SALT LAKE CITY – The Westminster women's volleyball team couldn't hold a 2-0 lead and lost in five sets to UC-Colorado Springs in a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference match at the Behnken Field House on Saturday night.
 
Westminster won the first two sets 25-20 and 24-26 before dropping the next three 15-25, 17-25, 4-15. The loss drops the Griffins to 5-16 overall and 2-11 in the RMAC. UCCS moves to 15-7 and 10-3 with the victory.
 
One night after setting a career high in kills, Amara Culpepper raised it higher as she finished the match with 24. The sophomore hit .345 for the night with just five errors while adding three digs and one block.
 
It seemed her effort was going to be enough as the team totaled 32 kills through the first two sets and taking a 2-0 advantage. The Mountain Lions responded with 38 of their 71 kills coming in the final three sets and they held the home team to only 22 kills during the span.
 
UCCS hit .317 as a team and they held Westminster to just .216 and only 54 kills. The visitors piled up 10 service aces, including four in the short fifth set. They had a 76-59 advantage in digs and a 7-5 lead in blocks.
 
Alyse Horton and Jessica Chellsen added nine kills apiece for the Griffins and Horton added 16 digs. Desiree Wickwar had eight kills. Megan Gallegos also had 16 digs in defeat.
 
Kim Catlett led three Mountain Lions in double figures with 19 kills while adding a match-high 20 digs.
 
Westminster now heads on the road with a trip to South Dakota for two matches. They open the trip at Black Hills State on Friday at 7 p.m. in Spearfish, S.D.