett added a kill as UCCS opened a 13-8 edge.

Two assisted blocks by Meredith Ballard and Perkins helped CC close to 14-13, but Karina Miastkowska knocked home an overpass to give the Mountain Lions the win.

The nail-biter came on the heels of UCCS'Tuesday sweep of Colorado Christian during which the Mountain Lions looked dominant.

Division III Colorado College played inspired volleyball Wednesday while the Division II Mountain Lions often appeared flat and confused. That was evident early in the first set as Colorado College raced to a 14-6 lead, capped by a pair of aces by Anna Clithero.

"(Colorado College) is a very high-level Division III program," said UCCS coach Jessica Wood. "They run a very fast system and they run it very well."

Nonetheless, the Mountain Lions closed the first set with a 19-5 run with Orth getting three of the final four kills.

It was the Tigers that made the comeback in the second set as UCCS (6-4) opened 12-8. The lead was still four at 16-12 when CC put together a 6-1 run following a timeout by coach Rick Swan. The set was tied at 20 when three UCCS attack errors helped the Tigers tie the match.

"There're ups and downs," said Orth. "We just had to keep our heads up and come together as a team."

UCCS came out with a 10-5 lead in the third set when the Tigers, after another Swan timeout, scored six straight. Neither team led by more than three afterwards, with Colorado College taking the 25-23 decision with a kill by Perkins and an ace by Clithero accounting for the final two points.

The Tigers'speed created problems for UCCS all night.

"I thought they were a great team," said Orth. "The outside was really fast; we didn't expect that at all. We had to make that adjustment but I think we made it slowly but surely."

Neither team could gain an early advantage in the fourth set until a pair of aces by Orth sparked a 5-0 run that gave UCCS an 18-11 lead. The Tigers again came out of a timeout hot, scoring four in a row. Andrea Brodie had two kills to help UCCS regain control and send the match to a deciding fifth set.

Boogaard joined Orth with a team-high 12 kills, while Miastkowska added 10. Kelsey Pobar led the UCCS defense with 24 digs and Crockett added 16. Stewart had 39 assists.

Perkins led scrappy Colorado College (5-4) with 19 kills and 13 digs, while Clithero added 15 kills. Each had three of the Tigers'nine aces.