Eleventh-ranked Hawai'i took one small step toward the match most expect at the Western Athletic Conference Tournament final and one giant leap toward its 12th consecutive regular-season volleyball title last night, stuffing 13th-ranked New Mexico State, 30-26, 30-28, 30-22.

Before a crowd of 5,727 at Stan Sheriff Center (season-high 7,538 tickets sold), the Rainbow Wahine (17-4, 11-0 WAC) seized the inside lane in the race for the top seed at next month's WAC Tournament in Las Cruces, N.M. Their magic number is three going into tomorrow's 5 p.m. match against Louisiana Tech.

The Aggies (19-4, 10-2) remain fairly secure in second, but wondering what hit them after getting swept by UH for the first time since they joined the WAC in 2005. Their best hope now is to take the Rainbows down at the tournament.

A year ago, the Aggies dropped the hammer on Hawai'i's NCAA-record 132-match conference winning streak. A month ago, they had six match points in the fifth game at home against the 'Bows and could not convert.

Last night, NMSU rarely came close, despite coming in with an eight-match winning streak and highest ranking in history. When it did, the 'Bows put up one of their season-high 17.5 blocks, Jamie Houston drilled one of her 19 kills — she hit .472 — or the Aggies mangled a serve.

"I think we're just a bad serving team," NMSU coach Mike Jordan said. "This is the worst serving team I've had. We have people who serve way too easy or people who miss too much. In Game 1 we served way too easy and Jamie Houston got about a million kills."

Jordan also criticized his players' "attacking decisions," wondering out loud why they hit the ball "a million miles an hour right into them."

"We need to learn to stop doing that," he said. "I think we might be the most blocked team in the conference."

In contrast, UH coach Dave Shoji was serene, content with his players' performances and somewhat surprised by their sudden ability to cover blocks and dinks, which have been killing the 'Bows all season. He is convinced Sunday's shellacking at top-ranked Nebraska fed their inner fires.

"We didn't really show up for the Nebraska game," Amber Kaufman admitted. "We wrote it on the blackboard — 'Just show up.' "

"And we did," added Houston, who acknowledged that the next time the teams play it could easily go 3 hours again.

But last night the Aggies did not even last 2 hours. Shoji watched the return of the roof Hawai'i built into a huge postseason factor last year. Senior Juliana Sanders was again Hawai'i's most prolific blocker (9), but he was most encouraged by "small blockers" Kaufman (7) and Stephanie Brandt (6).

Brandt, his 5-foot-9 setter, saved her best for first and last. She stuffed Lindsey Yon on the fourth point of the night — "That set the tone," Shoji said — and closed the match with two roofs and an inspired rip at a poor pass, all in the final six points.

As poorly as they played, the Aggies were good enough to give themselves a shot near the end of each game. But Hawai'i snuffed every threat, with help from NMSU — 10 missed serves and 28 hitting errors.

Houston was the offense much of the night, but Hawai'i also got seven kills apiece from its other four hitters. Yon led the Aggies with 15 kills, but hit for negative numbers the last two games. NMSU's all-conference middles, particularly Amber Simpson, were rarely a factor.

"They didn't really set them," Brandt said. "They were going to the outsides. I think they were going after me because I'm the shortest."

After watching the first serve softly hit the floor, the Rainbow Wahine took charge in Game 1. They won a monstrously long second point and blew to a 4-1 advantage on three consecutive Aggie hitting errors — the last two stuffed into the floor by Sanders, Brandt and Houston.

Hawai'i third block put it ahead 6-2 and the Aggies wouldn't get closer than three until a last-gasp rally pulled them to 28-26. The 'Bows went back to Houston, in the backrow, and she delivered her eighth kill. After a Liz Ka'aihue save, NMSU hit into the net to end it.

Houston had half of Hawai'i's kills in the game. Yon, a transfer from Texas A&M, also had eight for the Aggies, while her teammates hit .067, thanks in large part to four UH stuffs.

That statistic would only multiply — Hawai'i stuffed eight balls in the final game — and NMSU would never solve Houston. In a second game that went in erratic spurts, she buried eight more kills in just 11 swings, without an error, jumping in on two of Hawai'i's five roofs for good measure. Houston had three kills in four serves during an 11-6 UH surge that made it 25-20.

"I could just set her anywhere and she would get a kill," Brandt said. "She was in a pretty focused zone."

The Aggies hung tough to tie the game at 28. After a UH timeout, senior Kim Oguh served into the middle of the net and a moment later Kaufman got her fourth kill of the game to give the Rainbows a 2-0 advantage.

After eight early ties in Game 3, and four missed NMSU serves, Hawai'i blew it open. Brandt — who finished with a team-high 13 digs — served nine straight to put UH ahead 18-10. Each serve went down the line directly at Yon, who was benched when UH hit 16.

The Aggies would hang on through a few more flurries, cutting their deficit as low as two (20-18). Brandt finally finished them off, helping Hawai'i score six of the final seven points.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.