LOS ANGELES — The University of Hawai'i's men's volleyball team arrived in Southern California in search of its game, desperately seeking consistency, and in need of a confidence-building victory after falling at home to Loyola-Chicago and Penn State in last weekend's Outrigger Hotels Invitational.

The Rainbow Warriors' search continues as they return home following last night's 30-21, 30-26, 30-27 defeat at eighth-ranked UCLA, their second loss in three nights to the reigning NCAA champion. This one was much more one-sided than the first.

After outhitting, outdigging and outblocking the Bruins in Wednesday's 3-1 loss at Pauley Pavilion, No. 9 Hawai'i was dominated and fell to 2-6 overall and 2-4 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.

The Warriors improved on their serves, dropping from a season-worst 27 service errors in the first meeting to just 13, but little else went right as their losing streak reached four matches.

UCLA's Jamie Diefenbach was dominant at the net, with 17 kills (and just four errors) for a .542 hitting percentage, and Steve Klosterman savaged Hawai'i with his hitting (14 kills, .387 percentage), service (four aces) and defense (seven digs) as the Bruins (5-6, 3-5) swept the series after losing six of their previous seven matches, the last a 3-0 embarrassment at home to archrival USC.

"I thought we were better tonight, but so were they," said Hawai'i coach Mike Wilton. "Back to the drawing board a little bit, and let's see if we can't get ready to go for UC Santa Barbara (next) week."

The Warriors, so impressive at the net Wednesday, struggled from the start. UCLA built big leads in the first two games, then pulled out a tight finale, benefitting from freshman middle blocker Matt Rawson's service troubles. Rawson, who saw late duty off the bench in the first match, was back in the starting lineup last night, but he was ineffective — committing six service errors, going long three times in Game 3.

"If Matt could just get his serves in," said Wilton, who winced as Rawson's error gave UCLA match point. "He's a pretty good blocker, and he brings a lot of fire to the court, and we need that right now. (The service problems are) just something we got to live with for awhile. He'll get better at it."

UCLA was superb on the serve, committing just nine errors while delivering seven aces. Hawai'i struggled to control Klosterman's deliveries, while UCLA deftly handled the Warriors' service, leading to a performance that Bruins coach Al Scates called "the best we've played thus far."

"(UCLA) pretty much handled everything we were putting out there," said sophomore outside hitter Jim Clar, who led the Warriors with 17 kills (.323 percentage). "We had runs. We had moments of brilliance. But they played consistent the whole night, and that's what won it for them."

Hawai'i senior middle blocker Dio Dante decried a passing game that "was horrible today" — Wilton called it "one more thing on our laundry list of what we need to get better at" — and Clar acknowledged there is frustration with how the season has started.

"The only thing we can do now," he said, "is keep our head up high, keep playing hard and hope for the best."

Said Wilton: "By God, we're in a growing phase right now. We've got some young guys on the court. We're going to be all right. (This is an) opportunity to deal with this, keep working hard, and as the Asian proverb tells us, morning will come."