SANTA ANA, Calif. - No. 12 Santa Ana Women's Volleyball ended up on the wrong side of a five set thriller against Golden West (8-7, 5-4) in Wednesday's Orange Empire Conference (OEC) matchup. 

The Dons (13-3, 6-3) started off sluggish, falling behind 1-0 with a 25-22 loss in the first set.

SAC got back on track as they won the next two sets, 25-19 and 25-21. But in the fourth, the Rustlers struck again with a couple big runs to win 25-23 and force a fifth and final set. 

In the fifth, the teams went back and forth for the first six points until the Rustlers went ahead for good starting with the score at 4-3. Although the Dons made a comeback effort late in the set, Golden West came out on top to win, 15-10. 

Santa Ana falls to third place in the OEC standings with the loss while Golden West climbs to fifth. 

The Dons will get a chance to rebound on Friday when they travel to Cypress College to face the No. 20 ranked Chargers at 6:00 p.m.