How it affected their NCAA standing won't be known for two weeks, but Utah State's shocking sweep of Hawai'i Sunday cost the Rainbow Wahine only one place in yesterday's CSTV /AVCA Coaches Top 25. The 'Bows dropped to 11th, one below UCLA — which swept UH in September.

Hawai'i will find out this week how much the loss affected its confidence. The Rainbows are the top seed in the Western Athletic Conference Tournament, which begins Thursday at Las Cruces, N.M. They have won 12 regular-season titles in as many years of WAC membership.

"We need to use it as a lesson learned. For us it's a character check," UH sophomore Aneli Cubi-Otineru said Sunday. "They played great defense. Hey, they played awesome."

Utah State's upset prevented the 'Bows from going unbeaten in the WAC regular season for the 10th time. It was the first time a WAC team had ever beaten Hawai'i at home — on the 98th try — and it came out of nowhere. The Rainbows had won the last 20 times against the Aggies, had not lost a game to them in two years, and hadn't dropped a game to a WAC team in more than a month.

They have only lost twice in the WAC the last nine years. A defeat at New Mexico State last year ended an NCAA-record 132-match conference winning streak that stretched from Oct. 10, 1998, to Oct. 13, 2006.

The latest streak didn't last 13 months, ending at 26. Hawai'i is 196-5 as a WAC member going into Thursday's match against Louisiana Tech or Boise State. Its winning percentage dropped to .975 Sunday.

In related news, Aggies middle blocker Danielle Taylor was named WAC Player of the Week. She hit .533 against UH, with 11 kills and five blocks.

Utah State's win was its first over a ranked opponent since it defeated 24th-ranked UC Santa Barbara Sept. 15, 2005. The Aggies had not beaten a top-10 team since Sept. 12, 2000, when it swept 10th-ranked BYU.

In the short term, the best thing about Sunday's historic win for the Aggies is that the only place it could possibly face Hawai'i in the tournament is now Saturday's championship.

"For sure you want to stay away from those guys until the last possible match," USU coach Grayson DuBose said.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.