When Rich Kern awoke sleepy-eyed in Nebraska to update his women's volleyball Web site with the result of Sunday's University of Hawai'i-New Mexico State match, he said, he "didn't really look to see what the result was as I entered it into my (www.RichKern.com) database and just assumed Hawai'i had won."

Then, Monday morning, seeing NMSU 3, UH 0 in a match played at the Stan Sheriff Center, "I looked at what was sent out and thought there was an error, so I switched it so Hawai'i had won and sent that out as a correction," Kern said in an e-mail.

Whereupon "Coach Russ Rose (of Penn State) contacted me right away and said he thought New Mexico State had won. I check it out and, sure enough ..."

If Kern, who has the pulse of women's volleyball, was taken aback, he wasn't alone. There were 4,976 surprised souls at the Stan Sheriff Center and a lot more disbelieving fans statewide.

Long, dominated Western Athletic Conference coaches like to say they are catching up to the Rainbow Wahine. But, in view of recent trends, you've got to wonder if UH isn't meeting them halfway by stepping back a bit, too.

We knew, of course, that the Rainbow Wahine's NCAA record 132-match conference winning streak would end some day. And it did in Las Cruces, N.M., in 2006. But after 11 years without a WAC home loss, UH suffered a doozy last year, being bounced in three by a Utah State team it had swept on the road just weeks earlier.

And, now it was deja vu all over again with New Mexico State springing the sweep just 15 days after UH had pulled off a sweep in Las Cruces.

What is it with these Aggies? Or, more to the point, these Rainbow Wahine?

But it isn't just those two matches. The 'Bows were dumped in the second round of the 2007 NCAA Tournament by Middle Tennessee State, of all people. It was the fourth consecutive year UH failed to negotiate a Final Four appearance. And, frankly, they had never seemed so far away from where they had once been a fixture. The last of four national titles (1987) seems an eternity.

Now, you would expect the Rainbow Wahine to rally back and win their zillionth consecutive WAC title. And, they probably will, though the issue, with NMSU and UH tied at 6-1 in the conference, is closer to doubt this year than it has ever been.

To be sure UH has had injuries. And had just one match in 12 days when it played NMSU. But none of that ever seemed to matter in the past when "uno, dos, adios" was a phrase coined by a UH assistant coach to describe what the Rainbow Wahine did to other people at their places.

Who knew there would come a day when opponents could employ it on the Rainbow Wahine's home court?

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.