When seventh-ranked USC handed sixth-ranked Hawaii its only volleyball loss 11 days ago, the Rainbow Wahine realized they weren’t getting any taller so they better get better.

When Saint Mary’s put the Wahine through the wringer Saturday before Hawaii kicked, scratched and scrambled to win in four sets, the reality was something very different.

The Gaels are not nearly as athletic or talented as UH, but they led in every set and made Hawaii look silly much of the night with a slow-motion offense and endless dinks and digs.

"Our energy level from the start was a weird feeling," said UH sophomore Brittany Hewitt, who leads the country in blocking. "Finally, in the third game, it was like ‘OK, wake up.’ We were a little lethargic, the second game especially. Then we finally woke up and thought ‘We’re not going to lose. This is ridiculous.’"

It would not have been all that ridiculous. Saint Mary’s has been to the last two NCAA tournaments and took Stanford to five in a subregional last December. Under coach Rob Browning, who has been to the last three Olympics as an assistant with the United States men’s team, the Gaels led the West Coast Conference in every major statistic on their way to winning their first league title last season.

They might not be dynamic but they are remarkably disciplined, and Hawaii (8-1) needed huge rallies in the first three sets and a 4-0 run to end the night just to keep up.

"They are a really smart team," said UH junior Chanteal Satele, who started for Saint Mary’s the last two seasons and vividly remembers hours of drills designed to teach one shot or cover one small area on defense.

The Gaels forced Hawaii to focus its best on a night when it was playing far below its best. It was an invaluable lesson.

"When you are in that situation you just have to grind and I thought that’s what we did," UH coach Dave Shoji said. "We never really got in sync on defense, but we had enough of everything to win the match.

"It was just not giving up, playing every point for what it’s worth. That’s the best thing we did Saturday. No one questioned themselves. We had people up and down, but they all righted the ship and came back."

Brigham Young, which plays here tomorrow and Saturday, also has shown the ability to come back, and come up short. It is a tall team that has been short on luck and long on hours this season. The Cougars are 3-3 in five-set matches after falling to Utah State 18-16 in the fifth Tuesday.

BYU and Hawaii, which played the longest match in the history of their sport for the 1998 WAC championship (UH won in 3 hours, 38 minutes), have not played since the 2003 postseason. After qualifying for 23 of the first 24 NCAA tournaments, the Cougars have been shut out the last two.

Their attack is suddenly anchored by 6-foot-6 freshman basketball player Jennifer Hamson, whose first start was a week ago. BYU is hitting .173 and has been aced 82 times, but it also took a set off its only ranked opponents — Illinois (5) and Nebraska (4).