LOS ANGELES — The "silver linings," as Mike Wilton termed it, were there for all to see, but there weren't nearly enough to weather another atrocious servicing performance Wednesday night, and the University of Hawai'i's men's volleyball losing streak reached three matches with a 3-1 defeat to reigning NCAA champion UCLA.

An often superb defensive performance, especially by senior middle blocker Dio Dante, and a more exacting attack than UCLA's kept the ninth-ranked Rainbow Warriors in the first of two Mountain Pacific Sports Federation showdowns in three days at Pauley Pavilion, but all was wasted in a 30-25, 33-31, 28-30, 31-29 loss.

"We served horribly, and that's what cost us the match — clearly," said Wilton, whose team fell to 2-5 overall and 2-3 in the MPSF. "Our serving was our downfall. We just missed way too many serves. Most teams would like to miss (only) 10 percent of their serves, and we missed 23 percent. That's way too many. (It's like the) cartoon strip Pogo: 'We have met the enemy, and he is us.' "

Hawai'i, with a solid rooting section (including a group of teens with "B-E-C-K-W-I-T-H" lettered across their chests, in honor of senior setter Brian Beckwith, their coach at nearby Palisades Volleyball Club) among the 776 in attendance, outhit the eighth-ranked Bruins (4-6, 2-5) in every game and totaled a season-high 18.5 blocks (to UCLA's 11.5), but 27 service errors and no aces took a heavy toll.

"We're good servers, it's just not coming right now," said sophomore outside hitter Jim Clar, who had 22 kills (and just five errors) for a .447 hitting percentage but committed a team-worst six service miscues. "But it will. It will. I can guarantee that."

Clar provided a good deal of Hawai'i's offense, and senior Lauri Hakala added 16 kills. Dante was a force, contributing 10 kills with just two errors (.571 percentage), playing a role in 11 blocks and dominating Paul George at the net, forcing the UCLA All-American into eight hitting errors and a minus-.034 hitting percentage.

"He's a good blocker, no question about it," admired Al Scates, who has guided UCLA to 21 national titles. "He was the best blocker on the floor tonight. He took care of Paul George."