SAN DIEGO, CA (UNLVRebels.com) - The UNLV softball team looked as if it was cruising to victory in the series opener at San Diego State Friday night, but had to hold off a late Aztec rally to secure the 5-4 victory in game one. The Rebels led 5-0 in the bottom of the seventh until SDSU used a grand slam to close the gap to one, but starter Jenny Bressler was resilient, striking out the final batter for her 15th win of the season.

UNLV improved to 23-7 overall and 4-2 in Mountain West play, marking the third-best start through 30 games in program history and best since 1995.

In building the 5-0 lead, the Rebel offense saw contributions from the usual suspects as sophomore Mia Trejo started the scoring with a two-run single in the third, Myranda Bueno doubled to bring Trejo home for a 3-0 lead that inning and Samantha Diaz brought home what proved to be the game-winning run with a RBI single in the fourth.

Bressler was solid in her ninth complete-game outing of the year, throwing 6.2 scoreless innings before the Aztec grand slam - the first allowed in her career. The freshman is now 15-3 on the year with a 1.58 ERA and 83 strikeouts - both team bests.

THE TURNING POINT: After the first two innings went scoreless, the Rebels took control in the third. Lauren Tycksen singled to lead off the inning, which was followed by a Justine Federe double and the Trejo single to score both Tycksen and Federe for the 2-0 lead. Bueno then came through with a double to score Trejo to make it 3-0. In the fourth, Denise Armendariz brought home a run with the bases loaded on a fielder's choice to make it 4-0, then Samantha Diaz sent a single up the middle to score the important fifth run. The Rebels wouldn't know they would need that run until the Aztecs loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh with two outs on Bressler and SDSU's Molly Sturdivant cut the lead to one with one swing of the bat. After a walk, Bressler took the count to 3-2 on the final batter and got the swing and miss to end the game.

STAT OF THE GAME: UNLV moved to 5-4 in games it is out-hit by its opponent and 5-4 in one-run games.

REBEL OF THE GAME: Trejo extended her hitting streak to six games with her two-run single in the third. For the game, she went 1-for-1 with the two RBI, one run scored and two walks - giving her a team-best 20 on the year. Like she did last year, Trejo has stepped it up during conference play as the sophomore is hitting .600 (9-for-15) with 12 RBI, two home runs, one double and four runs scored in six Mountain West games.

UP NEXT: Game two between the Aztecs and Rebels will get underway at 6 p.m. Saturday at SDSU Softball Stadium. UNLV will be looking for its first series win over SDSU since 2016.

REBEL NOTES: 
* The 23-7 record is the best start since the 1995 squad went 25-5
* UNLV is now 19-1 when it scores first in the game
* UNLV needs 10 wins to match last year's total of 33 with 20 games still left to play
* Bueno extended her hitting streak to five games with her RBI double in the third. During that stretch she's now 7-for-13 (.538) at the plate
* Lauren Tycksen was her consistent self, going 2-for-4 with two runs scored. The junior was the only Rebel to record a multi-hit game
* Bressler wasn't as sharp as usual as she allowed 11 hits over the seven innings, including just her fourth home run allowed, but made the pitches when she needed to and relied on her defense to get out of jams throughout the game. She gave up four runs for the second straight outing, marking just the third time this year she's allowed four or more in a game
* Pinch-hitting continues to be successful for Fox and the Rebels as they are hitting .341 in those situations. Freshman Statia Cermak came up with another pinch-hit single Friday night, moving her to a team-best 6-for-8 (.750) in those situations this year
* Rebels continue to outscore its opponents 169-64
* Rebels committed one error in the game, but have just 14 total in 30 games played this year