UNLV 9 New Mexico 1 (5) |@UNLVSoftball

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (UNLVRebels.com) - After the first two games this weekend in New Mexico weren't decided until the seventh inning, UNLV softball didn't let the same happen in game three as the Rebels scored five runs in the first three innings and nine total Sunday against the Lobos to capture its first Mountain West series victory of 2018.

The 9-1 five-inning victory moved UNLV's record to 19-8 overall and 2-1 in conference play, while New Mexico falls to 7-21 and 1-2 in the Mountain West. The Rebels are just six wins shy of matching their total wins in all of 2017 with 22 regular season games left to play.

The Scarlet and Gray offense exploded for 15 runs between the seventh inning of game two and the fifth inning of game three after being limited to two runs in the first 13 innings of the series. The pitching staff was solid on the weekend, giving up a combined six runs in the three games, with four of those runs coming on the walk-off grand slam Friday night.

Petmecky bounced back from that tough defeat Friday with her ninth straight complete game performance, giving up just one run on two hits with 10 strikeouts for her 11th win of the season. The senior is now 11-2 on the year with a 1.36 ERA.

UNLV won its opening league series for the third time in the last five years and moves to 5-9-5 overall in MW opening series since joining the conference in 2000.

THE TURNING POINT: In the opening frame, the Rebel offense picked up where they left off in the seventh inning of game two. Jade Yadao-Valdez led off the game with her speciality - an infield single - and advanced to second on a Reina Bondi groundout. That brought up Justine Federe, who sent a single through the right side to drive in her team-leading 23rd RBI of the season. After a Mia Trejo walk, catcher Brooke Stover was up next and doubled to center to score Federe and put runners on the corners with one out. Petmecky then delivered on a sacrifice fly to plate Trejo for the third run and the Rebels were in control 3-0 early. UNLV added two runs in third and another four in the fifth after a weather delay halted the game in the middle of the fourth. The Lobos got a run in the bottom of the fifth, but Petmecky got the final out to end the game on the run rule after five.

REBEL OF THE GAME: Petmecky didn't let Friday's grand-slam walk-off loss shake her confidence as the right-hander gave up just one run and two hits in 5.0 innings pitched with 10 strikeouts. She also went 1-for-2 at the plate with one run scored and two RBI. Honorable mention goes to Stover, who went a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate with one run scored and a pair of RBI.

STAT OF THE GAME: The Rebels matched their season-high with nine runs, including six different Rebels recording at least one hit and six different Rebels registering at least one RBI. Stover and Petmecky led the way with two RBI apiece.

QUOTABLE:Head coach Kristie Fox -

"Winning a road series was a good start to conference for us. The team really settled down after getting the jitters out in game one. The way they dealt with adversity today and how they came out with a lot of energy at the start of the game and after the delay showed they are really buying into our approach to the game. Janine bounced back and pitched a great game. Our hitters took advantage of scoring opportunities early and they kept the pressure on them."

REBEL NOTES: