GUNNISON, Colo. – University of Colorado Colorado Springs sophomore outside hitter Alyssa Brinton led the Mountain Lions with 14 kills and junior libero Natasha Habert led UCCS with 20 digs as the Mountain Lions (14-9, 9-6 RMAC) fell 3-1 at Western State (13-10, 9-6 RMAC) tonight at Paul W. Wright Gymnasium in 19-25, 25-15, 16-25 and 23-25 scores.

UCCS and Western State were even after the first two sets. The Mountaineers scored the first three points of the third set before Taylor Hamilton capped a 7-3 run with a service ace to tie the set at 14-14. Western State scored the next six points and ended up taking the set 25-16. The two teams tied 13 times in the fourth set, including at 22-22, but Western State closed out the night with three of the final four points in the 3-1 match decision.

Hamilton made 11 kills and Cassidy Bush added 10 to round out the offensive leaders. Morgan Evans made 42 assists to improve her career total to 2,655, and will need 111 to move into a tie for third. Lauren Brown and Bush both finished with three blocks, and Habert improved her career digs total to 1,231 tonight.

The loss put the Mountain Lions in a four-way tie for fifth with three matches left in the regular season. UCCS is tied with Colorado Christian, Adams State and Western State. The Mountain Lions hold the tiebreaker against Colorado Christian while Adams and Western holds tiebreakers against UCCS, but in a multiple-team tiebreaker, the combined win-loss record among the teams will be used as the first tiebreaker criteria.

The Mountain Lions will take on Colorado Mesa on Saturday at 7 p.m., at Brownson Arena in Grand Junction. The Mavericks (18-5, 12-3 RMAC) fell 3-1 to MSU Denver tonight.