Utah State 6 UNLV 0 |@UNLVSoftball

LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - UNLV softball suffered its first Mountain West series loss after falling 6-0 to Utah State in Sunday's rubber match finale at Eller Media Stadium. After scoring 10 runs over the first five innings of the series, the Rebel offense was shut down over the final 13, with Sunday's defeat marking just the fifth time the Scarlet and Gray had been shut out all season.

With the loss, UNLV falls to 20-10 on the year and 3-3 in Mountain West play. The Aggies improved to 12-16 overall and 2-4 in the conference with their first series win.

Senior Janine Petmecky, who was responsible for the last two UNLV wins, got her second start of the weekend and was tagged with just her third loss of the season to move to 12-3. The right-hander allowed one run in the first, but seemed to settle down with three scoreless innings before Utah State scored two runs with two-outs in the top of the fifth to take control of the game. Sophomore Breana Burke entered the game in relief of Petmecky to start the sixth and gave up three runs in the seventh for the final margin.

Utah State's Delaney Hull picked up both of the wins for the Aggies on the weekend and was responsible for keeping UNLV's offense at bay after they exploded in the series opener. The Rebels got two off the freshman in the first inning of game two, but Hull held UNLV scoreless over her final 13 innings pitched to collect two wins and the series for Utah State.

THE TURNING POINT: The pitcher's duel between Petmecky and Hull continued into the fifth with the Rebels still in striking distance, trailing just 1-0. In the top half of the inning, the Aggies led off with two straight singles with the runners moving to second and third on a sacrifice bunt. Freshman Mia Trejo snagged a bullet line drive for the second out and the Rebels looked like they could get out of the inning without any damage. But the next batter sent a rocket line drive to third base and it was too hot for Jade Yadao-Valdez to handle at the corner and another Utah State run scored. A two-out single by the next batter scored a second run in the inning to make it 3-0.

STAT OF THE GAME: Senior catcher Brooke Stover extended her hitting streak to nine games with an infield single in the fourth inning.

QUOTABLE:Head coach Kristie Fox -
On losing the Mountain West series at home and what they can learn from it: