They also took a huge step toward gaining the top seed at next month's WAC Tournament, led by a balanced offense and 18 big blocks. Victoria Prince was in on eight, setter Kanoe Kamana'o seven and Melody Eckmier six — in a little more than one game.

The Owls (18-3, 7-1), off to the best start in their history, saw their 11-match winning streak terminated. Their last loss was to then-No. 1 Minnesota Sept. 17, in a match they led 28-24 in the fourth game.

The rare WAC divisional rumble saw UH at its unorthodox best. The 'Bows let the first game get away and weathered a severe cold spell in the third before torching Rice's upset hopes. By the end, the frustrated Owls had trouble seeing the court, let alone hitting it.

"They definitely blocked better than we did and they made less errors," said Rice first-year coach Genny Volpe. "I had told the team that whoever was most consistent would win. The team that could shake off mistakes easily and move on to the next point would win. And that's what Hawai'i did very well."

Ashley Watanabe didn't start at libero, but might have had her best match with 22 digs in three-plus games. She found a way to defend all-WAC hitter Rebeca Pazo, who became the Owls' career kill leader when she ripped the eighth of nine in the first game. Pazo had but 10 more in the final three games, when she hit .086.

"Going back to the SMU game, I struggled. Teisa was in there and she was kicking butt," Watanabe said. "Tonight she had a little hard time, but we've got each other's back. That's the way it is through the entire team. We just get in there and push everybody."

What Watanabe didn't gobble up, the Hawai'i block altered or slaughtered. It was anchored at the end by Eckmier, the senior captain who has been a reserve since early in the season. She came in with her team down 24-19 in Game 3 and stuffed six balls as Hawai'i hammered out 41 of the final 60 points.

"Teams go up and down emotionally and we just took control when they were down," Eckmier said. "We jumped on it and made them crawl in a hole. They are a very good team, we just caught them when they stumbled a little bit."

Rice was worn down and frustrated by Game 4, when Eckmier's presence at the net helped Hawai'i bury the Owls into a negative .229 hitting hole.

"Technically, OD (Eckmier) is our best blocker," UH coach Dave Shoji said. "Their offense is such that she can close that block. It wasn't very fast and we knew where the ball was going to go. She got very good positioning and squared up and got six blocks in less than two games. That's tremendous."

Notes

• Hawai'i plays Tulsa tonight at 7. It goes on the road next week for matches at San Jose State (Wednesday) and Boise State (Friday).

• Rice will leave the WAC for Conference USA next season, along with UTEP, Tulsa and SMU.

• The delay in Game 2 was caused when an official noticed Rice's Olaya Pazo was not wearing a WAC patch, which technically left her "out of uniform."

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8043.