GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Lauren Brown made a season-high eight blocks and Cassidy Bush led the University of Colorado Colorado Springs offensive attack with 15 kills as the Mountain Lions (15-9, 10-6 RMAC) won for the first time in Grand Junction since 2007 in a 3-2 victory against Colorado Mesa (18-6, 12-4). UCCS won in 23-25, 25-15, 20-25, 25-18 and 15-11 set scores against the Mavericks in Brownson Arena.

The Mountain Lions hit .228 as a team while holding Colorado Mesa to .075, its lowest hitting performance since Sept. 15, 2016. Bush led four UCCS attackers with 10 or more kills with Alyssa Brinton's 11 kills and 10 kills each from Brown and Taylor Hamilton.

UCCS built a 16-12 lead in the first set before Colorado Mesa took its first lead of the night with a six-point run for an 18-16 advantage. The Mountain Lions held off set points three times later in the set to make it a 24-23 set before the Mavericks closed out the set with a kill for the 25-23 decision.

The Mountain Lions put together 6-0 and 5-0 runs in the second set to take a 16-10 lead, and gradually expanded the lead to even the match on a 25-15 win. Colorado Mesa and UCCS tied eight times in the third set, the last at 19-19, before the Mavericks scored six of the final seven points to retake an advantage in the match on the 25-20 score.

UCCS never trailed in the fourth set and hit .355 to force a fifth set on a 25-18 win. The Mountain Lions and Mavericks tied eight times through 10-10 before a kill from Brinton sparked the match-winning 5-1 rally for the second win in program history in Grand Junction.

Morgan Evans moved past the 1,000-assist mark this season with 48 tonight. She is seventh in program history with 1,037 assists this season. Evans also improved her career mark to 2,703, and is 63 away from tying for third in program history.

Natasha Habert climbed into fourth in program season records with 23 digs tonight and has 474 this season. She has 1,254 in her career and needs 154 to move into fourth in program records. Julie Ward added 18 digs on the back row for the second straight night.

The win put UCCS in a tie for fifth in the RMAC standings with one weekend left to play. The Mountain Lions are tied with Colorado Christian, and would hold the tiebreaker with the Cougars if the tie remains. UCCS is a half-match behind fourth-place Regis, but the Rangers have only one match left in the regular season and the Mountain Lions also hold the tiebreaker if the teams are tied at the end of the season. The top four teams at the end of the regular season will host quarterfinal round matches to start the 2016 RMAC Tournament.

UCCS will finish the regular season on the road in South Dakota with a Friday match against Black Hills State and a Saturday match against South Dakota Mines. The Mountain Lions won the first meetings of the season against each team last weekend in Colorado Springs.