The longest conference winning streak in NCAA women's volleyball history crashed to a halt in Las Cruces, N.M., last night as 25th-ranked New Mexico State upset 11th-ranked Hawai'i, 22-30, 30-28, 27-30, 30-24, 15-13.

The Western Athletic Conference match was played before 2,803 at a packed Las Cruces High School Gym.

The loss ended the Rainbow Wahine's 132-match winning streak against conference opponents, that dated to Oct. 10, 1998. It also ended a 43-match winning streak on the opposition's home court, which went back to Nov. 24, 2001, at Pacific.

"It's certainly disappointing it's over, but I knew it would end sometime," UH coach Dave Shoji said. "Every streak will end, it's just a matter of time. Obviously we didn't want it to happen tonight, but our goals won't change. We still want to win the WAC and get that automatic (NCAA) berth and we're still thinking we can go far in the playoffs. That's not going to change because of tonight."

Lots will change for New Mexico State, which had been searching for a breakthrough. This is the Aggies' fifth straight 20-win season, but they were ignored by the NCAA Committee last year and had never been ranked before opening this year with 17 wins.

"This sends a statement to people not convinced about us yet that we are pretty damn good," said Mike Jordan, who characterized the victory as the best of his nine-year NMSU coaching career. "Are we a final-four caliber team? No, but we can play with ranked teams. We're a Top-25 team, no question about it.

"We might finally get some people who are used to saying you're not good until you beat Hawai'i to stop. We don't have to hear about it now. The thing I hate most is people say we're playing for second in the WAC. We're playing for the championship now."

It was an upset Shoji believes never should have happened.

After an imposing start — particularly for a team playing its fifth match in eight nights — Hawai'i (13-5, 7-1 WAC) let big leads get away the first two games it lost. The Aggies (21-1, 5-1) scored the final five points of Game 2 and outscored UH 17-4 to end Game 4.

Jordan called the 'Bow breakdowns a "ball control issue." His team had 13 aces, with Jordan Bostic firing six. Shoji said his hitters were just as much at fault. He would not use fatigue or the fact that UH was adjusting to the loss of injured Jessica Keefe — the third starter the team has lost this season — as an excuse.

"Fatigue had nothing to do with it," Shoji said. "We made way too many errors. We got ahead in Games 2 and 4, should have won both and we just played too many loose points. We made some gross errors and there were plays we should have converted and didn't.

"It was frustrating to watch that match. This is a match we gave away."

NMSU surged to a 7-2 advantage in Game 5 only to have the 'Bows score five straight. After the sixth tie, at 11-11, the Aggies got the next three points on Alice Borden's 17th kill and two of Hawai'i's 34 hitting errors.

UH hit .069 in the three games it lost. For the match, it out-hit the Aggies .184 to .134 and out-blocked them 17 to 8.

Two of Jamie Houston's match-high 26 kills delayed match point and forced Jordan to call time. Anna Callis — New Mexico State's only new starter this season — killed match point and the streak on the next serve.

It was the first WAC match between ranked teams since the 'Bows beat Brigham Young in the 1998 WAC Tournament championship — the longest match in NCAA history. Last night was NMSU's first match against a ranked opponent in 2006. Its only loss came at Nevada in five.

Shoji said freshman Amber Kaufman, who had eight kills and two blocks and hit .467 last night, would start for Keefe again when Hawai'i hosts Notre Dame in non-conference matches Monday and Tuesday. The school is not allowed to say what is wrong with Keefe, who injured her knee on the final point of Wednesday's win at Louisiana Tech.

NOTES

New Mexico State was 0-4 in five-game matches last year, losing two to Hawai'i. This year the Aggies are 3-1 and UH is 3-2. It was NMSU's first victory over the 'Bows in 19 tries.