A Stan Sheriff Center crowd waited for at least one volleyball team to wake up last night — 10th-ranked Hawai'i from a nightmare or Utah State from a dream. It never happened.

The Aggies scorched the Western Athletic Conference volleyball earth and left the Rainbow Wahine to eat their dust with a stunning 30-28, 31-29, 30-27 sweep before 4,638 spectators. It was USU's first win over Hawai'i since 1981 and the first time any WAC team has beaten the 'Bows in Manoa.

UH clinched its 12th regular-season title in as many WAC seasons 10 days ago, so this had no impact on its place at this week's conference tournament in Las Cruces, N.M. The Rainbow Wahine (21-5, 15-1) will be seeded first and open Thursday against the winner of the day's first match between ninth-seeded Louisiana Tech and eighth-seeded Boise State.

But getting swept by an unranked team for the second time this season, and falling hard to the same players they swept in Logan less than a month ago, went beyond humbling. Aneli Cubi-Otineru, whose 16 kills were not enough to nullify 29 UH hitting errors, called it "a reality check for us, especially going into the tournament."

UH coach Dave Shoji said his team "got what we deserved."

"It might be a pretty good loss if there is such a thing," Shoji said. "It just proves we're not as good as we think we are. Technically, we had trouble putting the ball down. We made unforced errors, again, and at critical times. ... That's just showing we're not very mature. We wasted a lot of opportunities."

The Rainbows' NCAA Tournament seeding could also take a hit after they failed to go unbeaten in the regular season for only the third time since joining the WAC in 1996. This was shocking, soul-searching stuff for a team that groveled its way out of a 3-3 start and truly felt it was playing its best volleyball.

Last night, only the Aggies (17-12, 11-5) were at their best, and the longer they stayed at that level the worse they made Hawai'i look. Coach Grayson DuBose thought it might be the program's biggest win since it captured the 1978 AIAW championship (it lost to UH in the 1979 national final) and compared it favorably to USU's first victory over Brigham Young in 20 years, which happened while he was an assistant in 2000.

"We've made this real commitment to being able to side out for a long period of time and being steady for a long time," DuBose said. "I thought we were able to stay in our system for a long period of time with our block and defense. We made some nice plays that we typically hadn't made until two or three weeks ago."

The Aggies' victory earned them the third seed, after they started their season 2-6.

They started last night in a 12-20 hole, struggling to pass and keep a serve in. When they figured those basics out, they caught up in a rush and refused to be denied the rest of the night.

A 12-2 surge put Utah State up 24-22 in Game 1. UH, shaken and erratic, would tie it three more times — the last at 28 — but never led again. After struggling early, Amanda Nielson collected nine of USU's 15 kills, including the final five.

By then, the 'Bows were doubting themselves — "Once you put it into neutral it's really hard to get yourself out of it," Shoji said — and the Aggies were beginning to believe.

Hawai'i went into the second game with a .128 hitting percentage, sets flying to strange places and almost no rhythm. It would end the night at .174, out-hit by 123 points and out-blocked 13 1/2 to 6. Third-team All-American Jamie Houston, who had been on a tear recently, went into reverse with 10 kills, nine errors, and utter frustration by the end.

"We are not a good team if she is off," Shoji said. "We have to have her playing at a high level. She got frustrated and really could never work herself out of it. She let her frustrations dictate her play."

After Stephanie Brandt served seven in a row to put the 'Bows up early in Game 2, they fell back into a bad place and the Aggies roared to a 20-16 advantage. Freshman Dani Mafua came in for Brandt at setter and slowly the Rainbows collected themselves, behind the offense of Otineru and Tara Hittle.

They pulled ahead 23-21 and it was tied five times before UH served for the game at 29-28. Nielson's kill erased it and, after Hittle hit out, Nielson's 13th kill of the night won it.

The Aggies refused to back off in Game 3. They led 14-8 and weathered a few mini rallies until Hawai'i pulled ahead 25-23 on an ace by Liz Ka'aihue. USU called time and won seven of the last nine points. It got the last three on a block, a backrow attack violation by Houston and Melissa Osterloh's ninth kill.

NOTE: The Rainbow Wahine play their final home matches Nov. 20 and 21 against Loyola Marymount. Both begin at 7 p.m. The Wednesday match will be Senior Night, honoring Caroline Blood, Raeceen Woolford, Kari Gregory and Juliana Sanders.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.