Beyond anything else in last night's warp-speed Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Volleyball Classic final this much was clear: Fifth-ranked UCLA is a bunch better than 16th-ranked Hawai'i.

The Bruins (4-1) won their eighth Classic championship, and second straight, before a Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 5,693. The 31-29, 30-18, 30-16 scores clearly illustrate UCLA's transformation from vulnerable to vaunted over the course of the 96-minute match. It also painted a vivid picture of a Hawai'i team with many flaws.

For the second straight week, the Rainbow Wahine did not have the heart to stay in a match against a team from the big, bad Pac-10. The only difference was, last week it was one of the conference's worst (Oregon State) and UCLA is one of its best (picked third this year behind second-ranked Stanford and fourth-ranked USC).

"We've got to turn around an attitude," UH coach Dave Shoji said. "It turned out to be a tactical mismatch. We couldn't stay with them. But we had no fight after Game 1, no desire. They took all the desire out of us. That shouldn't happen."

The Rainbow Wahine (3-3) looked like they belonged in the same ranking as the Bruins only once, during a gritty first-game rally fueled by the defense of their tiniest players, the blocking of their tallest and hitters who finally found the court. Hawai'i erased all its early errors — a horrendous passing start put them in an 8-2 hole — during a compelling run that tied it at 27.

The 'Bows' 27th point came after two terrific digs by setter Stephanie Brandt and a huge stuff of Ali Daley by Aneli Cubi-Otineru and Juliana Sanders. It would be the Hawai'i highlight of the night.

UCLA called its final timeout and got to 29 first on a UH ballhandling violation. After she shanked a serve, Tara Hittle redeemed herself by blasting a Liz Ka'aihue set off the block to delay game point, but only for a moment as Kaitlin Sather knocked down two of her nine kills to end it.

All the momentum the 'Bows built with their rally fizzled out in a flash. The rest of the match was a formality. UCLA scored 15 of the first 21 points in Game 2. Hawai'i led just once all night, at 2-1 in the third; the Bruins came back with a 19-8 tear, on a series of serving streaks.

"We expended a lot of energy to get back in Game 1 and then we just didn't have much to start Game 2," Shoji said. "And then we just couldn't make another comeback. It was a downward spiral after that.

"Nothing positive came out of the match except for the little run in Game 1. This weekend we took two steps forward and one giant step backward."

Led by All-America setter Nellie Spicer, the tournament's Most Outstanding Player, the Bruins had four hitters with nine kills or more. They were led by Emily Clements (12), their only starter who is not an upperclassman. After being out-hit (.227-.204), out-blocked (6-1) and out-dug (23-17) by the 'Bows in Game 1, UCLA ended up beating Hawai'i in every statistic. UH hit zero (18 kills, 18 errors) in the final two games and had but two more blocks all night.

"I didn't change anything," UCLA coach Andy Banachowski said. "It was just them, kids playing hard and continuing to play hard."

What did Banachowski think changed in Hawai'i?

"I thought they started to play and act like they were losing their confidence out there," he said. "They were not quite sure what they could do that would work. We frustrated them with our hitting and our blocking. We constantly put them in trouble. They are a young team, a talented team. They're going to be really good by the end of the year."

That is pretty much what Banachowski said a year ago after his team thrashed Hawai'i. Three months later, the Bruins came back and did it again in the NCAA Regionals, against a much-improved Hawai'i team.

In six games against UCLA last year, UH averaged 22 points. After the early challenge, that didn't change last night.

"Everyone needs to think about how they played, on their own and how we can ... we have to do more than what we're doing," Otineru said. "Just individually, mentality-wise.

"I mean courage. The physical things are there. You can't do the physical unless you have the mental."

NOTES

Liz Ka'aihue's 31 digs Sunday in Hawai'i's four-game win over Kansas State set a Classic record. Former Rainbow Therese Crawford had the old mark of 29, set in four games against Texas in 1995.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.