COLORADO SPRINGS - Jenica Shippy had 11 kills as the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs set a new school record with its ninth straight win, a 3-0 (25-19, 25-21, 25-17) decision over the Colorado Christian Cougars Tuesday evening at the Lions' Den.

The previous record of eight straight victories was set from Aug. 25-Sept. 1, 2001. The Mountain Lions have gone 27-3 in sets during the streak.

The win was also the ninth straight at home for UCCS, which improved to 17-7, 12-4 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. The school mark for consecutive home wins is 10.

The Mountain Lions now hold a half-game lead and a tiebreaker advantage over Colorado School of Mines for third place in the RMAC and the third seed in the postseason playoff tournament. While third-place is nice, the Mountain Lions are also one slipup away from sixth. UCCS is one game ahead of Metro State and Regis, each of which still has a match against the Mountain Lions remaining.

Shippy had only one hitting error on 25 attempts Tuesday for a 40 percent hitting clip. As a team, the Mountain Lions hit 23.4 percent, their ninth straight match at 21.3 percent or better and 11th of their past 12.

Laura Brodie and Nicole Pederson each added six kills for UCCS. Brodie, who hit 25 percent for the match, came into the match ranked No. 10 nationally in hitting percentage at 39 percent.

Teammate Cindy Bathelt logged a double-double with 25 assists and 134 digs. Sonja Johnson also had 13 digs, while Kendall Utz added 12. Johnson also had two of the Mountain Lions' six service aces.

Kim McCalmont led Colorado Christian (5-21, 1-15 RMAC) with nine kills. Brooke Wittmayer added seven kills and 14 digs.

UCCS' middle blockers, Brodie and Pederson, combined for seven kills in the first set but had just five combined in the next two. Shippy and Brodie each had two kills as the Mountain Lions opened with a 6-0 run. The lead grew to as many as eight and shrunk to as few as five, but held on for a first-set UCCS win.

The Cougars opened the second set leading 4-1 and were leading 8-5 when two Pederson kills and pinpoint serves by Bathelt sent UCCS on a four-point run. With the score knotted at 10, the Mountain Lions, behind a solo block and a kill by Lauren Orth, constructed another 4-0 run to take the lead for good. Colorado Christian cut the deficit to one twice, the second time at 20-19, but UCCS answered with a kill and an ace by Johnson. Two kills by Shippy and one by Andrea Brodie closed out the set.

The third set was similarly close and was tied at 11 when a block by the Brodie sisters, plus kills by Andrea Brodie and Cassey Santucci put UCCS up by three. After trading points, Kelsey Pobar served a 5-0 run. Down the stretch, Kim Pollard came off the bench to register a kill and two assisted blocks to help the Mountain Lions complete the sweep.

All of UCCS' various win streaks will be put under duress on Friday, when the powerful, No. 5-ranked Nebraska-Kearney Lopers come to the Lions' Den.