COLORADO SPRINGS - Jenica Shippy had 15 kills as the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs scored a convincing 3-1 (23-25, 25-14, 25-14, 25-18) come-from-behind victory over the Colorado School of Mines Orediggers Friday evening at the Lions' Den.

The Mountain Lions fell behind 16-10 in the first set and, while they could not complete the comeback for the set, they went on to outscore Mines 88-55 from that point.

"At first, we were a little tight and probably a little bit nervous," said Shippy. "This was our first home game in a while and we had the big crowd. Once we started to loosen up it started getting fun."

Cindy Bathelt certainly had fun, logging 45 assists and 15 digs for UCCS (7-6, 2-3 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference). So did Kendall Utz and Johnson and Andrea Brodie, who added 18, 15 and 12 digs respectively for a Mountain Lions back row that was consistently efficient and at times spectacular. UCCS routinely made diving saves that kept the ball alive and often ultimately turned into points.

"It's fun to watch when someone makes an awesome play like that," said Shippy. "We're real scrappy and we keep playing until we can't play anymore. I think that's one of the good things we have about this team."

Scrappy, yes, but also disciplined. UCCS coach Keith Barnett pointed out that the team worked extensively on defense after a couple of hard-fought losses on the road this past week.

"We worked hard on that this week," said Barnett. "We got exposed a couple of times against Regis and Metro (State)."

Along the net, Laura Brodie had three solo and four assisted blocks. Offensively, Johnson added 10 kills, Andrea Brodie nine and Nicole Pederson eight.

Elizabeth Serra-Hsu led Mines (10-5, 2-3 RMAC) with 14 kills while Katy Edmiston added 12. Each was forced into nine hitting errors, however, which contributed to the Orediggers' .083 hitting percentage. Mines came into Friday's match hitting .237, third best in the RMAC.

After dropping a close first set, UCCS ran off a 6-1 run to take a 13-7 lead in the second. One Mines point later, the Mountain Lions reeled off seven straight to take a commanding 20-8 lead and matched points thereafter for a 25-14 win.

Shippy had six kills with no errors on just 10 attempts during a third set that saw UCCS race to an 11-3 lead. That lead grew to 21-8 as the Mountain Lions coasted to a 2-1 lead in sets.

The fourth set was close at 15-13 when Shippy and Johnson had kills to spark a 6-2 run. A solo block by Laura Brodie ended the match.