In volleyball's version of the Senior Showdown, Andy Banachowski's Bruins got himself a seventh Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Classic crown last night, and bragging rights over his closest coaching pursuer.

Hawai'i got another reality check, a night after getting coach Dave Shoji his 900th victory.

UCLA (6-0), ranked 10th in the preseason but presumably heading straight up, swept the seventh-ranked Rainbow Wahine, 30-19, 30-26, 30-24, before 6,200 at Stan Sheriff Center.

It was Banachowski's 1,010th victory, in his 40th season as the Bruin coach. He has won six national titles.

Shoji is No. 2 among Division I women's coaches in wins, in his 32nd year, with four titles. But his 'Bows (3-2) were swept by both fifth-ranked Florida and the Bruins over the weekend and he was in little mood to celebrate last night.

"Our skills are not good enough to beat a good team," Shoji said flatly. "We're having breakdowns in just about every phase. Somehow we've got to get better at the highest level. We're OK. It's not like we're a bad team, but we haven't been good enough two of the last three nights."

Its passing remains unpredictable at best, with setter Kanoe Kamana'o forced to make too many plays sprinting toward the back of the court. Balls still drop between players. Opposing hitters are often able to whale away against weak blocks.

The 'Bows came tantalizingly close in the final two games last night, only to come up short and end the evening in frustration.

"We tried to bring energy out but it just wasn't there," said Jamie Houston, who led UH with 14 kills. "It wasn't like we were in sync. Our energy was shooting in different ways. It wasn't energy and being focused at the same time. It was just energy everywhere."

Everything that could go wrong for the Rainbow Wahine did in Game 1, from bad ballhandling to close calls and UCLA senior Katie Carter. She came into the match averaging three kills a game and proceeded to pound nine in 13 swings.

In contrast, UH counterpart Tara Hittle was 1 for 8 with four errors. Hawai'i watched the last two points drop to the floor. It was out-dug 15-8 in the game.

But the 'Bows bashed their way back into both of the last two games after early breakdowns, only to flame out while the Bruins showed them how to finish.

Hawai'i caught UCLA at 23 in the second and pulled ahead on Juliana Sanders' kill. The Bruins scored seven of the last nine behind tournament MVP Nana Meriwether and Carter, who had 18 of her match-high 21 kills after Game 2. UH gave up three points at the end purely on bad ballhandling.

The third game was just as frustrating for Hawai'i, which started slow and kept closing. The 'Bows finally caught UCLA at 18, but the Bruins powered through — as they had all weekend — to score 11 of the final 16 points.

"Hawai'i almost put it in another gear tonight," Banachowski said. "When you have a crowd like Hawai'i has, it's got to give you some inspiration. I think our kids have seen that and didn't want to be on the other end and refused to let it happen."

The 'Bows are now looking to find a rhythm and focus their anger, but not at each other.

"One of the things that's been good about our team in the past is we haven't looked at each other when we make a mistake and I think we did that a little tonight," said junior Kari Gregory, who had 10 kills and five blocks. "It was more negative. If we work on being a better team ... we're physically good enough to beat teams like UCLA. It's just a matter of finding a rhythm. We haven't had a good rhythm this whole weekend."

Fifth-ranked Florida (4-1) swept Colorado (1-3), 30-19, 30-21, 31-29, in the first match yesterday to earn second place.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.