BOX SCORE: Weber State-Northern Colorado

GREELEY, Colo. -- Northern Colorado's women's volleyball team took the first set against Weber State on Saturday night inside Butler-Hancock Sports Pavilion.

But the match went downhill from there for head coach Lyndsey Benson's Bears.

Northern Colorado went into the intermission tied at one set apiece with the Wildcats and then lost the next two games following the break to lose 3-1 -- its second loss by that margin this season to Weber State.

The Bears (16-8, 10-5 Big Sky Conference) hit much lower than they wanted (.186) in the match, and allowed the Wildcats (19-11, 8-6) to have their way on their home court. Weber State ended at a .292 clip and amassed 13 total team blocks.

The 25-23, 20-25, 19-25, 18-25 loss was painful enough for Northern Colorado, but pouring salt in the wound was the result about an hour later up north in Portland, where Eastern Washington swept Portland State to move into a tie for first in the league at 11-4 -- just one match ahead of the Bears.

"I don't know what it is," Northern Colorado assistant coach Tom Hunter said. "We just haven't been able to find our rhythm since Ashley (Lichtenberg) went out a few weeks ago. We just haven't been the same.

"We'll be alright, though. We've just got some work to do this week."

Lichtenberg played against Idaho State at home on Thursday, and that was her first extensive match action for Northern Colorado since injuring her ankle during practice in October. She had good numbers against Weber State on Saturday night (six kills, .444 hitting percentage), but it proved not enough.

Senior Lauren Carter and juniors Kenzie Shreeve and  Breanna VanDerMost all had solid nights in the loss. 

Carter turned in her sixth double-double of the season with 41 assists and 12 digs. 

VanDerMost was sparkling, as usual, on defense with 21 digs and three assists.

So, it was a frustrating loss to be sure, but the Bears are still a confident group. After all, if you would have told them at the beginning of the season they'd be solidly in third place in the conference standings heading into the final week of the season, they would quickly taken the offer.

"This weekend last year we were still fighting for a tournament spot so we've definitely took a huge step as a program to have secured our tournament spot with three weeks left in the season," Benson said.