The recent editions of the volleyball versions of the Rocky Mountain Showdown have been incredibly competitive.

They also haven’t been kind to the home team.

That trend continued on Friday night, as Colorado State salvaged a split of this year’s home-and-home set by topping Colorado 21-25, 25-20, 27-25, 25-17 at the CU Events Center. The Buffs posted a four-set win at CSU’s Moby Arena on Thursday night, and the teams also split last year’s home-and-home series with the road team recording reverse sweeps on the other team’s floor in both contests (winning three straight sets after falling behind 2-0).

It was the final nonconference game for the Buffs (7-5), who open Big 12 Conference play next week with a two-game trip against BYU and Utah.

“I thought (Colorado State) played really well tonight. They certainly passed better than they did (Thursday) night,” CU head coach Jesse Mahoney said. “That was really the big difference, and we couldn’t get production out of players we rely on to get production out of from an offensive standpoint. And we struggled defensively, even though I think we were in the right places. We just weren’t making plays, unfortunately.”

Like Thursday’s contest, the teams traded points essentially through all four sets. CSU took the early advantage, breaking a 17-17 tie late in the set by outscoring the Buffs 8-4 the rest of the way. The Buffs answered by leading throughout much of the second set.

Also like Thursday’s match, it was an extended frame in the third set that turned the tide, and this time it was the Rams’ turn, as they outlasted the Buffs for a 27-25 win in the third to take a 2-1 lead overall. The Rams (4-6) carried the momentum into the fourth set, jumping to an 8-2 lead and leading throughout the period as CSU secured a series split.

As has been the case through the bulk of nonconference play, the Buffs struggled on the attack, posting a .156 hitting percentage in the first set before finishing with a .203 mark. CU finished with 22 attack errors and six serving errors compared to 19 attack errors for the Rams with only one serving error.

Ana Burilovic led the CU offense with 16 kills but also finished with a team-high nine attack errors. Sydney Jordan also had 10 kills with seven attack errors.

“There’s always like a band of performance that you feel like you can probably be in, and the younger teams have a bigger band. And we’ve been all over that band so far,” Mahoney said. “We can play some of the best volleyball we can play. We can play some of the worst volleyball we can play. And unfortunately sometimes it’s in the same match.

“I think the hope is some of our inconsistency are things that we get better at as we play more as a group. And as some of the younger kids start to recognize some things that are going to help us succeed versus things that maybe don’t.”