Sixth-ranked Hawaii closed its final Western Athletic Conference regular season with yet one more volleyball blowout Saturday. About all the Rainbow Wahine could be faulted for was rushing to the senior night finish line.

Hawaii knocked New Mexico State into third place with a 25-15, 25-11, 25-23 win that took an hour less than the teams’ five-set slugfest a month ago in Las Cruces, N.M.

The Wahine were all but flawless for two sets, blasting the Aggies with nine aces and error-free hitting from Emily Hartong, Chanteal Satele and Brittany Hewitt.

When the Wahine blinked, clearly anxious to say a very special aloha to seniors Kanani Danielson, Alex Griffiths and Satele, NMSU gratefully took an early lead in the final set. It was tied 10 times before a missed serve and freshman Jane Croson’s 10th kill — to go with four aces — finally signaled the start of what 7,103 were waiting for at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Three shirtless men ran on the court to start senior night festivities and the seniors joined them in a Samoan dance that ultimately included about 100 family, friends and teammates.

The night grew more poignant as it went on, just as it had started when Danielson’s mother, Melody, sang the national anthem and "Hawaii Ponoi."

"This is so amazing, how Hawaii matches the passion for the sport with the aloha," said Griffiths’ mom, Katherine, who came in from Seal Beach, Calif. "I saw (UH) senior nights online before and I told her you made the right choice. We are so blessed that she has had this experience."

Before that, the Wahine almost rendered a match with their only consistent WAC rival meaningless, as did New Mexico State’s passing.

"It was a shankfest," NMSU coach Mike Jordan said. "I think we were a little nervous and our outside hitters shanked it all over the gym.

"I have to give Croson credit. She hit some unbelievable jump serves. The others were OK, but they should have been handled. We got aced … what was it, 10 times (11 total)? And there were another five overpasses. I’ve never seen us pass that bad before"

Hawaii (26-1), which has won its last 21, had long ago clinched its 16th regular-season WAC title. It went unbeaten for the 12th time in all those WAC regular seasons and will go after its 13th championship at the WAC tournament in Las Vegas, Nov. 21-23.

After that, if the Wahine’s No. 8 national RPI (power rating) holds up, Satele, Danielson and Griffiths might get to play at home again for the NCAA first and second rounds, Dec. 1-2. Hawaii has already been announced as one of the four regional sites (Dec. 9-10).

But Saturday, it was all about New Mexico State and the seniors.

"We’ve been practicing hard, and in the first two sets it looked like it all kind of paid off," UH coach Dave Shoji said. "We passed well, played good defense, blocked well. Our serving got them in trouble. That was the difference in the first two games."

Hawaii buried New Mexico State (21-8, 10-4 WAC) from the beginning with its hitting, from the front row and the service line

The opening set lasted just 20 minutes. The Wahine scored in bunches, pulling ahead 9-4 when Danielson served five in a row. The Aggies cut their deficit to two before Croson launched two of her three first-set aces in another 5-0 flurry. Hewitt finished NMSU off, serving four straight, with two coming off Aggies shanks.

While NMSU strangled its offense with its first touch, Hawaii hit .542. Hartong (4-for-4) and Satele (3-for-3) were perfect in the first set, with three of Hartong’s kills coming directly off NMSU shanks. The Wahine stuffed Meredith Hayes for the final point, giving the WAC kill leader a negative-.143 hitting percentage for the set.

Hays rallied with five kills in the second set, but her teammates contributed just three. Hawaii threw down six more aces and Griffiths ended it with four straight, to a wild ovation from the crowd and her teammates. Coming into the match, she had just five her entire (two-year) UH career.

"That was crazy," she said later. "The most amazing thing."

New Mexico State desperately swapped setters in the third, and Hawaii swapped personalities, going from well-oiled volleyball machine to clunker for the first 13 points. The Aggies took a 9-4 lead despite getting just one kill as UH contributed five hitting errors — matching its total in the first two sets — and its first two service errors.

"I thought it was a good thing it happened early in Game 3," Shoji said. "We had time to recover."

He called timeout and the Wahine scored the next six, with Emily Maeda getting in on the ace action. From there, the crowd willed them to the win.

Danielson collected her 15th double-double of the season, and 44th of her career, with 11 kills — seven in the final set — and 10 digs. Hays led her team with nine kills, but hit .111.

Hawaii doesn’t play again until the WAC tournament at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. As the top seed, UH gets a bye in the Nov. 21 quarterfinals. It plays the winner of the Utah State (No. 4 seed)-Fresno State (No. 5) match in a semifinal the following night. The Aggies upset the Wahine in last year’s championship match.

Second-seeded Idaho plays the winner of NMSU (No. 3) and San Jose State (No. 6) in the other semifinal.