KEARNEY, Neb. -- Despite Lauren Orth's match-high 12 kills, the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs was beaten 3-0(30-24, 30-27, 30-22) by the No. 21-ranked Nebraska-Kearney Lopers Saturday evening at the Health and Sports Center.

Heidi Fehringer and Brooke Akers added 11 and 10 kills respectively for the Mountain Lions, while Laura Meeter and Andrea Weedman had 13 digs each.

With the loss, UCCS' hopes to host the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference postseason tournament, while not mathematically ended, were practically ended. The Mountain Lions are now 14-3 in the RMAC (16-10 overall) with two matches remaining. Both Nebraska-Kearney and Fort Lewis are 15-2 in the RMAC and each owns a tiebreaker advantage over UCCS.

Shannon Clausen, Nikki Scott and Erica Burson led Nebraska-Kearney (25-4) with 10 kills each. Clausen added six blocks (three solo), while Kelli Wemhoff had 17 digs.

The win extended Nebraska-Kearney's win streak to 11 matches.

The Lopers' defense held the Mountain Lions to a .157 hitting mark, their sixth-lowest of the season. UCCS lost each of the other five matches in which it hit lower.

Game 1 was tied at 14 when Nebraska-Kearney went on a 10-4 run that featured scoring plays by five different players. The Lopers made the lead hold up, finishing 30-24.

A kill by Laband gave UCCS a 25-22 lead in the second game, but a kill by Burson, an ace by Cola Svec and a pair of blocks helped Kearney score five straight. Kills by Diane Sheldon and Fehringer, sandwiched around a UCCS hitting error, had the Mountain Lions trailing 28-27 before Kelsey Werner knocked down consecutive kills to ice the game for the Lopers.

Nebraska-Kearney led Game 3 wire-to-wire, opening 4-0 and keeping the Mountain Lions at arms' length the rest of the way.