Hawaii enters its final Western Athletic Conference volleyball season under the cloud of its last WAC match. Maybe that cloud will provide the incentive that was so hard to find in November.

The 11th-ranked Rainbow Wahine (10-1) play at Idaho tonight and Utah State on Saturday afternoon. The Aggies swept Hawaii the last time they played, in the 2010 WAC tournament final.

The conference’s most shocking volleyball upset stopped streaks that were approaching outrageous. The Wahine were going for their 12th consecutive WAC championship, 31st straight tournament win and 24th victory in a row. For the first time in their remarkably successful WAC history, they had not lost a set the entire conference season.

Until Utah State. With four seniors, an attack that baffled UH and a defense built around their brilliant block, the Aggies were unstoppable. The reaction around the country was disbelief.

"I have always felt volleyball in the WAC is better than people give it credit for," Utah State coach Grayson DuBose said. "As a conference we have done some great things, beat teams from bigger conferences, stuff like that. The coaching is good, the players are good, I just feel like we do not always get the exposure we should.

"It has also helped the Aggies recruit against Utah and Brigham Young for the best local players. Now, Hawaii will see if that humbling loss has an impact on this final WAC season.

Senior All-American Kanani Danielson talks of "taking care of every moment" and quietly promises the debacle "is not going to happen again." Coach Dave Shoji preaches "there has always got to be something driving you" to his team. He hopes it can remember that for the next nine weeks, and fuel its own drive if and when WAC opponents cannot.

Hawaii takes the country’s longest active regular-season conference winning streak into this final year — 41. Its last loss was nearly three years ago against New Mexico State. It is 218-4 in conference matches since joining the WAC. Even its crowds are dominant. UH averaged a national-best 6,659 tickets distributed during the nonconference season. The rest of the WAC is averaging half that, combined.

Last November, maybe it was just hard to be humble.

"I know the people that played in that game understand that feeling," Shoji said. "I hope it carries over to this year. We don’t want to play like we did in that game. We want to be better prepared."