Revenge was sweet, but not nearly as sweet as simply playing well.

After three years of UCLA frustration, seventh-ranked Hawai'i won its Chevron Rainbow Wahine Invitational last night with a 25-23, 25-18, 25-22 volleyball victory over the ninth-ranked Bruins.

This time it was the unbeaten 'Bows (3-0), who hadn't defeated the Bruins (2-1) since 2005, making all the crucial plays before a crowd of 4,870 at Stan Sheriff Center — the largest crowd of opening weekend. When UCLA made a run, Hawai'i had a thoughtful, disciplined answer.

It often came in the form of Kanani Danielson — the tournament's Most Outstanding Player — launching one of her 16 kills. The only extended worry for any Hawai'i fan last night came when the All-America sophomore crumpled to the floor at 21-13 in the second set, clutching the left ankle she injured last year.

The arena went silent as she limped off and UCLA scored four of the next five points. Then Danielson subbed back in to the relief of several thousand people, particularly her teammates.

"It was a minor thing," Danielson shrugged. "The adrenaline helped a lot."

Then she talked of all that went right with her team and smiled. "It," Danielson said, "was just so beautiful."

Along with a wondrous start to Danielson's season, "it" was also Aneli Cubi-Otineru serving the Bruins to ruins and Liz Ka'aihue passing 34 serves with perfection. The trio anchored a stellar defense that drove UCLA crazy and forced the Bruins to try 10 front-row players.

UH sophomore Stephanie Ferrell broke out of an overnight funk that stretched into the first set to pound 10 kills and hit nearly .500 the final two, lining one shot off UCLA libero Lainey Gera's chest that knocked her over. She finished with a career-high 14 kills and eight digs.

"I think we're physically stronger than them at the pins (outside)," UH coach Dave Shoji said. "Aneli, Kanani and Ferrell just hit the ball harder than their pin people. Their pin people are good volleyball players, but they don't bring the heat like ours do. I think that was the biggest difference. When we get it by the block, not too many balls are coming back."

Setter Dani Mafua earned all-tournament honors along with Cubi-Otineru. Amber Kaufman and Brittany Hewitt were Jekyll and Hyde in the middle and somehow even that worked.

The Bruins stuffed Kaufman, who hit a career-high .765 Saturday, for nearly the entire first two sets. Her initial kill ended the second set and she finished with only four, but she kept herself in it enough to make five somewhat spectacular digs and touch enough balls on the block to keep the much-taller Bruins — she gave up five inches to UCLA's 6-foot-6 Amanda Gil — hitting just .159.

Hewitt, the freshman who grew up in a hurry the last two nights, even made Shoji smile. She planted four of her nine swings and followed up Saturday's 11-block performance with nearly half her team's total (five of 9.5) last night — four in a final set that saw UH pull ahead of the Bruins in the blocking column. She also collected a dig off her face and was persistent enough to go up three times in quick succession and finally swat a ball down to preserve brilliant digs by Cubi-Otineru and Ferrell.

This is the first time since 2004 Hawai'i has opened with three straight wins, but even that achievement paled in comparison to the frustration it finally released after losing the past three years to UCLA.

The Bruins had cut their series deficit to two before last night made it 35-32 UH. The series goes back to Hawai'i's original team in 1974. UCLA won the first five meetings, including two national championship finals.

"It's pretty amazing we are this close after 35 years," Shoji said. "It goes in cycles. We owned them in early 2000s and then they owned us. It's going to be like this forever, I hope."

Andy Banachowski, starting his 43rd year at UCLA, called last night "one of the better Hawai'i performances" and characterized the 'Bows' serving as their biggest advantage and Danielson their most potent weapon.

"Kanani is the most consistent," Banachowski said. "Some of the other hitters hurt us, but she gets the most sets and had the highest percentage (.414)."

It was Cubi-Otineru's serve that finally created some separation in the opening set. A 4-0 run included two of her five aces and put the 'Bows up 15-12. The Bruins battled back, tying it at 19 and the teams traded points to 23-all. Kaitlin Sather hit into the net to get Hawai'i to set point and Danielson buried it — and her eighth kill — as the UCLA blockers ran into each other.

From there, the biggest question marks were Danielson's health in Set 2 and how long it would take the 'Bows to bounce back from an 0-5 start to Set 3. Danielson's third consecutive virtuoso performance answered the first question. The answer to the second was 11 serves — Hawai'i caught UCLA at 8 in the midst of yet another Cubi-Otineru serve-fest and the Bruins never led again.

NOTES

All-tournament team: Kanani Danielson, most outstanding (Hawai'i), Aneli Cubi-Otineru (Hawai'i), Krista Kelley (Santa Clara), Michelle Moore (Western Michigan), Lauren Cook (UCLA), Amanda Gil (UCLA), Dani Mafua (Hawai'i).

In the morning match, 25th-ranked Santa Clara (1-2) claimed third place with a 19-25, 25-14, 18-25, 25-17, 15-11 victory over Western Michigan. Krista Kelley had a match-high 18 kills for the winners.

Hawai'i is 11-2 in the Chevron Invitational, also winning it in 2003, '04 and '08.