Old habits die hard.

The Colorado volleyball team, after winning a total of six games last season, appeared to have turned the page on the nightmarish 2007 campaign as it entered Tuesday night's home opener with a 6-0 record, the best start in the program's proud history.

But after the Buffs' disheartening 23-25, 23-25, 25-19, 16-25 loss to No. 21 Colorado State on the new floor at the Coors Events Center, Pi'i Aiu was having some ugly flashbacks.

CU's longtime head coach watchedhelplessly as his team squandered a 21-16 lead in game two with a chance to even the match against their ranked rivals.

"We lost 11 five-game matches last year, and this is basically the same team. So, yeah, I think that's a concern for us and it has been for over a year now," Aiu said. "I think we have to learn to finish matches. The problem we're having right now ... under pressure we've got to learn to make plays.

"Physically I think we can play the game. And physically I think we can play with a lot of teams in the country. But mentally we've just got to be a little tougher. ...

"It's kind of scary because we've got five seniors starting for us. If it's not going to come now, when is it?"

The Buffs -- who don't have time to dwell on their first defeat of the season with No. 8 Florida up next on the CU Invitational schedule at 6:30 p.m. today -- were led by sophomore middle blocker Schylur Edelman's 13 kills and eight blocks.

Unfortunately for Alex Buth, Lauren Schaefer, Amber Sutherland and the rest of the senior class this was the fifth consecutive loss to CSU. The last time Aiu's team beat the Rams was on Sept. 10, 2002.

"They're a great team but they're very, very beatable," Buth said. "We definitely should have come out and given them everything we have and we didn't give everything we had tonight."

CSU standout Mekana Barnes completed her team's comeback in the second game with two kills as the visitors scored the final six points. She also dominated the decisive fourth game and finished with a match-high 15 kills.

"Any player like that, when they're on fire it's kind of hard to get them out of that rhythm," Sutherland said. "She did a great job and we just have to do a better job of taking care of our side."

The Buffs were able to regroup and win the third game. However, the finishing touch Aiu is desperately looking for was nowhere to be found after the short-lived shift in momentum.

"That's definitely on us. That's a mental thing we need to work through," Edelman said. "We have to be better next time."

The Rams (6-1) will host North Carolina on Friday and Florida on Saturday at Moby Arena.

"It's an exciting thing to go back to Fort Collins and say we beat CU last night," said fiery Rams outside hitter Jacque Davisson, who spiked a ball into the cheap seats out of frustration during CU's one shining moment in game three. "It's definitely a pride thing and very exciting."

The Buffs (6-1) will have to play their best match of the season to hang with the Gators (5-0). CU will finish the competitive three-game home stand against North Carolina on Saturday.

"What we talked about post-game was Florida. CSU is behind us, it's done," Aiu said. "We did everything we could do, there are things we can take from this match and learn. But if we're thinking about CSU when we walk in here (today), we're going to get thumped."