DENVER – Playing in their first Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference semifinals since 2007, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs volleyball team fell to No. 23 Colorado Mines in four sets Friday evening inside the Auraria Event Center at MSU Denver.

The nationally-ranked Orediggers advances to the RMAC championship match as the Mountain Lions will now await their NCAA tournament fate with the selection show airing Monday evening.

The No. 2-seeded Orediggers narrowly took the first two sets 25-23, 25-21 before No.3 seeded-UCCS won the third set 25-21 before the higher seeds won the fourth set, 25-21.

The Mountain Lions led Colorado Mines 17-12 lead in second set before the Orediggers rallied late in the set, scoring the final three points to take the commanding two-set adavantage.

In the third, UCCS shot out to a quick 5-0 start before taking an 8-1 lead which was capped off by a kill by Lauren Brown.

Brown, along with Taylor Hamilton led the Mountain Lions with 13 kills as Hamilton finished the match with a .458 hitting percentage. Alyssa Britton finished the night with 11 kills.

Morgan Evens notched 46 assists as Natahsa Habert totaled 15 digs for UCCS.

The setback puts UCCS at 18-10 on the year as Colorado Mines improved to 23-6.