LOS ANGELES — It was a long day of competitive non-conference volleyball for the Occidental College women's volleyball team.

But in its second five-set match on Saturday, Oxy fell to La Sierra at Rush Gymnasium, 20-25, 25-22, 22-25, 25-20, 15-6.

The Tigers lost to UC Santa Cruz just a handful of hours earlier.

"We always fight even when we're tired. It's disappointing to go to five and not pull through at the end, but I felt like we kept fighting each time," said Jessie Altman, who dished out 44 assists and never left the court on Saturday. "We have a much needed day of rest tomorrow."

The Tigers fall to 11-7 overall.

Oxy played solid volleyball against the NAIA scholarship Golden Eagles (15-7), taking Games 2 and 3 after dropping the first set. The Tigers were peaking at the end of the third set when Altman put a bump set on a platter for Dana Michels, despite receiving a bad pass, and Michels crushed a point straight down, giving Oxy a 22-20 lead. Mort added a kill and the Golden Eagles made two errors to end the set. Mort and Megan Olayinka each had four kills in the game.

Mort and Michels had a team-best 13 kills.

The match heated up in Game 4, with Madyson Cassidy flailing all over the place for dig after dig. The All-SCIAC libero finished with 24 digs. The Tigers trailed by about four points the entire set despite exciting rallies.

Oxy just dug too deep of a hole in the deciding set, falling behind 5-0. Michels had a pair kills toward the end of the frame, cutting lead to 11-5, but La Sierra pulled away.

In Game 2, Hana Hunt had five aces during an 8-0 run that got Oxy within one, 23-22. But Abby Latuhoi was involved in two key blocks at the net to spoil the Tigers' comeback.

"There were moments when we stayed very aggressive and our passing was on point," Altman said. "That just helps us run our offense. Hana kept serving aggressively and that helped push them off the net."

La Sierra's Sasha Birt-Moody was great challenging Oxy's attack at the net, after sitting out the entire first set. The middle finished with four block assists and four solo blocks.

Lupe Garcia led the match with 18 kills.

Dwulet, Olayinka and Stephanie Gann all finished with eight kills for the Tigers.

Oxy returns to action on Tuesday, hosting Caltech at 7:30 p.m. at Rush Gymnasium.

The Tigers are in third place in the SCIAC standings with a couple of key matches coming up.

"We just have to stay aggressive and confident from start to finish and come out fighting each match," Altman said.