In a volleyball rivalry that shows no signs of slowing, 13th-ranked Hawai'i outlasted 25th-ranked New Mexico State last night in a match even the losing coach called "epic."

The Rainbow Wahine (10-3) won their seventh straight, 30-26, 28-30, 30-27, 28-30, 23-21, to finally silence the irrepressible Aggies (11-3) and a Pan American Center crowd of 4,361. Each team took turns serving for the match in the final game, with Tara Hittle's stuff finally ending it after 3 hours and 3 minutes.

"I'm sure I'd feel worse if we lost," UH coach Dave Shoji said, "but there was a point when we were going back and forth in the fifth game that I was thinking I wouldn't feel that badly. The match was well-played, everybody was responding. It was just a hard-fought game."

The teams have gone the full five games in four of their last six meetings. The Aggies' only win came here last year, when they broke Hawai'i's NCAA-record 132-match conference winning streak. NMSU coach Mike Jordan called last night's "maybe the most epic of all of them."

The victory puts Hawai'i in sole possession of first in the Western Athletic Conference at 4-0, with the Aggies dropping to 3-1. They play again in Hawai'i Oct. 26 and could play a third time in November at the WAC Tournament. That will be back in Las Cruces.

"Oh, wow," Jordan said, imagining the possibilities. "I don't know if my heart can handle it."

Shoji hopes it happens.

"It's fun to be in that kind of environment," he said. "We play in it all the time at home, but it's rare on the road."

It was a rare match. The teams combined for 169 kills and 197 digs — 110 by the 'Bows, which broke their rally-scoring (since 2001) record by 13. Freshman libero Liz Ka'aihue led the groveling with 28 digs, while Aneli Cubi-Otineru had 23 and Hittle 22. None of those players were with Hawai'i last year.

"They are a much better digging team," Jordan said. "That's the best digging match I've ever seen them have. They blocked decent, but they were moving around the floor and pulled some balls back from the dead. I thought sure they were kills and they kept long rallies alive ... 110 digs is fantastic defense."

The match had 40 ties, with 15 in the third and 16 in the fifth, scheduled to go 15 points. According to Shoji, it was a radical departure from last year's loss, when his team blew a 20-12 lead in Game 4.

"We got rattled last year," Shoji said. "We had a big lead in Game 4 and when they made a run we weren't mature enough to stop their momentum. Maybe it's a sign our team is a little more mature."

After Juliana Sanders drilled eight kills for UH in Game 1, the teams took turns chasing the rest of the night, with NMSU usually in the lead. Jordan called reserve Alex Steinmetz a "catalyst" for his team in Game 2, along with Anna Callis. Her 10 kills were the least of any starting NMSU hitter. The two were in on 11 of the Aggies' 17 blocks, as was middle Kim Oguh.

The 'Bows never led in Game 2, but rallied from what was a 17-9 deficit to close to 27-26, finally losing on a disputed call for a backrow attack on UH setter Stephanie Brandt. Hawai'i scored the final five points of Game 3, then trailed throughout Game 4, making another late surge that was too little.

UH All-American Jamie Houston had a match-high 29 kills, with Sanders adding 18 and Otineru 16. Sophomore Amber Kaufman, who did not start, had 13 kills in 19 swings and hit .632.

Hawai'i plays at San Jose State tomorrow. Its next home match is Oct. 5 against Nevada.

NOTES

ESPN Radio did not broadcast the match live, opting to run its full football pre-game and offer updates. The final update came with the score tied 13-13 in Game 5. Hawai'i won the 14th point and the station cut back to the pre-game show as it served for the match. The result was announced 10 minutes later.

"I guess it's their choice. It's almost like the 'Heidi Game,' " UH coach Dave Shoji said, referring to the infamous NFL game cut off so a network could show a movie. "That was bad. Why would they do that?"