Box Score

LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - The UNLV volleyball team suffered a straight-set loss in Mountain West play to the San Diego State Aztecs Wednesday night at Peterson Gym. The Rebels got a nine-kill performance from Ashley Owens in the 3-0 setback, which the Aztecs won by set scores of 25-23, 25-22, 25-13.

Despite the loss, UNLV (22-6 overall, 11-5 MW) managed to stay in third place; however, it shares the spot with Wyoming (11-5 MW) after it defeated Air Force, 3-0, Wednesday. Boise State (14-2 MW) broke the tie atop the Conference standings and claimed sole possession of first place with a 3-2 victory at home against Colorado State (13-3 MW), which dropped to second.

UNLV will return to Las Vegas and the Cox Pavilion for two more matches. The Rebels will welcome their in-state rival Nevada, Reno to town Saturday for a 2:00 pm contest that will count towards the 2016-17 standings of the Governor's Series presented by NV Energy and Barrick Gold. Saturday's affair will also see the Scarlet & Gray recognize its six-member senior class prior to first serve. UNLV will host New Mexico in the regular-season finale for both teams Tuesday (6:00 pm).

"Our hitting was not on tonight and our passing was really sporadic," said head coach Cindy Fredrick. "We had a lot of opportunities in the first two sets and didn't finish strong."

Owens and Hammel combined for 17 of the Rebels' 32 kills Wednesday. The former hit .450 for the match and no errors to go with one assisted block while the latter added eight digs and two assisted blocks.

Alexis Patterson had a team-high 27 assists and added four digs.

A quartet of Rebels had a minimum of seven digs with eight each coming from Hammel and Carly Riehl, and seven apiece from Laura Butler and Elisa Woinowsky.

SDSU (16-14, 8-8 MW) was paced by 16- and 10-kill efforts from Alexandra Psoma and Deja Harris, respectively. The latter led all with seven total blocks (one solo) while the latter had six (all assisted). The Aztecs also got match highs in assists (38) from Lauren Utchen and in digs (17) from Devyn Pritchard.

NOTES: With participation in Thursday's match, Riehl moved into a tie for fourth in career matches played (117) … Owen's, who sits eighth all-time, became the eighth Rebel to notch 300 career total blocks with help from her block Wednesday … In the single-season record book, Elsa Descamps moved into ninth in assisted blocks (114) and Hammel claimed 10th in total attempts (1,044).